The Recording Academy announced on Tuesday a sweeping set of rule updates for the 69th Annual Grammy Awards. The Academy updates rules and adds categories in response to proposals from members every year. This cycle, though, the scope is notably broad.
The Recording Academy is introducing five new categories for the 69th Annual Grammy Awards, which will bring the total number of awards to 100. The additional new categories include Best R&B Collaboration or Duo/Group Performance, Best Traditional Folk Album, and Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance. The academy also announced the addition of a Best Asian Pop Music Performance category, celebrating releases across K-pop, J-pop, C-pop and beyond, awarded to the performer. Rounding out the five is Best Latin Song. That award will recognize the achievement of songwriters for newly written Latin songs predominantly in the Spanish language, requiring at least 51% of the lyrics.
Best Folk Album has been renamed Best Contemporary Folk Album following the introduction of Best Traditional Folk Album. Similarly, Best R&B Performance will be renamed Best R&B Solo Performance following the creation of the new collaboration performance category.
On the eligibility side, the changes carry real weight. The Academy is increasing from three to four the number of times a new artist may be entered in the Best New Artist process before being ruled ineligible. The new rule reflects "the evolving nature of artist development," according to the Recording Academy. That change is good news for Ella Langley, Megan Moroney, Ken Carson and Ravyn Lenae, all of whom had been entered three times previously and would have been disqualified under the old rules.
The threshold of new recordings required on an eligible album has also been lowered from 75% to 66% "to reduce the exclusion of entries that are widely recognized throughout the music industry as new albums." It is a practical fix, and one that reflects how artists actually release music now.
Songwriters and Composers of new material on the winning albums in most genre album categories will now receive Grammy statuettes and Achievement Certificates in parity with the recognition currently afforded to Producers and Engineers in those categories. That shift has been a long time coming for many in the songwriting community.
A new opt-in voting option called Ballot Plus will allow eligible voting members with expertise across multiple genres to vote in up to 15 peer-related categories based on their verified professional credits. Internet-only releases will now also be eligible for Best Album Notes and Best Historical Album categories if supporting materials are included with the commercial download.
"2027 is going to be an amazing year for the Grammy Awards, and one that reflects the extraordinary growth we're seeing across music," said Grammys CEO Harvey Mason jr. The 69th Grammy Awards will air live across ABC, Disney+ and Hulu on February 7, 2027. To be eligible for the 69th Annual Grammy Awards, recordings must be released between Aug. 31, 2025 and Aug. 28, 2026. Grammy nominations will be announced Nov. 16.
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