NEW YORK — It looks like the 2025 Grammy Awards will be a different kind of awards show. Beyoncé leads the nominations with 11, bringing her career total to a record 99 nominations. There is an incredible diversity of genders represented in the major categories, and women continue to succeed. So… who didn’t make the cut? What were the best surprises of all? Let’s take a look.

Country is cool again…and it looks a little different.

Country music has spread into other major genres, and the Recording Academy has taken notice. Country hybridists — like Beyoncé, Post Malone and first-time nominee Shaboozey — are leading many nominations, in country and beyond.

But that means traditionalists might not see any awards: CMA Awards favorites, Cody Johnson’s “Leather” and Luke Combs’ “Fathers & Sons,” saw no nominations. The latter shouldn’t come as much of a surprise: Comb’s hit cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” also wasn’t nominated for record of the year at the Grammys in 2024 — although it did get a nod in best country solo performance. .

This year also marks Malone and Beyoncé’s first-ever nominations in the country categories.

The Beatles are back

Who saw this one coming? The Beatles’ latest new song, the AI-assisted “Now and Then,” is in the running for record of the year. Released in 2023, the song used artificial intelligence to extract John Lennon’s vocals from an old demo. It’s the same technology used to separate the Beatles’ vocals from background sounds during the making of director Peter Jackson’s 2021 documentary series, “The Beatles: Get Back.”

Last summer, the Recording Academy announced a series of changes to the Grammy Awards, including new protocols involving technological advances in machine learning. It made headlines: “Only human creators” could win the music industry’s highest honor in a move to use artificial intelligence in popular music. At the 2025 Grammys, these changes are clearly in action.

The album of the year gets a makeover

Last year’s album of the year category was dominated by female pop artists – and it continues, with Taylor Swift’s rave-ready approach to the genre, Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX receiving nominations. The latter is a nice surprise (more on that below), but both men nominated are creative outliers. OutKast frontman André 3000’s experimental jazz flute album, “New Blue Sun,” is in the running, as is “Djesse Vol. 4”, although this one could fill a space vacated by Jon Batiste.

BRAT summer is forever

Charli solo and pop duo/group, the pop dance recording, the dance/electronic album and the music video. Clearly, his culture-changing album “BRAT” — and the summer of memes it inspired — has gone on to have real influence.

Exciting – and undoubtedly surprising – first-time nominees

There’s no shortage of first-time nominees this year. Some were expected – like Roan, Carpenter and Shaboozey – others less so. Willow Smith received her first nomination in the arrangement, instruments and vocals category for arranging her song “bigfeeling s.” Linda Martell, country’s first commercially successful black female musician, appears alongside Shaboozey on Beyoncé’s “SPAGHETTII,” which is nominated in the melodic rap performance category. This gives the ancestor his very first Grammy nomination at age 83.

And finally, Morgan Wallen — arguably one of the country’s most popular and controversy-plagued musicians — received his first two Grammy nominations for his feature on Malone’s “I Had Some Help.” Last year, his song “Last Night” was nominated for best country song, but that’s a songwriter’s award, and Wallen didn’t receive a nomination.

In the past, the country singer was absent from the nominations. In 2021, after a video of him using a racial slur surfaced, he was disqualified or restricted from several award shows and received no Grammy nominations for his best-selling “Dangerous: The Double Album “.

Latin music is absent from the top categories… again

Just like last year, Latin music is absent from the first categories of the 2025 Grammys, despite a surplus of eligible talent: “Éxodo” by Peso Pluma, “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran” by Shakira, Residente, “Las Letras Ya No Important”, “Boca Chueca, Vol. 1” and Bad Bunny’s “Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana” among them.

No K-pop?

As above: K-pop also seems absent. There are no nominations for BTS members who released solo material this year: RM’s “Right Place, Wrong Person,” “Hope on the Street, Vol. 1” and “Muse” by Jimin. As a boy band, BTS has received five nominations during their career.

A single nomination for notable artists

Despite being one of the biggest global superstars of the moment – ​​regularly celebrated as one of the most streamed artists on the planet – Bad Bunny’s “Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana” has not received only one nomination, for urban music album.

And Usher, who had a successful year — including a star-studded Super Bowl halftime show — also received just one nomination, for R&B album.

…And none for the others