Here’s How Record Labels Stack Up in the Grammys’ Big Four Categories
The 2024 Grammy Awards nominations were released today (Nov. 10), with SZA, Victoria Monet and Phoebe Bridgers among the artists receiving the most nods for the Feb. 4 awards. For the fourth time in the past six years, Interscope Geffen A&M (IGA) artists racked up the most nominations among labels in the “Big Four” categories of record, album and song of the year and best new artist.
IGA artists accumulated 13 nominations among those top categories, more than doubling the next-highest label tally. They include Jon Batiste (Verve/Interscope), boygenius, Olivia Rodrigo (Geffen) and Lana Del Rey, all of whom landed multiple nominations. Billie Eilish also scored two, for record and song of the year for her track “What Was I Made For?” off the Barbie soundtrack album. (Eilish is a Darkroom/Interscope artist, though that soundtrack was released by Atlantic Records; in this case, those nominations are being counted for both Interscope and Atlantic. Warner Records artist Dua Lipa’s contribution to that soundtrack, “Dance The Night,” was also nominated for song of the year and is also counted for both labels.)
Notably, three of those Interscope artists — Eilish, Rodrigo and Bridgers, who is a member of boygenius — were nominees for best new artist within the past four years, with both Eilish (in 2020) and Rodrigo (in 2022) winning the honor. This year, Interscope has another artist, Gracie Abrams, nominated in the category.
Behind IGA, both Atlantic and RCA picked up five nominations among the Big Four categories, tying for second place among labels. Atlantic has three from the Barbie soundtrack, as well as an album of the year nomination for Janelle Monae’s The Age Of Pleasure and a best new artist nod for dance act Fred Again... SZA led the way for RCA, with her hit “Kill Bill” earning record and song of the year noms and album SOS picking up an album of the year nod, while Victoria Monet was recognized for record of the year for “On My Mama” as well as best new artist for the Sony-owned label.
Beyond those three labels, Taylor Swift’s three nominations in the Big Four — record and song for “Anti-Hero” and album for Midnights — led the way for Republic, which also saw Noah Kahan (Mercury/Republic) pick up a best new artist nomination to round out its total of four nods. Meanwhile, Miley Cyrus’ three Big Four nominations — record and song for “Flowers,” album for Endless Summer Vacation — accounted for all nods in the Big Four for Columbia, which led all labels in Big Four nominations last year. Other labels whose artists received Big Four nominations include Capitol (Ice Spice, best new artist, in collaboration with 10K Projects), BBR Music Group (Jelly Roll, best new artist), Def Jam (Coco Jones, best new artist), UMG Nashville (The War and Treaty, best new artist) and Warner Records (Dua Lipa’s “Dance The Night,” song of the year).
Broken out by label group, Universal Music Group led the way with 20 nominations in the Big Four categories, while Sony Music Entertainment picked up eight, Warner Music Group accounted for five and BMG, which owns BBR Music Group, received one.
Dan Rys
Billboard