A behind-the-scenes glimpse at the 2021 GRAMMY nominations for 3 of the top accolades - Record of The Year, Album of The Year, and Best New Artist. Along with trends from the past 20 years. Examining the nominees and victors by record label, artist management, booking agencies, gender, genre, market share, and more.
Record of The Year (ROTY)
Analysis of 2021's Nominees
GRAMMY Record of The Year Trends
Over the past ten years, there has been a surge in Universal Music Group's control over Record of the Year at The GRAMMYs. UMG artists have received more nominations than both Sony and Warner combined, and their victories equal the combined total of the other two major labels. Independent music is seldom nominated (as evidenced below), but when it is, indie contenders truly shine. Indie nominees boast an impressive 50% nomination/win rate, compared to UMG's 16%.
Amidst substantial growth in worldwide market-share (and even more impressive expansion in mind-share), indie music still plays a secondary role when it comes to Record of the Year nominees – averaging merely one nomination every two years. Following the rise from 5 to 8 nominations in 2019, this has improved to one nomination annually; however, the category continues to be dominated by major labels… at least regarding nominations.
The Record of the Year category at the GRAMMYs has a **fairly** balanced gender representation in its recent past. Female musicians have held a majority, plurality, or tie for 11 out of the past 21 years (nominations). However, in 5 of these years (almost a quarter of the time), no women received a nomination for the Record of the Year, compared to just one instance for men (2015). Expanding the number of nominations from 5 to 8 since 2019 was evidently a reaction to the lack of female nominees in 2018. So far, it seems to be making a difference 🤞
Album of The Year (AOTY)
Analysis of 2021's Nominees
GRAMMY Album of The Year Trends
The UMG supremacy displayed in the Record of the Year rankings is even more apparent here. In this century, UMG musicians have nearly as many Album of the Year nods as the other major labels and independents combined. In the past five years, UMG boasts more nominations than all other labels put together. A victory for UMG this year, with their 4 contenders, would place them just one short of matching the total wins of everyone else this century. Independent artists, once more, maintain the highest nomination-to-win ratio, securing a win 1 out of every 3 times they're nominated – that's twice as frequently as a UMG nominee.
The expansion of Album of The Year award nominations from 5 to 8 has positively impacted gender diversity. During 2000-2018, prior to the change, under 30% of nominees were female and non-binary artists. However, in the past 3 years, nearly 60% of nominees have been female artists. Throughout this century, male artists received 65% more nominations than their female counterparts, but women emerged 33% more victorious when nominated. Interestingly, it has been over a decade since a mixed-gender group last won the award (Arcade Fire - The Suburbs, 2010).
The expansion of nominations from 5 to 8 in 2019 has NOT resulted in increased Album of The Year recognition/nominations for independent music. In reality, between 2000 and 2018, indies made up slightly more than 10% of all nominations. Following the modification in 2019, that percentage has dropped down to 8%. In 10 out of the past 21 years, not a single indie artist was nominated. The highest number of indie artists nominated for Album of The Year in a single year was 2 (2009 – Radiohead & Robert Plant/Allison Krauss).
An increase in nominations has led to greater genre diversity among the 2021 nominees (5 distinct genres). Still, many argue that Rap, especially Black Rap artists, remains significantly underrepresented (with Post Malone as the sole Rap nominee this year). Glancing back over two decades of winners, the situation for Rap isn't much better. Only one Album of The Year victory for Rap (Outkast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below way back in 2004 😬). With a single nomination and Taylor's folklore in contention, the pattern seems unlikely to change in 2021. Apart from Rap, Pop has 4 victories, Country 4, and Rock 3. No other GRAMMY-classified genre has more than one win in 21 years.
Best New Artist (BNA)
Last Year's Winner (2020)
Billie Eilish
The Darkroom / Interscope / UMG
2021 Best New Artist GRAMMY Nominees
CHIKA
Doja cat
Phoebe Bridgers
Noah Cyrus
D Smoke
Kaytranada
Megan Thee Stallion
Ingres Andress
Analysis of 2021's Nominees
GRAMMY Album of The Year Trends
A different graph displaying UMG's supremacy in the overall arena at The GRAMMYs this century, boasting the highest nominations and victories. YET, when you click on the “Last 5 Years” tab, an intriguingly dissimilar image emerges – at least concerning nominations. Sony possesses 50% more nominations than UMG for Best New Artist over the past 5 years (without any triumphs). Warner and independent artists have also seen an increased nomination rate in recent years. UMG lacks any nominees for that category this year.
Among the three main categories examined here, Best New Artist exhibits the highest acknowledgment for female talents. Before extending to 8 nominees, women received nominations as frequently as men. Since the expansion in 2019, female artists have been nominated nearly 4 times more than their male counterparts. In addition, it's not only about the nominations. Together, women (11 victories), non-binary individuals (1), and mixed-gender groups (1) have claimed the Best New Artist title in 13 out of the past 21 years, including 5 triumphs in the last 6 years.
Pop musicians make up nearly one-third of Best New Artist nominations this century (31%), followed by R&B (17%) and Country (15%) in second and third places. In the past 20 years, 11 winners have come from the Pop genre, including six in the last eight years. This period also marked the first victories for Rap artists in the Best New Artist category, with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis in 2014 and Chance The Rapper in 2017.
