Beyonce Ties All-Time Grammy Nominations Record

Beyoncé is the top nominee for the 2023 Grammy Awards, which were announced on Tuesday (Nov. 15). Bey received nine nods, followed by Kendrick Lamar with eight, and Adele and Brandi Carlile with seven each. This is the sixth time Beyoncé has led (or co-led) the annual Grammy nominations.

This brings Beyoncé’s career total of nominations to 88, which puts her in a tie with her husband Jay-Z for the most Grammy nominations in history. Jay received five nods this year. Paul McCartney (81 nods) and Quincy Jones (80 nods) are next in line.

Beyoncé and Adele are competing in each of the Big Three categories – album, record and song of the year — just as they did six years ago. Three other artists — Lamar, Lizzo and Harry Styles — are also nominated in each of those categories.

ABBA, Mary J. Blige, Carlile and Steve Lacy are each nominated in two of the Big Three categories.

Beyoncé moves ahead of Frank Sinatra to become the artist with the most career record of the year nods. Beyoncé and Sinatra had been tied for that record with seven nods each

Beyoncé is the first woman of color to receive four album of the year nominations (as a lead artist). She had been tied with Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and H.E.R. with three nods each in the category.

There are more history-makers among the nominations. Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti is the first Spanish-language album to receive an album of the year nomination. Latin crossover pioneer José Feliciano was nominated in 1968 for Feliciano!, but that album consisted of English-language tracks. Related factoid: Un Verano Sin Ti is the first album to receive album of the year nods at both the Grammys and the Latin Grammys.

Lamar’s Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers is his fourth studio album to be nominated for album of the year, which puts him in a tie with Ye (a.k.a. Kanye West) as the rapper with the most nods in this category (as a lead artist). And unlike Ye, Lamar’s nominations are for four consecutive studio albums. Furthermore, Lamar is the first artist from any genre to be nominated with four consecutive studio albums since Billy Joel (1979-83).

Taylor Swift ties the all-time record for most song of the year nods (six) with the nomination of the expanded version of “All Too Well.” Paul McCartney and Lionel Richie had long been the songwriters with the most song of the year nods. They now have company.

This is Adele’s third time being nominated for record of the year, album of the year, song of the year, best pop solo performance and best pop vocal album in the same year. She won in all of these categories at the awards for 2011 and 2016.

Doja Cat is just the third female artist to receive record of the year nods three years running. She was nominated in this marquee category for “Say So” (2020) and “Kiss Me More” (featuring SZA, 2021). She makes it this year with “Woman,” which enables her to tie Roberta Flack (1972-74) and Billie Eilish (2019-21) as the only female artists to appear in this category in three consecutive years.

Coldplay received its third album of the year nomination for Music of the Spheres. Coldplay is one of just five pop or rock groups or duos to receive three or more nominations in that category. The Beatles lead with five, followed by U2 with four, and Steely Dan and Radiohead, also with three. Moreover, this is Coldplay’s second album of the year nomination in the past three years. The veteran band is one of just two artists – along with Swift – to receive two album of the year nods in the first three years of the 2020s.

Trailing Beyoncé, Lamar, Adele and Carlile in number of nominations are six people with six nods each – Blige, The-Dream, DJ Khaled, Future, Styles and mastering engineer Randy Merrill. Merrill received three album of the year nods, for his work on Adele’s 30, Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres and Styles’ Harry’s House.

Bonnie Raitt lands her first song of the year nomination for “Just Like That,” which she wrote by herself. It’s the first song written by a solitary songwriter to be nominated in this category since Swift’s “Lover” two years ago.

At the other extreme, nine songwriters are credited as co-writers of DJ Khaled’s “GOD DID.” That’s not quite a record. Eleven songwriters joined forces to create Justin Bieber’s jam “Peaches,” a nominee last year. “GOD DID” is in a tie with Beyoncé’s “Black Parade” as the song of the year nominee with the second-most credited songwriters.

The-Dream is also nominated for song of the year for co-writing Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul” and in the newly added songwriter of the year, non-classical category. The other nominees in the latter category are Amy Allen, Nija Charles, Tobias Jesso Jr. and Laura Veltz.

In the analogous producer of the year, non-classical category, Jack Antonoff and Dan Auerbach each received their fourth nods. Boi-1da landed his second. Dahi and Dernst “D’Mile” Emile II landed their first.

The Recording Academy reports that a total of 16,741 eligible entries were submitted for Grammy consideration this year.

The Academy also reports that six of the 10 nominees for record of the year are by female solo artists, while five of the 10 albums nominated for album of the year are by female solo artists. Best new artist nominees include five female solo artists. (The last five winners for best new artist have been female solo artists.)

The Academy’s new membership class consists of nearly 2,000 voting and professional members. The Academy reports that 44% of the 2022 membership class are from “traditionally underrepresented” communities; 47% are under the age of 40.

The final-round voting window extends from Dec. 14 through Jan. 4, 2023. Winners will be announced on Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023, at Crypto.com Arena (formerly known as Staples Center) in Los Angeles. This will mark the show’s return to its longtime home after two years away.

Academy statisticians are already looking ahead to the awards ceremony. If Beyoncé wins three of her nine nominations, she will tie the late classical conductor Sir Georg Solti for the most Grammy wins ever. If she wins four, she will claim the record outright.

The 65th annual Grammy Awards will be produced by Fulwell 73 Productions for the Academy. Ben Winston, Jesse Collins and Raj Kapoor are executive producers, with Kapoor also serving as showrunner.

Winston and Kapoor are also first-time Grammy nominees. Both are nominated for best music film as video producers of Adele’s Adele: One Night Only. Winston and Kapoor won Primetime Emmys in September as executive producers of Adele’s special.