As Grammy Voting Opens Today, Here Are 18 Categories We’re Watching (And Why)

Final-round voting for the 66th Annual Grammy Awards begins today (Dec. 14) at 9:00 a.m. PT and continues through Jan. 4 at 6:00 p.m. PT.

So, while you’re enjoying the holidays with friends and family, voting members of the Recording Academy will be hunkering down with their digital ballots, thoughtfully weighing their choices and catching up on releases they weren’t fully familiar with yet. (Or so Harvey Mason jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, fervently hopes.)

OK, more than a few voting members will probably put it off until hours before the deadline on Jan. 4 and then say “Holy crap!”

We hope voters take it seriously because a lot rides on their decisions. We’ve compiled this list of 18 categories we’ll be watching, and we explain why these categories are of particular interest.

Since more than a month has passed since the nominations were announced on Nov. 10, let’s catch you up. SZA was the leader in the nominations, with nine nods. Phoebe Bridgers, Serban Ghenea and Victoria Monét followed with seven nods each.

Jon Batiste, Miley Cyrus, Olivia Rodrigo, Taylor Swift and SZA were each nominated in each of the Big Three categories – album, record and song of the year. Boygenius, Billie Eilish and Lana Del Rey were each nominated in two of those three categories.

The awards will be presented at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Feb. 4. Trevor Noah will host the show for the fourth consecutive year. He is nominated this year for best comedy album for I Wish You Would, making him only the fifth Grammy host to be nominated in a year that he or she hosted the show.

Here are 18 categories we’ll be watching this year with particular interest. The categories are listed in the order they appear on the Grammy ballot.