The Biggest Snubs and Surprises of the 2025 Grammy Nominations

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The pop girlies continued their winning streak as the 2025 Grammy Award nominations were announced today, with Charli xcx, Chappell Roan, and Sabrina Carpenter each earning nods for Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and other categories (the latter two are now Best New Artist contenders too). But the queen continues to reign supreme: Beyoncé dominates with 11 nominations, thanks to her album Cowboy Carter, which earned her some nominations in the country categories as well. We’ll see how that shapes up for country voters when the winners are announced in February.

Charli is close behind her with seven nominations, and so are Billie Eilish, Post Malone, and Kendrick Lamar, whose hater anthem “Not Like Us” is nominated for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song, and Best Music Video. (I wonder how Drake, who pulled out of Grammys consideration years ago, feels about that.) Taylor Swift has six nods, along with Carpenter and Roan.

The Best New Artist category is quite stacked this year, with Carpenter, Roan, and other buzzy new acts like Shaboozey, Benson Boone, and Teddy Swims in the race. It’s exciting to see British singer-songwriter Raye and rap phenom Doechii there too. Khruangbin’s also in the mix.

Among the many delights in this year’s Grammy lineup (I’d like to note even the Challengers score was nominated), there were also some egregious snubs, including Ariana Grande, Tyla, Dua Lipa, and Tinashe. But we also got some surprises from André 3000’s flute album, some history-making moments, and a Beatles comeback.

Snub: Ariana Grande is not in any top categories.

“While Ariana Grande has only cracked the general field categories a few times for her work (she was nominated for Album of the Year for Thank U, Next, Record of the Year for ‘7 Rings,’ and as a songwriter for her work on Doja Cat’s Planet Her), she has found her name on Grammys lists a few times in the pop field, winning twice for ‘Rain on Me’ with Lady Gaga and her 2018 album Sweetener. This year is same old, same old, with Grande’s only nominations coming in pop, receiving nods for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for ‘The Boy Is Mine’ with Brandy and Monica, Best Dance Pop Recording for ‘Yes, And?’, and Pop Vocal Album for eternal sunshine. It’s quite upsetting, as eternal sunshine has often been touted as one of, if not the, best albums of her career. The sad dance floor bop ‘we can’t be friends (wait for your love)’ was completely left out of the equation as well, which makes this hopeless romantic and club lover furious. We ride for Ari at the movie theater, when Wicked drops on November 22.”—Samuel Maude, associate editor

Surprise (kind of): Taylor Swift makes AOTY history.

“We knew this was coming but it’s still a delight for Swifties to see: Taylor Swift earned her seventh Album of the Year nomination with The Tortured Poets Department, breaking Barbara Streisand’s record for most AOTY nominations held by a woman. Swift is also nominated for Record of the Year (‘Fortnight’ with Post Malone), Song of the Year (‘Fortnight’), Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance (‘Us.’ with Gracie Abrams), and Best Music Video (‘Fortnight’).”—Erica Gonzales, senior culture editor

Surprise (kind of): Beyonce makes history, again.

“Beyoncé has made history yet again. She leads this year’s nominations with 11 nods for her album Cowboy Carter, making her the most nominated artist in Grammys history with 99 nominations (breaking her previous tie of 88 nominations with her husband, Jay-Z.) Cowboy Carter racked up noms in the big categories like Album of the Year (will she finally win?), Record of the Year, and Song of the Year, and also got nods in various genre categories like Best Pop Solo Performance, Best Melodic Rap Performance, Best Americana Performance, and Best Country Album. (Her others include Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, Best Country Solo Performance, Best Country Duo/Group Performance, and Best Country Song.)”—Juliana Ukiomogbe, assistant editor

Snub: Where is Tyla?

“After Tyla won the inaugural Best African Music Performance award at the Grammys last year, she’s nowhere to be found in this year’s nominations, despite releasing her debut album in March. This could be because the Recording Academy didn’t know what to do with her self-titled release: According to The Hollywood Reporter, TYLA, was submitted for Best R&B Album consideration, but the Academy pushed it to Pop Vocal Album instead, where she faced steep competition against Taylor Swift, Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, and more. But that might not have been the right call, given Tyla’s ouvre is infused with Afrobeats and Amapiano influences—would the Best Progressive R&B Album been a better fit instead? And why isn’t there a Best African Music Album category? At this point it isn’t just about Tyla, but it spotlights a larger issue about African artists who defy the Academy’s categorization. Should they miss out because they don’t ‘fit’ a label?”—EG

Surprise: The Beatles are so back, apparently.

“You know the Grammys love a legacy artist, but this still comes as a surprise. The Beatles! In 2024! While only two of the original Fab Four are surviving, the band released their ‘final’ song last November, which was ‘written and sung by John Lennon, developed and worked on by Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, and now finally finished by Paul and Ringo over four decades later,’ according to the group. (It all came together with the help of AI technology.) It’s now nominated for Record of the Year and Best Rock Performance. The music icons have seven Grammys wins to their name—could that change next year?”—EG

Surprise: André 3000 and his flute vie for AOTY.

“When former Outkast rapper André 3000 announced that he was releasing a flute album last year, nobody understood the vision. But now it’s getting some Grammys love. New Blue Sun is nominated for the biggest award of the evening: Album of the Year. It also got nods in the Best Alternative Jazz Album and Best Instrumental Composition categories.”—JU

Snub: No Jack Antonoff for producer of the year.

“After another year as Taylor Swift’s favorite collaborator, Jack Antonoff was left off the list for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical. It comes as a shock, as the Bleachers frontman has won the category the last three years after being nominated the two years prior, too. His projects this year made noise, including Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department and Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet, but perhaps pop producer Dan Nigro took his spot, whose credits this year include Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess and four Olivia Rodrigo tracks.”—SM

Surprise: “Die with a Smile” is everywhere.

“Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars joined forces, and Grammys ate them up for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The duo’s ‘Die With a Smile’ continues to sit high on the charts and earned the duo two nominations: one for Song of the Year and another for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. The song’s producer, Dernst ‘D’Mile’ Emile II also got a nod for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical. Historically, the Grammys have favored both Gaga and Mars, so it makes sense that their star power raked in some much deserved love.”—SM

Snub: Megan Thee Stallion gets shut out.

“Megan Thee Stallion had a huge year, but apparently not big enough to capture the Academy’s attention. Not only did ‘HISS’ debut at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 earlier this year (and usher in a flurry of other diss records by Drake and Kendrick), but ‘Mamushi’ was also a crossover hit. Let’s see if the Grammys end up recognizing her newest project, MEGAN: ACT II, at the next ceremony (fingers crossed!).”—JU

Snub: The Academy was nasty to Tinashe.

“Let’s not forget, in the summer of Brat, ‘Good Luck Babe!’, and ‘Espresso,’ there was also ‘Nasty.’ Even though Tinashe’s single went viral on TikTok, and infiltrated our culture and lexicon (how many times did you ask someone to ‘match your freak’ this summer?), the Grammys failed to give the singer any recognition this year. Her August album, Quantum Baby, also didn’t get nominated. (Even with hits like ‘No Broke Boys’!) Like Charli, Tinashe has been hustling for over a decade. But she sadly didn’t get the Academy’s attention. Though it’s not like she needs it.”—EG

Snub: Nothing for Dua Lipa.

“After her 2019 Best New Artist win and critically acclaimed, Grammy-winning Future Nostalgia, Dua Lipa came back this year with Radical Optimism. The album, which many critics believed was one of Lipa’s weaker projects, became lost in a crowded music year, left out of Grammy nominations completely. But the biggest shock? Lipa performed two of its singles, ‘Training Season’ and ‘Houdini’ at the top of last year’s Grammy Awards, showing that sometimes a strong Grammy’s campaign won’t even get the most hopeful project a much-coveted nod.”—SM

The 67th Grammy Awards will take place on Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025.

Erica Gonzales is the Senior Culture Editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage on TV, movies, music, books, and more. She was previously an editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com. There is a 75 percent chance she’s listening to Lorde right now.

Samuel is the Associate Editor at ELLE Magazine. Prior to this role, he was the Assistant to ELLE’s Editor-in-Chief, Nina Garcia. At ELLE, Samuel writes about music, fashion, arts, and culture, interviewing Normani, Lola Tung, Sara Bareilles, Kelli O’Hara, Nicholas Galitzine, Tate McRae, and more. Raised in Des Moines, Iowa, Samuel attended Northwestern University and currently resides in New York City.