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The Recording Academy is making a major change to the 68th Grammy Awards — splitting the Best Country Albumcategory into Best Contemporary Country Album and Best Traditional Country Album for the first time.
The shift mirrors how other genres, like R&B and blues, already separate traditional and contemporary styles. It also reflects country music’s growing diversity — spanning mainstream pop-country hits and old-school roots revival sounds.
According to the Recording Academy, contemporary country will include music that reflects “the broad spectrum of modern country style and culture,” while traditional country will highlight artists who stick to “classic sound structures” and “traditional instrumentation” such as acoustic guitars, steel guitars, and fiddles.
The impact has been immediate: 130 albums have been submitted this year across both categories (68 contemporary, 62 traditional), compared to 79 entries in 2024.
The traditional category is stacked with veterans like Willie Nelson, George Strait, and Trisha Yearwood, alongside newcomers such as Zach Top and Lukas Nelson. Meanwhile, the contemporary list includes Miranda Lambert, Tyler Childers, Jelly Roll, and Kelsea Ballerini.
This change could also align Grammy voting more closely with the CMA and ACM Awards, which tend to favor commercially successful albums. However, Grammy voters often diverge from Nashville’s industry picks — as seen when Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” won Best Country Album earlier this year despite not being nominated by the CMAs or ACMs.
First-round Grammy voting ends Oct. 15, nominations drop Nov. 7, and the winners will be announced Feb. 1.
SOURCE: Billboard