The 2025 Grammy nominations are in, and once again, Beyoncé leads the pack with 11 nods, the most of any artist this year. Alongside her, fan favorites like Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us and Sabrina Carpenter’s Espresso are also in the running for the industry’s top honor.
Among Beyoncé’s double-digit nominations, a sensitive point: Her fifth Album of the Year nomination.
Despite holding the record for the most Grammy nominations of all time with 33 wins and consistently delivering exceptional albums, Beyoncé has yet to secure the coveted Album of the Year award.
Let’s take a deep dive into Beyoncé’s Grammy history, exploring her multiple Album of the Year nominations and examining how the Recording Academy approaches its nomination process.
A Complicated Past
Beyoncé has been nominated for—and lost—Album of the Year four times.
This year, Beyoncé earned her fifth nomination for her country-inspired album Cowboy Carter.
Other nominees for Album of the Year include:
- Blue Sky by Andre 3000
- Short n’ Sweet by Sabrina Carpenter
- BRAT by Charli XCX
- Djesse Vol. 4 by Jacob Collier
- HIT ME HARD AND SOFT by Billie Eilish
- The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess by Chappell Roan
- THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT by Taylor Swift
Should Taylor Swift’s THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT win Album of the Year in February, it will be the third time she has claimed the honor while Beyoncé was also in the running.
Beyonce’s AOTY Losses
Beyoncé’s first significant Album Of The Year loss was in 2010 for I Am… Sasha Fierce.
This album featured iconic songs like Single Ladies, Ego, If I Were A Boy, Halo, and more. But the award went to Taylor Swift for her album, Fearless, Swift’s first of what now stands at four Album of the Year wins. Still, Swift’s 14 total Grammy wins pale in comparison to Beyoncé’s 33.
In 2015, Beyoncé got her second Album of the Year nomination for her self-titled album Beyoncé. The album featured chart-toppers like Drunk in Love, XO, and 7/11.
The album was groundbreaking, not just for its bold and experimental sound and artistic videos for each, but for its surprise release. Beyoncé quietly released the album on streaming services without any advance promotion, a move that was virtually unheard of in the industry at the time. It was a bold, confident statement—one that not just anyone can pull off. Beyoncé needs no introduction.
Since then, many artists have tried to replicate her surprise-drop strategy, with varying degrees of success. Unsurprisingly, not everyone can pull off a Beyoncé.
Still, that year, Beck ended up winning the award for his album Morning Phase—a win that surprised many.
The Anticlimax of Lemonade
But the real catalyst for the controversy surrounding Beyoncé being “snubbed” came in 2017, when she was nominated for the critically acclaimed, commercially successful Lemonade.
Lemonade was received as her most personal album, exploring themes of marital infidelity. At the time, hearsay reports and fans speculation believed that Beyoncé and husband Jay-Z were undergoing marital problems, and many fans took Lemonade as confirmation that the rumors were true.
Lemonade was praised for it’s personal and vulnerable themes while also exploring legacy, generational traumas, motherhood, race, and societal issues while still producing chart-topping bops. Despite its heavy and complicated themes, Lemonade wraps with songs about hope and reconciliation, as its title implies.
Lemonade, released with a cohesive, chronological set of music videos, and is widely considered to be her magnum opus. In the Lemonade era, Beyoncé went from pop star to living icon—and many expected her to finally land the Album of the Year.
Despite being an Album of the Year frontrunner, Lemonade still lost out to Album of the Year to Adele’s 25. Lemonade was so widely expected to win that year, Adele herself was caught off guard.
“But I can’t possibly accept this award, and I’m very humbled and I’m very grateful and gracious. But my artist of my life is Beyoncé. And this album to me, the Lemonade album, is just so monumental. Beyoncé, it’s so monumental.”
—Adele’s Album of the Year acceptance speech, 2017.
Beyoncé would earn another nomination for Album of the Year in 2023 for Renaissance, but once again lose out. That year, the award went to Taylor Swift for her album Midnights.
Beyoncé 5th Attempt
As Beyoncé gears up for her fifth shot at the coveted Album of the Year Grammy, the stakes have never been higher. With Cowboy Carter potentially marking a historic moment in her career, fans are eagerly awaiting to see if the Queen will finally claim what’s eluded her for so long.
The anticipation is building, and all eyes will be on Beyoncé come February 2025. Will she finally make history?
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