The Recording Academy revealed a fresh set of rule amendments for the upcoming 68th Grammy Awards. And just like a genre-bending Billie Eilish track, some of these changes might have you raising your eyebrows, clapping slowly, or yelling “FINALLY” at your screen.
Recording Academy Rule Changes for 68th Grammy Awards
Here are the official Recording Academy rule amendments for the 68th Grammy Awards. The 68th Grammy will be covering releases from August 31, 2024 through August 30, 2025. The changes were revealed in the rulebook:
- The Best Album Cover category has officially been introduced.
- Clarity for Best New Artist criteria: Artists who contributed up to 20% of an album nominated for Album of the Year remain eligible for Best New Artist.
- Country Gets Refined: Best Country Album splits into Best Contemporary Country Album and Best Traditional Country Album.
- In the Classical categories, composers and lyricists are now eligible for Grammy recognition.
- Packaging: The Best Recording Package and Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package Categories have been combined into one category: Best Recording Package.
Key Date Rollout:
- First-round voting: October 3-15
- Nominees announced: November 7
- Final voting: December 12–January 5, 2026
- Ceremony: February 1, 2026
According to Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy (per Variety), “The Academy’s top priority is to represent the music people that we serve each year. That entails listening carefully to our members to make sure our rules and guidelines reflect today’s music and allow us to accurately recognize as many deserving creators as possible. As we kick off another exciting GRAMMY Season, we look forward to celebrating the amazing power of music and its ability to bring so many people together.”
Questionable Timing About the Rules Amendments
Some music fans and social media users are questioning the timing of the rule amendments. One change in particular is splitting the Best Country Album. Last Grammy Awards, Beyoncé made history when she became the first Black woman to win the award. She beat Post Malone, Kacey Musgraves, Chris Stapleton, and Lainey Wilson.
One tweet that already earned 796.4K views, 17k likes, and 2.3k retweets read, “Best Traditional Country Album. How subtle.” Another wrote, “Best Traditional Country Album… they couldn’t wait a couple more years, so it wasn’t so obvious what they’re responding too?” While another tweeted, “Rules always change when black people start breaking in. It really is disgusting and annoying to go through.”
However, per Mason, the proposal to alter the rules has been submitted multiple times in the past. But it was only approved this year since, “The community of people that are making country music in all different subgenres came to us with a proposal and said we would like to have more variety in how our music is honored,” according to BuzzFeed.
