Here’s Everything We Know About the 3 New Grammy Categories for 2024

The Recording Academy has added three new categories for the 66th annual Grammy Awards – best African music performance, best alternative jazz album, and best pop dance recording. This brings the total number of categories to 94, the highest total since the number reached an all-time peak of 109 in 2010.

In addition, the existing categories of producer of the year, non-classical and songwriter of the year, non-classical will be moved to the general field. The general field has long consisted of four categories – album, record and song of the year plus best new artist. These four categories are often unofficially called the Big Four.

By moving the producer and songwriter awards to the general field, all Grammy voters can in these non-genre-specific categories without using up a field. (All voters can vote in the general field and then in no more than three other fields.)

Producer of the year, non-classical was added in 1974. Songwriter of the year, non-classical was added last year. Thom Bell and Tobias Jesso Jr. were the inaugural recipients, respectively.

These category additions and amendments were passed at the Recording Academy’s most recent semiannual board of trustees meeting held last month.

“The Recording Academy is proud to announce these latest category changes to our awards process,” Harvey Mason jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, said in a statement. “These changes reflect our commitment to actively listen and respond to the feedback from our music community, accurately represent a diverse range of relevant musical genres, and stay aligned with the ever-evolving musical landscape.

“By introducing these three new categories, we are able to acknowledge and appreciate a broader array of artists – and relocating the producer of the year and songwriter of the year categories to the general field ensures that all our voters can participate in recognizing excellence in these fields. We are excited to honor and celebrate the creators and recordings in these categories, while also exposing a wider range of music to fans worldwide.”

With these three new categories, the Academy has added 10 categories in the last three years. That’s the most categories the Academy has added in any three- year period since 1959-61, when it added 12.

Bill Freimuth, the Academy’s former senior vice president, awards, led an effort to pare down the number of categories. The number nosedived from 109 to 78 in 2011, but has since been creeping back up. There is an ongoing debate between those who think “less is more” (that having a glut of categories devalues the award) and those who think “more is more” (that it makes more creators happy, which will turn Grammy critics in the creative community into Grammy boosters).

The Recording Academy accepts proposals from members of the music community throughout the year. The awards and nominations committee, comprised of Academy voting members of diverse genres and backgrounds, meets annually to review proposals to update award categories, procedures and eligibility guidelines.

Here’s a closer look at the three new Grammy categories: