Beyoncé continues to embark on watershed moments that embolden her position as a living luminary. She dominates the 2025 Grammy nominations with a whopping 11 nods, making history as the artist with the most Grammy nominations ever, brining her total to 99— just shy of 100.
The “YA YA” artist holds nominations in diverse categories including Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Pop Solo Performance, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, Best Melodic Rap Performance, Best Country Solo Performance, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, Best Country Song, Best Country Album, Best Americana Performance, and most notably, Album of the Year.
The impressive array of nominations can be credited to Cowboy Carter’s country theme, as Beyonce has secured groundbreaking nominations in categories relevant to the genre, broadening the Recording Academy’s consideration.
The Coming of ‘Cowboy Carter’
Beyonce shook the music world in February when she announced the coming of a new album during the Super Bowl—act ii, confirming the second installment of her Renaissance album trilogy. The accompanying imagery, visuals, and most obvious, the title was suggestive of her official entry into the country music genre. And so, it happened.
Queen Bey released two singles, “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages,” immediately making history—at this point, an effortless norm for the Texas native. She became the first Black woman to top Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart with “Texas Hold ‘Em,” which also surmounted the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
The first-day release of Cowboy Carter in March shattered streaming records on both Spotify and Amazon music, accumulating 76.5 million streams on Spotify alone.
Thanks to the single, “SPAGHETTI,” where we witness one of the rare instances of Beyoncé transforming into a rapstress, she has earned 83-year-old country music pioneer Linda Martell her first Grammy nomination. Martell is featured on the track alongside Nigerian-American country artist Shaboozey.
Shaboozey, also featured on “SPAGHETTI,” is slated for several 2025 Grammy nominations, competing with Beyoncé in categories Best Country Song, Best Country Solo Performance, and Song of the Year all for his single “A Bar Song (Tipsy).” Released in April, one month after the debut of Cowboy Carter, Shaboozey, this single marked the country artist’s official prime era.
While, the Virginia born artist has seen success prior to collaborating with Beyonce—making his official debut in 2014 with “Jeff Gordon,” being featured on the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse soundtrack, and releasing two albums– his breakthrough as a professional musician truly took course post his feature on Beyonce’s “SWEET ★ HONEY ★ BUCKIIN” and “SPAGHETTI.”
Beyoncé’s Bout With Album of the Year
At the 2024 Grammys, Jay-Z used his acceptance speech for the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award to voice his concerns about the Recording Academy’s level of consideration of the hip-hop genre and Black musicians. He cited his wife, Beyoncé as a prime example to illustrate his point.
“I don’t want to embarrass this young lady but she has more Grammys than everyone and never won album of the year,” Jay-Z said. “So even by your own metrics, that doesn’t work.”
For the 2025 Grammy Awards, Beyoncé is up against a competitive field for Album of the Year. Her contenders include three rising stars: Sabrina Carpenter, Charli xcx, and Chappell Roan; 6X Also in the running are established artists with heavy Grammy track records: six-time winner and multi-talent Jacob Collier, 9X winner Billie Eilish, and ten-time winner and hip-hop icon André 3000. Rounding out the category is 14X Grammy recipient Taylor Swift, whose eclectic artistry has positioned her as Beyonce’s primary competitor in the pop culture space.
Beyond their commercial victories, mounting cultural impact (as evidenced by their cult fan bases), and authority in pop culture, Beyonce’s recent foray into country music has set the stage for a new chapter in her friendly rivalry with Taylor Swift. Now, Swift is bound to compete with Queen Bey in a genre that has long been her speciality. These two artists, known for taking calculated risks with their art, are now aligned in their cross-genre pursuits.
The Grammy battle between Beyoncé and Taylor Swift began in 2010 when I Am Sasha Fierce and Fearless vied for Album of the Year, with Swift’s Fearless taking it home. However, the seeds of this friendly quantitative competition were sown earlier, at the 2009 MTV VMAs. Swift won Best Female Video, and Kanye West famously interrupted her acceptance speech, to voice what a portion of the music world considered obvious: “Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’mma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time!” West was referring to Beyonce’s era-defining “Single Ladies” music video, which was also a contender in the same category that year.
A face value analysis of this pop culture moment reveals the complex racial dynamics in the music industry. Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” was, and continues to be, a melody recognized worldwide by enthusiasts of every genre— the very metric Jay-Z alluded to in his speech. While Swift’s “You Belong With Me” achieved similar recognition, it didn’t brew the same cultural phenomenon as the Beyoncé anthem.
Fast forward to the 2025 Grammys, these two superstars are once again vying for Album of the Year—an accolade awarded to Swift four times, while it has eluded Beyoncé.
Remember when Beyoncé declared earlier this year, “This ain’t a country album. This is a Beyoncé album.” She not only meant it—she persevered. The upcoming award show is bound to be historic, as Beyoncé is poised to solidify her ability to break racial barriers in a predominantly white music genre.