Beyoncé makes history by receiving 11 nominations for the 2025 Grammy Awards

by Junna Base November 8, 2024

Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has made Grammy history again. Not only is the megastar the main nominee for the 2025 awards show, she is also the most nominated artist in history. For the first time, she also received nominations in the “Country” and “American Roots” categories.

Beyoncé was nominated for 11 Grammys on Friday morning, including the top prize – album of the year – for her acclaimed eighth studio album “Cowboy Carter.” She is also nominated for country and American roots awards for the first time. A total of seven different songs from “Cowboy Carter” are nominated in four different genres.

These nominations include Best Country Album, Best Country Duo/Group Performance for “II Most Wanted” with Miley Cyrus, Best Country Song for “Texas Hold ‘Em”, Best Country Solo Performance for “16 Carriages” and best Americana performance for “Ya Ja.”

She also received an award for the first time in the “Best Pop Duo/Group Performance” category for her song “Levii’s Jeans” with Post Malone.

Already the most awarded Grammy artist in history with a total of 32 wins, Beyoncé is now the most nominated artist of all time with a total of 99 nominations throughout her career. She was previously tied with her husband Jay-Z at 88.

Complete list of Beyoncé’s 2025 Grammy nominations

Record of the Year: “Texas Hold ‘Em”
Album of the Year: “Cowboy Carter”
Song of the Year: “Texas Hold ‘Em”
Best Pop Solo Performance: “Bodyguard”
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance: “Levii’s Jeans” featuring Post Malone
Best Melodic Rap Performance: “Spaghettii” with Linda Martell and Shaboozey
Best Country Solo Performance: “16 Carriages”
Best Country Duo/Group Performance: “II Most Wanted” with Miley Cyrus
Best Country Song: “Texas Hold ‘Em”
Best Country Album: “Cowboy Carter”
Best Americana Performance: “Ya Ya”

The significance of Beyoncé’s nominations

For Beyhive, this year’s awards show is likely one of the most anticipated in history, as many wonder whether the Recording Academy will finally award Beyoncé Album of the Year.

To date, only three black women have won Album of the Year in Grammy history: Natalie Cole (1992), Whitney Houston (1994) and Lauryn Hill (1999). Beyoncé has been nominated four times for her albums ““I Am…Sasha Fierce,” “Beyoncé,” “Lemonade,” and “Renaissance.”

This year also marks the first time a Black woman has been nominated in the top country album category. Ray Charles was nominated for Album of the Year in 1962 for “Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music.”

In the awards show’s history, no black woman has ever won a Grammy for a country song. In 2020, Mickey Guyton became the first Black woman to be honored in a country music category when her song “Black Like Me” was nominated.

Earlier this year, the superstar’s husband, hip-hop mogul Jay-Z, criticized the Recording Academy for snubbing Beyoncé when she won the Dr. Dre accepted the Global Impact Award. As a result, it sparked a larger discussion about exclusion in the music industry.

In the fall, Beyoncé made headlines when she was rejected from the 2024 Country Music Association Awards despite her groundbreaking album having zero nominations. With a total of twelve nominations, she was the top contender for the People’s Choice Country Awards. However, she took home no awards.

Beyoncé first announced her eighth studio album during a surprise Super Bowl commercial in February, when she released the singles “16 Carriages” and “Texas Hold ‘Em.” The songs immediately took the internet by storm, as did the album upon its release. Since then, she’s broken many records and made history, and it’s safe to say that “Cowboy Carter” was a huge catalyst in bringing black country artists and the genre’s roots into the spotlight recently.

Ahead of the project’s release, Beyoncé opened up about her struggles in the industry, alluding to her performance at the 2016 CMA Awards with The Chicks.

“Working on this album took over five years. “It came from an experience I had years ago where I felt unwelcome…and it was very clear that I wasn’t,” she wrote on Instagram. “The criticism I faced when I first got into this genre forced me to overcome the limitations placed on me. The second act is the result of a self-challenge and the time I take to mix and mingle genres to create this work.”

The Grammys take place on February 2nd at the Crypto Arena in Los Angeles.

Continue following USA TODAY Network’s Beyoncé Knowles-Carter reporter Caché McClay Instagram, TikTok And X as @cachemcclay.