Lizzo, Billie Elish, Lil Nas X Get Grammy Love, While Taylor Swift, Halsey, BTS and Bruce Springsteen Get Grammy Snubs

Michael Prieve 10 Min Read
2020 Grammy Nominations

The nominees for the 2020 Grammy Awards were announced Wednesday morning (November 20, 2019) and they were full of surprises.

This year’s nominees were selected from more than 20,000 submissions across 84 categories, and reflect the wide range of artistic innovation that defined the year in music (Oct. 1, 2018–Aug. 31, 2019).

The final round of Grammy voting is Dec. 9, 2019–Jan. 3, 2020.

The Recording Academy will present the GRAMMY Awards on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020, live from Los Angeles’ STAPLES Center and broadcast on the CBS Television Network from 8:00–11:30 p.m. ET/5:00–8:30 p.m. PT.

First-time nominees Lizzo, Billie Eilish and Lil Nas X are the toast of the 2020 Grammy Awards, earning nominations in all four major categories including album, record and song of the year, as well as best new artist.

It's a surprising yet welcome change from past years when a reliable list of familiar faces have repeatedly dominated music's biggest night.

But there are some big names who were passed over or snubbed entirely for top honors at the upcoming show.

Though Taylor Swift picked up three nominations for Lover, she was left out of the top-tier Record and Album of the Year categories. Halsey, meanwhile, was nowhere to be found, despite her massive single “Without Me” being a strong contender for Song and Record of the Year.

Other surprising omissions: BTS, Bruce Springsteen and Megan Thee Stallion failing to garner any nominations, Maren Morris only scoring a nod for her Brandi Carlile duet and the Jonas Brothers‘ comeback album getting recognition in just one category. Beyonce‘s Homecoming also failed to get much love.

Halsey was one of the first to react to her snub this morning, while also sharing her disappointment that BTS — with whom she collaborated on “Boy with Luv” — was in the same boat.

“my fans 💕 please do not waste your anger or frustration. i see a lot of you are upset. of course im sad too. none of it matters,” she tweeted. “literally none of it. you're here. im here. + everything is gonna stay exactly the same and without me is still a super tight, record breaking song.”

Here are the top nominees in selected categories:

Record Of The Year:
“Hey, Ma” — Bon Iver
“Bad Guy” — Billie Eilish
“7 Rings” — Ariana Grande
“Hard Place” — H.E.R.
“Talk” — Khalid
“Old Town Road” — Lil Nas X Featuring Billy Ray Cyrus
“Truth Hurts” — Lizzo
“Sunflower” — Post Malone & Swae Lee

Album Of The Year:
i,i — Bon Iver
Norman F***ing Rockwell! — Lana Del Rey
When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? — Billie Eilish
thank u, next — Ariana Grande
I Used To Know Her — H.E.R.
7 — Lil Nas X
Cuz I Love You (Deluxe) — Lizzo
Father Of The Bride — Vampire Weekend

Song Of The Year:
“Always Remember Us This Way” — Natalie Hemby, Lady Gaga, Hillary Lindsey & Lori McKenna, songwriters (Lady Gaga)
“Bad Guy” — Billie Eilish O’Connell & Finneas O’Connell, songwriters (Billie Eilish)
“Bring My Flowers Now” — Brandi Carlile, Phil Hanseroth, Tim Hanseroth & Tanya Tucker, songwriters (Tanya Tucker)
“Hard Place” — Ruby Amanfu, Sam Ashworth, D. Arcelious Harris, H.E.R. & Rodney Jerkins, songwriters (H.E.R.)
“Lover” — Taylor Swift, songwriter (Taylor Swift)
“Norman F***ing Rockwell” — Jack Antonoff & Lana Del Rey, songwriters (Lana Del Rey)
“Someone You Loved” — Tom Barnes, Lewis Capaldi, Pete Kelleher, Benjamin Kohn & Sam Roman, songwriters (Lewis Capaldi)
“Truth Hurts” — Steven Cheung, Eric Frederic, Melissa Jefferson & Jesse Saint John, songwriters (Lizzo)

Best New Artist:
Black Pumas
Billie Eilish
Lil Nas X
Lizzo
Maggie Rogers
Rosalía
Tank And The Bangas
Yola

Best Pop Solo Performance:
“Spirit” — Beyoncé
“Bad Guy” — Billie Eilish
“7 Rings” — Ariana Grande
“Truth Hurts” — Lizzo
“You Need To Calm Down” — Taylor Swift

Best Pop Vocal Album:
The Lion King: The Gift — Beyoncé
When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? — Billie Eilish
thank u, next — Ariana Grande
No. 6 Collaborations Project — Ed Sheeran
Lover — Taylor Swift

Best Dance Recording:
“Linked” — Bonobo
“Got To Keep On” — The Chemical Brothers
“Piece Of Your Heart” — Meduza Featuring Goodboys
“Underwater” — RÜFÜS DU SOL
“Midnight Hour” — Skrillex & Boys Noize Featuring Ty Dolla $ign

Best Rock Album:
Amo — Bring Me The Horizon
Social Cues — Cage The Elephant
In The End — The Cranberries
Trauma — I Prevail
Feral Roots — Rival Sons

Best R&B Performance:
“Love Again” — Daniel Caesar & Brandy
“Could’ve Been” — H.E.R. Featuring Bryson Tiller
“Exactly How I Feel” — Lizzo Featuring Gucci Mane
“Roll Some Mo” — Lucky Daye
“Come Home” — Anderson .Paak Featuring André 3000

Best Rap Album:
Revenge Of The Dreamers III — Dreamville
Championships — Meek Mill
I Am > I Was — 21 Savage
Igor — Tyler, The Creator
The Lost Boy — YBN Cordae

Best Country Song:
“Bring My Flowers Now” — Brandi Carlile, Phil Hanseroth, Tim Hanseroth & Tanya Tucker, songwriters (Tanya Tucker)
“Girl Goin’ Nowhere” — Jeremy Bussey & Ashley McBryde, songwriters (Ashley McBryde)
“It All Comes Out In The Wash” — Miranda Lambert, Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna & Liz Rose, songwriters (Miranda Lambert)
“Some Of It” — Eric Church, Clint Daniels, Jeff Hyde & Bobby Pinson, songwriters (Eric Church)
“Speechless” — Shay Mooney, Jordan Reynolds, Dan Smyers & Laura Veltz, songwriters (Dan + Shay)

Best Country Solo Performance:
“All Your’n” — Tyler Childers
“Girl Goin’ Nowhere” — Ashley McBryde
“Ride Me Back Home” — Willie Nelson
“God’s Country” — Blake Shelton
“Bring My Flowers Now” — Tanya Tucker

Best Country Duo/Group Performance:
“Brand New Man” — Brooks & Dunn ft. Luke Combs
“I Don’t Remember Me Before You” — Brothers Osborne
“Speechless” — Dan+Shay
“The Daughters” — Little Big Town
“Common” — Maren Morris ft. Brandi Carlile

Best Country Album
Desperate Man — Eric Church
Stronger Than The Truth — Reba McEntire
Interstate Gospel — Pistol Annies
Center Point Road — Thomas Rhett
While I’m Livin’ — Tanya Tucker

Best Jazz Vocal Album:
Thirsty Ghost — Sara Gazarek
Love & Liberation — Jazzmeia Horn
Alone Together — Catherine Russell
12 Little Spells — Esperanza Spalding
Screenplay — The Tierney Sutton Band

Best Gospel Album:
Long Live Love — Kirk Franklin
Goshen — Donald Lawrence Presents The Tri-City Singers
Tunnel Vision — Gene Moore
Settle Here — William Murphy
Something’s Happening! A Christmas Album — CeCe Winans

Best Latin Rock, Urban Or Alternative Album:
X 100PRE — Bad Bunny
Oasis — J Balvin & Bad Bunny
Indestructible — Flor De Toloache
Almadura — iLe
El Mal Querer — Rosalía

Best Americana Album:
Years To Burn — Calexico And Iron & Wine
Who Are You Now — Madison Cunningham
Oklahoma — Keb’ Mo’
Tales Of America — J.S. Ondara
Walk Through Fire — Yola

Best Spoken Word Album (Includes Poetry, Audio Books & Storytelling):
Beastie Boys Book — (Various Artists) Michael Diamond, Adam Horovitz, Scott Sherratt & Dan Zitt, producers
Becoming — Michelle Obama
I.V. Catatonia: 20 Years As A Two-Time Cancer Survivor — Eric Alexandrakis
Mr. Know-It-All — John Waters
Sekou Andrews & The String Theory — Sekou Andrews & The String Theory

Best Song Written For Visual Media:
“The Ballad Of The Lonesome Cowboy” — Randy Newman, songwriter (Chris Stapleton), Track from: Toy Story 4
“Girl In The Movies” — Dolly Parton & Linda Perry, songwriters (Dolly Parton), Track from: Dumplin’
“I’ll Never Love Again” (Film Version) — Natalie Hemby, Lady Gaga, Hillary Lindsey & Aaron Raitiere songwriters (Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper), Track from: A Star Is Born
“Spirit” — Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Timothy McKenzie & Ilya Salmanzadeh, songwriters (Beyoncé), Track from: The Lion King
“Suspirium” — Thom Yorke, songwriter (Thom Yorke), Track from: Suspiria

Best Music Film:
Homecoming — Beyoncé
Remember My Name — David Crosby
Birth Of The Cool — (Miles Davis)
Shangri-La — (Various Artists)
Anima — Thom Yorke

The complete list of more than 80 categories can be found on Grammy.com.

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