Grammy 2021 Nominations: Beyoncé, Dua Lipa & Taylor Swift Lead; The Weeknd, BTS Snubbed

Beyoncé dominated this year’s list of Grammy nominees, leading a diverse but arguably scattered group of artists whose names were listed in Tuesday’s nomination ceremony for the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. The “Black Parade” singer earned nine total nods in eight categories, while Dua Lipa, Taylor Swift and Roddy Ricch follow behind, each with six of their own.

The nominations were announced at noon on Nov. 24th and featured appearances from interim Recording Academy president Harvey Mason, Jr. as well as Dua Lipa, Imogen Heap, Lauren Daigle, Mickey Guyton, Yemi Alade, Nicole Benedetti, Pepe Aguilar, Megan Thee Stallion and Sharon Osbourne.

Beyoncé one-off single this year, “Black Parade” earned the star a handful of nominations including Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song. She also earned three nominations for her “Savage” remix collaboration with Megan Thee Stallion and topped it off with nods for Best Music Film for Black Is King and Best Music Video for “Brown Skin Girl.”

Swift, who surprised the world with folklore this year, snagged five nominations for the album and its lead single “Cardigan,” an improvement from the minimal attention she got from the Recording Academy last year. She got a sixth nomination for the song “Beautiful Ghosts,” which she wrote with Andrew Lloyd Webber for the movie Cats.

Disco-pop star Dua Lipa, who won Best New Artist in 2019, earned an Album of the Year nomination for Future Nostalgia and her song “Don’t Start Now” was nominated for both record and song of the year. Roddy Ricch got a Song of the Year nod for his solo hit “The Box,” while he and DaBaby are up for Record of the Year for their collaboration “Rockstar.”

Billie Eilish, the 18-year-old singer-songwriter who swept the 2020 Grammy Awards, and rappers Megan Thee Stallion and DaBaby each got four nods each. Brittany Howard is also in for a big Grammys night – the musician picked up five total nominations in a wide range of categories and genres.

Korean megastars BTS received their first Grammy nomination for their smash hit “Dynamite” in the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category. BTS previously earned Grammy recognition at the 2019 ceremony when art director HuskyFox picked up a nod for Best Recording Package for their 2018 album Love Yourself: Tear.

Outside of the night’s biggest categories, one nomination of note is Mickey Guyton, whose nomination for Best Country Solo Performance for “Black Like Me” made her the first black female solo artist to earn a Grammy nod in a country category.

As usual, the ceremony was not without controversy among music fans. Though the Recording Academy seemed to make attempts to shift away from their conservatism by diversifying the playing field and reflecting the current state of music, many nominations were missing or felt out of place in the eyes of music fans.

Many people pointed out the snubbing of both The Weeknd and BTS for their critically and commercially successful albums After Hours and Map of the Soul: 7, respectively. In fact, the former failed to earn a single Grammy nomination, despite his song “Blinding Lights” breaking the record for the longest-running top 10 hit in Billboard Hot100 history, which surprised many fans who believed the star would be a shoo-in for a Song, Record, or Album of the Year nomination.

Both music fans and Justin Bieber himself spoke out about his nominations in Pop categories, despite his album Changes and it’s songs being in the R&B genre. Others among the long list of musicians that fans online believed were snubbed include Halsey, Rina Sawayama, and Fiona Apple.

The 63rd Grammy Awards ceremony will air on CBS on Sunday, Jan. 31, 2021 at 8 p.m. EST featuring Trevor Noah as the host.