Four Grammy milestones this year include record representation for women

The 2025 Grammy nominations included some artists who made history. That includes Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” earning the most nominations for a single album (11), which also made Beyoncé the most nominated female artist in a single year and the most nominated individual of all time (she has 99 career bids). But here are four more milestones that might’ve flown under the radar.

First artist to sweep the new pop field
The Grammy pop field now comprises four categories: Best Pop Solo Performance, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, Best Pop Vocal Album and the relatively new Best Dance Pop Recording. This year Billie Eilish is the first artist nominated in all four categories in the same year. She achieved this with her hit “Birds of a Feather” in the pop solo race, “Guess” with Charli XCX in the duo/group contest, “L’Amour De Ma Vie (Over Now Extended Edit)” in dance pop, and “Hit Me Hard and Soft” in the album category.

Ariana Grande has also been nominated in all four categories, albeit not in the same year. Grande is a six-time Best Pop Vocal Album nominee (including a win for “Sweetener”), a four-time pop solo nominee, and a pop duo/group winner (for “Rain on Me” with Lady Gaga). This year she unlocked the new category, getting into Best Dance Pop Recording for “Yes, And?”

Eilish also achieved another record, tying Taylor Swift for the most nominations for Best Pop Solo Performance, with five. Neither artist has yet won the category, although that could change this year for Eilish.

Most women nominated for Best Metal Performance
Metal is a male-dominated genre, though that’s been slowly changing. The Grammy for Best Metal Performance has nominated women before like Poppy, and Reba Meyers of Code Orange. But the 2025 Grammys have set the record for the most women nominated in a single year, with three of the songs including female artists. Those women are Marina Viotti (with Gojira and Victor Le Masne) for “Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça ira!),” Poppy (with Knocked Loose) for “Suffocate,” and Spiritbox’s Courtney LaPlante for “Cellar Door.” These nominations signify a tide change in metal and perhaps also open the door for more female artists to be included in the genre. Furthermore, if any of the ladies win, they’ll become the first female winner of the category.

Most Best Country Song nominations
Prolific country songwriter Shane McAnally is now the most nominated person in the Best Country Song category, having achieved a whopping nine bids, breaking his tie with industry legend Vince Gill for the record. What’s even more impressive is the relatively short time it took, with his first nomination in the category coming in 2014. And it’s especially remarkable considering Best Country Song has been awarded since 1965. This year he broke the record for co-writing the Kacey Musgraves tune “The Architect,” which is also up for Best Country Solo Performance.

Musgraves also makes history with “The Architect,” tying Miranda Lambert and Lori McKenna as the most nominated female songwriter in the category with six. Her previous nominated songs include “I Remember Everything,” “Mama’s Broken Heart,” “Camera Roll,” and her winning hits “Merry Go Round” and “Space Cowboy.”

First all-female Best Pop Vocal Album lineup
This has been a big year for female artists, particularly in pop, and the Grammy nominations reflect that. Across the entire pop field, only three male artists are nominated: Post Malone as a featured artist on Beyoncé’s “Levii’s Jeans,” Bruno Mars alongside Lady Gaga on “Die With A Smile,” and Troye Sivan for “Got Me Started.” In fact, two categories are all-female: Best Pop Solo Performance, which has been all-female before, and Best Pop Vocal Album, where women run the board for the first time. The women who achieved this are previous category winners Taylor Swift (“The Tortured Poets Department“), Ariana Grande (“Eternal Sunshine“), and Billie Eilish (“Hit Me Hard and Soft”), alongside first-time nominees Sabrina Carpenter (“Short n’ Sweet“) and Chappell Roan (“The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess”).