NEW YORK– It looks like the 2025 Grammy Awards could be a different kind of awards show. Beyoncé tops the rankings with 11, bringing her career total to a record 99 nominations. There is an incredible diversity of genres represented across the major categories, and women continue to find success. So… who didn’t make it? What were the nicest surprises of all? Let’s see.

Country music has moved into other prominent genres, and the Recording Academy has taken notice. Country hybrids – such as Beyoncé, Post Malone and the first nominee Shaboozey – lead many nominations, both in country and beyond.

But that means the traditionalists may not see any rewards: CMA Awards favorites Cody Johnson’s ‘Leather’ and Luke Combs’ ‘Fathers’ & Sons” saw no nominations. The latter should come as no surprise: Comb’s blockbuster cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” wasn’t nominated for record of the year at the 2024 Grammys either — though it did earn a nod in best country solo performance. .

This year also marks the first-ever nominations for Malone and Beyoncé in the country categories.

Who saw this coming? The Beatles’ latest new song, the AI-powered ‘Now and Then’, has been nominated for record of the year. Released in 2023, the song used artificial intelligence to extract John Lennon’s voice from an old demo. It’s the same technology that was used to extract the Beatles’ voices from background noise during the making of director Peter Jackson’s 2021 documentary series, “The Beatles: Get Back.”

Last summer, the Recording Academy announced a series of changes to the Grammy Awards, including new protocols regarding technological advances in machine learning. It made headlines: “Only human creators” could win the music industry’s top honor in a decision targeting the use of artificial intelligence in popular music. These changes are clearly in effect at the 2025 Grammys.

Last year’s Album of the Year category was dominated by pop women – and that remains the case, with Taylor Swift, Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX’s rave-ready approach to the genre receiving nominations. The latter is a nice surprise (more about that below), but the two nominated men are creative outliers. OutKast frontman André 3000’s experimental jazz flute album “New Blue Sun” is a contender, as is Jacob Collier’s “Djesse Vol. 4”, although that could fill a space left empty by Jon Batiste.

Charli and music videos. It’s clear that her culture-changing ‘BRAT’ album – and the summer of memes it inspired – continues to have real influence.

There is no shortage of first nominees this year. Some were expected – like Roan, Timmerman and Shaboozey – and others were expected to be less so. Willow Smith has received her first nomination in the arrangements, instruments and vocals category for arranging her song ‘bigfeeling s’. Linda Martell, country’s first commercially successful black musician, stars with Shaboozey in Beyoncé’s “SPAGHETTII,” which falls into the category of melodic rap performance. This earned the founding father her very first Grammy nomination at the age of 83.

And finally, Morgan Wallen – undoubtedly one of the country’s most popular musicians, and one fraught with controversy – has received his first two Grammy nominations for his feature in Malone’s “I Had Some Help.” Last year, his song “Last Night” was nominated for best country song, but that’s a songwriter award, and Wallen didn’t get a nod.

In the past, the country singer has been missing from nominations. In 2021, after a video surfaced of him making racist comments, he was disqualified or restricted from several award shows and received no Grammy nominations for his best-selling “Dangerous: The Double Album.”

Like last year, Latin music is missing from the top categories of the 2025 Grammys, despite a surplus of eligible talent: Peso Pluma’s ‘Éxodo’, Shakira’s ‘Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran’, Residente, ‘Las Letras Ya No Importan ‘, Carín León’s “Boca Chueca, Vol. 1” and “Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana” by Bad Bunny underneath.

Same as above: K-pop also seems to be absent. There are no nominations for the BTS members who released solo material this year: RM’s ‘Right Place, Wrong Person’, J-Hope’s ‘Hope on the Street, Vol. 1,” and Jimin’s “Muse.” As a boy band, BTS has received five nominations during its career.

Despite being one of today’s great global superstars – regularly celebrated as one of the most streamed artists in the world – Bad Bunny’s “Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana” received just one nomination, for the album música urbana.

And Usher, who had a banner year — including a star-studded Super Bowl halftime show — also received just one nomination, for R&B album.

Dua Lipa’s ‘Eternal Optimism’ is nowhere to be found in pop music. In country, hopeful new artist Megan Moroney received no nominations. In R&B, Normani’s highly anticipated debut album, ‘Dopamine’, failed to make waves with voters, and missing from rap are Nicki Minaj’s ‘Pink Friday 2’ and Megan Thee Stallion’s ‘Megan’.

Last year, Jack Antonoff was named Non-Classical Producer of the Year for the third year in a row, making Babyface the only other producer to do so in a row. This year he did not receive an award in that category, a category in which he has held a place since 2019. Who will do the honors?

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The 2025 Grammy Awards will air live on CBS and Paramount+ on February 2 from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.