LOS ANGELES — Music professionals in the Recording Academy were welcomed to Grammy season this year with an impassioned plea from Chief Executive Harvey Mason Jr., who sent a letter to the group’s 13,000 or so voting members in July that urged them to “vote intentionally, deliberately, with pride and with purpose.” We’ll see what effect his entreaty had when nominations for the 67th Grammy Awards are announced on Nov. 8. To be eligible for consideration, a recording must have been released between Sept. 16, 2023, and Aug. 30, 2024.
Here are our predictions for nominations in some of the more closely watched categories, with potential honorees listed in alphabetical order.
Album of the year
Beyoncé, “Cowboy Carter”
Sabrina Carpenter, “Short n’ Sweet”
Billie Eilish, “Hit Me Hard and Soft”
Ariana Grande, “Eternal Sunshine”
Post Malone, “F-1 Trillion”
Chappell Roan, “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess”
Taylor Swift, “The Tortured Poets Department”
Usher, “Coming Home”
Possible surprise: Charli XCX, “Brat”
The Grammys’ equivalent of the best picture category is almost certain to reflect this year’s bumper crop of albums by pop’s top female stars, including Beyoncé (who’s won more Grammys than anyone in history) and Taylor Swift (who’s taken album of the year an unrivaled four times). Be on the lookout for an appearance by Usher, who dropped his ninth solo LP just days before he headlined February’s Super Bowl halftime show — a tactic that paid off in an album of the year nod when Usher’s old pal Mary J. Blige deployed it in 2022.
Record of the year
Beyoncé, “Texas Hold ‘Em”
Sabrina Carpenter, “Espresso”
Billie Eilish, “Birds of a Feather”
Hozier, “Too Sweet”
Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars, “Die With a Smile”
Kendrick Lamar, “Not Like Us”
Chappell Roan, “Good Luck, Babe!”
Taylor Swift featuring Post Malone, “Fortnight”
Possible surprise: Post Malone featuring Morgan Wallen, “I Had Some Help”
Based on cultural impact, Kendrick Lamar’s Drake-dissing “Not Like Us” has to be considered a shoo-in for record of the year — but with the Grammys, of course, anything involving hip-hop comes with a big question mark. Expect Beyoncé to extend her lead as the artist with the most record nominations (this would be her ninth) and Bruno Mars to pull even with Frank Sinatra’s seven in the category. A nod for the smash “I Had Some Help” would serve as Morgan Wallen’s first Grammy nomination (after the writers of his hit “Last Night” scored one last year).
