Women Previously Snubbed at Grammys

Lucy Hunter

With the Grammy Awards falling just a month before Women’s History Month in March, it’s the perfect time to revisit the women who have been historically snubbed—forgotten or not even nominated—by the Recording Academy.

The threshold at which an artist should receive a nomination is widely controversial. Typically, the song or album must chart for multiple consecutive weeks, have strong production value, commercial value and more. However, when it comes to women taking home one of the five main categories, the Recording Academy has continuously fallen short in recent years.

Beyoncé’s 2022 album “Renaissance” was projected to take home at least one of the major categories at the 2023 Grammys, considering the album’s record-breaking success and her status as the most awarded artist in Grammy history, with 32 Grammys. However, “Best Album” ended up going to Harry Styles for his album “Harry’s House.” Time Magazine, reflecting back on Grammy night 2023, wrote, “When Harry Styles was announced as the winner, there was what appeared to be a brief pause before the room erupted into applause.”

Katy Perry had five number one singles from her album “Teenage Dream,” and despite being one of the most commercially successful pop stars in the industry, with a cohesive album cycle that shows off her vocal brilliance, she has not yet won a Grammy! 

Ariana Grande’s relationship with the Recording Academy has been strained since 2016. Since then, she’s put out a plethora of albums that have charted on the Billboard Hot 100 for dozens of consecutive weeks, along with selling out stadiums across the globe. Despite these accomplishments, Grande has won only two Grammy Awards. Last year, following the release of her seventh studio album, “Eternal Sunshine,” the internet was convinced she’d at least be nominated for a few of the most highly esteemed categories. The result? Three nominations, but not a single one in a big-name category.

This isn’t to diminish the accomplishments of male rappers, popstars, indie artists and more, but given that women have been the backbone of the international music scene for decades yet rarely get proper recognition, I look forward to the 2025 Grammy Awards with the hope that women are able to take home the awards they deserve.