Grammy nominations preview: An album of the year race that’s impossible to predict and more

By Alli Rosenbloom, CNN

(CNN) — Finish up that espresso, grab your pink cowboy hat and buckle up for what’s shaping up to be ladies night at the 2025 Grammy Awards.

Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, Sabrina Carpenter, Charli XCX and Chappell Roan are behind some of this year’s biggest chart-topping albums, so it’s possible some or all of these women will be named in multiple categories on Friday when the Recording Academy announces the nominations.

More women have been represented in the album of the year category since it was expanded in 2019, going from 5 nominees to 8 or more. Female artists have earned 50% of the nominations or more in that category since then, peaking last year when seven of the eight nominees were women. Jon Batiste was the sole male nominee in that category.

Billboard’s Awards Editor Paul Grein told CNN that because “women have dominated pop music in the last few years,” he anticipates this year’s crop of nominees for album of the year to match last year’s, “which is remarkable.”

Eilish, Swift and Beyoncé have emerged as the “frontrunners” to lead the category, said Grein.

Beyoncé stands to earn her fifth album of the year nod for “Cowboy Carter.” Grein believes she may hold the edge over the others considering she’s never won in the category.

Her husband Jay-Z, reminded Grammy voters of this perceived oversight during last year’s ceremony. His remarks, Grein said, “will have to be bearing on people’s minds as they vote.”

Swift, who won album of the year for “Midnights” last year, is tied with Barbra Streisand for the most all-time nominations by a female artist in the album of the year category, with six nominations total. Should she earn a seventh for “The Tortured Poet’s Department,” she’ll break her own record.

However it pans out, there’s seemingly nothing but respect between Beyoncé and Swift, who showed mutual support by showing up to each other’s concert film premieres, dispelling speculation there’s any “bad blood” after last year’s AOTY face-off.

“Women do that more than men do, cheer each other on and seem to have each other’s backs,” said Grein, who joked that now “we have Kendrick (Lamar) and Drake going at each other” instead.

But the race for album of the year is just one part of what may make the 2025 Grammy Awards special. Here’s what else you should know.

Breaking through

Charli XCX, Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter have all been cranking out hits for years. But this past year, all three artists have broken through to become mega mainstream artists, which will undoubtedly be illustrated through this year’s Grammy nods.

Roan and Carpenter could be recognized in the “big four” categories – album of the year, song of the year, record of the year and best new artist – the latter holding the potential to be “one of the most suspenseful races on Grammy night,” predicts Grein.

Charli XCX could very well earn nods in the song, album and record of the year categories following the success of her album “Brat,” but she didn’t submit herself to be recognized in the best new artist category. Should she earn a nod on Friday, it’ll be the first time she’ll have done so since 2015 when she was recognized for her hit song “Fancy.”

Spanning genres

“Cowboy Carter,” as Beyonce said herself, “ain’t a Country album.” So even though its overall visuals lean into cowboy-core, sonically this album offers songs in the style of pop, country, rap and americana. Beyonce’s camp submitted the album and various tracks for consideration in categories recognizing all four of those genres, so don’t be surprised to see her earn genre-spanning nominations on Friday.

Other artists like Sabrina Carpenter and Megan Thee Stallion, a pop star and rapper, respectively, have followed suit by submitting songs in categories recognizing music outside of the genre they’re known for. Carpenter could be recognized in some country music categories for her song “Slim Pickens” and Megan Thee Stallion could earn a nod in a rock category for “Cobra (Rock Remix),” a song she collaborated on with metal band Spiritbox.

Grammy-worthy beef

Imagine being Drake on Grammy nomination day and finding out that Kendrick Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us,” of which he is the subject, earned a nomination. Sorry to say, Drake, but that’s probably what’ll happen.

The song, which was written and released during Lamar and Drake’s highly publicized rap feud last spring, has become wildly popular and spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. In what became a serious game of lyrical chess, it seems like Lamar is well-positioned to say “checkmate” to Drake on Friday.

Celine Dion reenters the Grammy race

Celine Dion’s candid documentary “I Am Celine Dion,” which chronicles her return to music and her struggle living with stiff person syndrome, is likely to be among the nominees in the best music film category. It would be her first Grammy nomination since 2001.

Recording Academy darling Jon Batiste’s “American Symphony” is another strong contender to earn a nod in this category, alongside the Beatles “Now and Then” short film, Willie Nelson’s “Willie Nelson & Family” docuseries and, of course, Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour Concert Film,” among others.

Dion’s nomination for the documentary, which left viewers with questions about whether the singer would ever return to the stage, would be especially meaningful on the heels of her glorious return to the stage for her performance of “Hymne A L’Amour” at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The Beatles v. The Stones

For the first time ever in their decades-long career as prolific rock ‘n’ roll groups, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles could earn nominations in the same category. The Beatles submitted “Now and Then” and the Stones submitted “Sounds of Heaven” (featuring Lady Gaga) in the best rock performance category, for which they’ll both likely be nominated.

It’s funny to think about this potential first time matchup considering how influential and important both bands are but the Grammys were just slow to consider rock ‘n’ roll overall. The Stones didn’t earn their first nomination until 1978 when “Some Girls” was recognized for album of the year and the Beatles have only ever won seven career trophies.

Post Malone’s big moment

Post Malone has never won a Grammy. But with three major collaborations with artists including Taylor Swift, Beyonce and Morgan Wallen, in addition to releasing his sixth album “F-1 Trillion,” which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, he is on track to, at the very least, earn multiple nominations on Friday.

Perhaps this’ll be his year to win. Malone’s collaboration with Swift on “Fortnight” achieved significant commercial success on the charts this year and his collaboration with Beyonce “Levii’s Jeans” was among the album’s most popular tracks.

The Grammy nominations will be announced live on Friday at 10:45 a.m. EDT/7:45 a.m. PDT on the Recording Academy’s YouTube page.

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