Too-early predictions for the Grammy Awards biggest categories

The Grammy Awards nominations were announced this week, but who will win (and should win) the biggest categories?
2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards
2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards / Kevin Mazur/GettyImages
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What did Jack Antonoff do to make Grammy Awards voters mad this year? He had been nominated at least once since 2019, but even though he had a hand in Taylor Swift and Sabrina Carpenter's nominated albums, the academy decided to leave him out of the nominations this year.

We will get into snubs for the Grammys at some later point, but let's just say had Antonoff been nominated, he probably would have been one of our predicted winners below. His absence might even imply Swift is not going to win a handful of trophies at the Grammys either. But that might be a stretch.

Perhaps that means Beyoncé will finally get the big award. She has the most nominations in Grammy history (99), but she is becoming a bit like the musical version of actress Glenn Close. In other words, always nominated but never wins the major award. At least, we will find out when the Grammys are held on February 2, 2025.

Too-early predictions for who will win (and should win) the major categories at the Grammy Awards

Album of the Year nominees:

  • André 3000 - New Blue Sun
  • Beyoncé - Cowboy Carter
  • Billie Eilish - Hot Me Hard and Soft
  • Chappell Roan - The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess
  • Charli XCX - Brat
  • Jacob Collier - Djesse Vol. 4
  • Sabrina Carpenter - Short n' Sweet
  • Taylor Swift - The Tortured Poets Department

Beyoncé has yet to win this category, while Taylor Swift has won four times already. There are some worthy candidates here, but they are mostly overshadowed by Queen Bey and Swift as even Eilish pales in comparison to the two. The guess here is that Swift will win again but that Beyoncé will be awarded in a different category.

Will win: Swift
Should win: André 3000

Song of the Year nominees:

  • "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" – Sean Cook, Jerrel Jones, Joe Kent, Chibueze Collins Obinna, Nevin Sastry and Mark Williams, songwriters (Shaboozey)
  • "Birds of a Feather" – Billie Eilish O'Connell and Finneas O'Connell, songwriters (Billie Eilish)
  • "Die With a Smile" – Dernst "D'Mile" Emile II, James Fauntleroy, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, and Andrew Watt, songwriters (Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars)
  • "Fortnight" – Jack Antonoff, Austin Post, and Taylor Swift, songwriters (Taylor Swift featuring Post Malone)
  • "Good Luck, Babe!" – Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, Daniel Nigro and Justin Tranter, songwriters (Chappell Roan)
  • "Not Like Us" – Kendrick Lamar, songwriter (Kendrick Lamar)
  • "Please Please Please" – Amy Allen, Jack Antonoff, and Sabrina Carpenter, songwriters (Sabrina Carpenter)
  • "Texas Hold 'Em" – Brian Bates, Beyoncé, Elizabeth Lowell Boland, Megan Bülow, Nate Ferraro and Raphael Saadiq, songwriters (Beyoncé)

The Grammys did their own dis of Drake by nominating Lamar's "Not Like Us" here. Shaboozey's track was a massive-selling hit, which this category can sometimes reward. Ultimately, this likely comes down to Swift, Beyoncé, and Eilish.

Will win: Eilish
Should win: Roan

Record of the Year nominees:

  • "Now and Then" – The Beatles
  • "Texas Hold 'Em" – Beyoncé
  • "Espresso" – Sabrina Carpenter
  • "360" – Charli XCX
  • "Birds of a Feather" – Billie Eilish
  • "Not Like Us" – Kendrick Lamar
  • "Good Luck, Babe!" – Chappell Roan
  • "Fortnight" – Taylor Swift featuring Post Malone

The Beatles being here is both a shout-out to their popularity and the use of AI on the track, but this is probably just the Grammy Awards taking advantage of the fact they can nominate the group. The reason Shaboozey is unlikely to win the Song of the Year category is that it isn't nominated here.

Will win: Beyoncé
Should win: Beyoncé

Best New Artist nominees:

  • Benson Boone
  • Sabrina Carpenter 
  • Doechi 
  • Khruangbin
  • Raye
  • Chappell Roan
  • Shaboozey
  • Teddy Swims

There are some extremely promising musical acts here that could be impact recording artists for many years to come. In fact, this might be the deepest group in this category in years. This probably comes down to Carpenter versus Roan, though.

Will win: Carpenter
Should win: Roan

Best Rock Album nominees:

  • Happiness Bastards - The Black Crowes
  • Romance - Fontaines D.C.
  • Saviors - Green Day
  • TANGK - Idles
  • Dark Matter - Pearl Jam
  • Hackney Diamonds - The Rolling Stones
  • No Name - Jack White

The Grammy voters must not listen to rock music. They likely got their ballot, saw names they were familiar with, and checked those boxes. Not that any of the records above are bad, but many of the artists have been around for 25 years or more. The academy could have done the easy thing and nominated "best new artist" (the band has been around for more than a decade) Khruangbin here but didn't.

Will win: Rolling Stones
Should win: White

Best Country album nominees:

  • Cowboy Carter – Beyoncé
  • F-1 Trillion – Post Malone
  • Deeper Well – Kacey Musgraves
  • Higher – Chris Stapleton
  • Whirlwind – Lainey Wilson

The academy might choose to go the safe route and give the award to Musgraves or Stapleton. This is likely the category where Beyoncé gets a win for her album. Some country radio stations might not like that, but oh well.

Will win: Beyoncé
Should win: Beyoncé

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