2022 Grammy Awards: The Nominations

The biggest news this year regarding the Grammys is their shift away from nomination committees, allowing most category nominees to be chosen by popular vote.  NARAS also reduced the number of categories and fields that members could vote in, looking to ensure that genre nominees and winners are chosen by those most familiar with those styles of music. They also expanded the number of nominees in the General Field to ten per category.

So how did that impact the final ballot? It’s hard to say, as the Grammys have struck a balance between commercial and critical favorites for years now.  Legends have done really well, with Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson earning Traditional Pop Vocal Album nominations and ABBA earning its first ever Grammy nomination, for Record of the Year.  But much like Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga’s nods, these are easy to imagine having happened under the previous rules.

But I think the most interesting thing is how several General Field nominees this year do not have accompanying nominations in their genre fields.  This could be because of their being more slots available in General, but given that so many Pop and Rap nominees didn’t make it into the General Field lists, I think it’s more indicative of differing tastes between genre voters and the voting population as a whole.

Which I think is great! One of the most boring elements of past Grammy shows was knowing that whatever pop, rock, country, R&B, and rap album made it into the all-genre Album of the Year category was a virtual lock to win the genre award.  With artists like Taylor Swift, ABBA, and Lil Nas X having cross-genre or even genre-less appeal, their General nominations allow them to get recognized, even if their albums didn’t make the final list in their assigned genre categories.  It’s also nice to see Jimmie Allen, Brandy Clark, and Lori McKenna earn General Field nominations this year.

I think this year’s ballot is as strong as any I’ve seen over the years, and as longtime readers know, I’m already of the firm belief that the Grammys get it right more often than any other awards organization.

Here are the 2022 Grammy nominees in the general, country, and country-adjacent categories, alongside any other category where a country artist received a nomination.

GENERAL FIELD

Record of the Year

• ABBA, “I Still Have Faith in You”
• Jon Batiste, “Freedom”
• Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga, “I Get a Kick Out of You”
• Justin Bieber featuring Daniel Cesar & Giveon, “Peaches”
• Brandi Carlile, “Right On Time”
• Doja Cat featuring SZA, “Kiss Me More”
• Billie Eilish, “Happier Than Ever”
• Lil Nas X, “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)”
• Olivia Rodrigo, “drivers license”
• Silk Sonic, “Leave the Door Open”

Album of the Year

• Jon Batiste, We Are
• Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga, Love for Sale
• Justin Bieber, Justice (Triple Chucks Deluxe)
• Doja Cat, Planet Her (Deluxe)
• Billie Eilish, Happier Than Ever
• H.E.R., Back of My Mind
• Lil Nas X, Montero
• Olivia Rodrigo, Sour
• Taylor Swift, evermore
• Kanye West, Donda

Song of the Year

• “Bad Habits” – Fred Gibson, Johnny McDaid, and Ed Sheeran
• “A Beautiful Noise” – Ruby Amanfu, Brandi Carlile, Brandy Clark, Alicia Keys, Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna, Linda Perry, and Hailey Whitters
• “drivers license” – Daniel Nigro and Olivia Rodrigo
• “Fight For You” – Dernst Emile II, H.E.R., and Tiara Thomas
• “Kiss Me More” – Roget Chahayed, Amala Zandile Dlamini, Lukasz Gottwald, Carter Lang, Gerard A. Powell II, Solana Rowe, and David Sprecher
• “Leave the Door Open” – Brandon Anderson, Christopher Brody Brown, Dernst Emile II, and Bruno Mars
• “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” – Denzel Baptiste, David Biral, Omer Fedi, Montero Hill, and Roy Lenzo
• “Peaches” – Louis Bell, Justin Bieber, Giveon Dezmann Evans, Bernard Harvey, Felisha “Fury” King, Matthew Sean Leon, Luis Manuel Martinez Jr., Aaron Simmonds, Ashton Simmonds, Andrew Wotman, and Keavan Yazdini
• “Right On Time” – Brandi Carlile, Dave Cobb, Phil Hanseroth, and Tim Hanseroth

Best New Artist

• Arooj Aftab
• Jimmie Allen
• Baby Keem
• FINNEAS
• Glass Animals
• Japanese Breakfast
• The Kid LAROI
• Arlo Parks
• Olivia Rodrigo
• Saweetie

COUNTRY

Best Country Solo Performance

• Luke Combs, “Forever After All”
• Mickey Guyton, “Remember Her Name”
• Jason Isbell, “All I Do is Drive”
• Kacey Musgraves, “camera roll”
• Chris Stapleton, “You Should Probably Leave”

Best Country Duo/Group Performance

• Jason Aldean & Carrie Underwood, “If I Didn’t Love You”
• Brothers Osborne, “Younger Me”
• Dan + Shay, “Glad You Exist”
• Ryan Hurd & Maren Morris, “Chasing After You”
• Elle King & Miranda Lambert, “Drunk (and I Don’t Wanna Go Home)”

Best Country Song

• “Better Than We Found It” – Jessie Jo Dillon, Maren Morris, Jimmy Robbins, and Laura Veltz
• “camera roll” – Ian Fitchuk, Kacey Musgraves, and Daniel Tashian
• “Cold” – David Cobb, J.T. Cure, Derek Mixon, and Chris Stapleton
• “Country Again” – Zach Crowell, Ashley Gorley, and Thomas Rhett
• “Fancy Like” – Cameron Bartolini, Walker Hayes, Josh Jenkins, and Shane Stevens
• “Remember Her Name” – Mickey Guyton, Blake Hubbard, Jarrod Ingram, and Parker Welling

Best Country Album

• Brothers Osborne, Skeletons
• Mickey Guyton, Remember Her Name
• Miranda Lambert, Jon Randall & Jack Ingram, The Marfa Tapes
• Sturgill Simpson, The Ballad of Dood & Juanita
• Chris Stapleton, Starting Over

AMERICAN ROOTS MUSIC

Best American Roots Performance

• Jon Batiste, “Cry”
• Billy Strings, “Love and Regret”
• The Blind Boys of Alabama and Bela Fleck, “I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to Be Free”
• Brandy Clark featuring Brandi Carlile, “Same Devil”
• Allison Russell, “Nightflyer”

Best American Roots Song

• “Avalon” – Rhiannon Giddens, Justin Robinson, and Francesco Turrisi
• “Call Me a Fool” – Valerie June
• “Cry” – Jon Batiste and Steve McEwan
• “Diamond Studded Shoes” – Dan Auerbach, Natalie Hemby, Aaron Lee Tasjan, and Yola
• “Nightflyer” – Jeremy Lindsay and Allison Russell

Best Americana Album

• Jackson Browne, Downhill From Everywhere
• John Hiatt with The Jerry Douglas Band, Leftover Feelings
• Los Lobos, Native Sons
• Allison Russell, Outside Child
• Yola, Stand For Myself

Best Bluegrass Album

• Billy Strings, Renewal
• Bela Fleck, My Bluegrass Heart
• The Infamous Stringdusters, A Tribute to Bill Monroe
• Sturgill Simpson, Cuttin’ Grass – Vol. 1 (Butcher Shoppe Sessions)
• Rhonda Vincent, Music is What I See

Best Folk Album

• Mary Chapin Carpenter, One Lonely Night (Live)
• Tyler Childers, Long Violent History
• Madison Cunningham, Wednesday (Extended Edition)
• Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi, They’re Calling Me Home
• Sarah Jarosz, Blue Heron Suite

POP

Best Pop Solo Vocal Performance

• Justin Bieber, “Anyone”
• Brandi Carlile, “Right On Time”
• Billie Eilish, “Happier Than Ever”
• Ariana Grande, “Positions”
• Olivia Rodrigo, “drivers license”

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album

• Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga, Love For Sale
• Norah Jones, Til We Meet Again (Live)
• Tori Kelly, A Tori Kelly Christmas
• Ledisi, Ledisi Sings Nina
• Willie Nelson, That’s Life
• Dolly Parton, A Holly Dolly Christmas

GOSPEL/CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN MUSIC

Best Roots Gospel Album

• Harry Connick, Jr., Alone With My Faith
• Gaither Vocal Band, That’s Gospel, Brother
• Ernie Haase & Signature Sound, Keeping On
• The Isaacs, Songs For the Times
• Carrie Underwood, My Savior