Recording Academy members begin choosing the nominees Monday, opening a 10-day voting window for an awards season with new categories, a changing electorate and several conspicuous absences.
The race for the 2027 Grammy Awards moved into its first decisive stage Monday as Recording Academy members began voting for this year’s nominees.
First-round voting for the 69th Annual Grammy Awards opened Oct. 12 at 9 a.m. PT and runs through Oct. 22 at 6 p.m. PT. The results will determine the nominees across the Grammys’ 100 categories, with the full nominations set to be announced Nov. 16.
It is the point in the Grammy calendar when months of submissions and industry campaigning finally meet the electorate. Only Recording Academy voting members can cast ballots, and this year’s vote comes with several changes to both the awards and the voting process.
The eligibility period covers recordings released between Aug. 31, 2025 and Aug. 28, 2026. Eligible recordings also had to be entered during the Academy’s online entry period, which closed Aug. 21.
As voting begins, attention will inevitably fall on the General Field categories, particularly Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist.
Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, Cardi B and Olivia Rodrigo are among the major artists whose submissions have been reported ahead of the vote. Published submission lists indicate that Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl, Mars’ The Romantic, Cardi B’s Am I the Drama? and Rodrigo’s You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love have been entered for Album of the Year consideration.
Cardi B’s “ErrTime” has also been reported as a submission for Record and Song of the Year, while Rodrigo’s “The Cure” has been listed for both categories. Mars’ reported submissions split his major-category entries between “I Just Might” for Record of the Year and “Risk It All” for Song of the Year.
Those entries should not be confused with nominations. Submissions represent recordings put forward for consideration. First-round voting now determines which of them actually advance.
A different Grammy ballot
This year’s race is not simply about a new group of albums and songs.
The Recording Academy has added five categories for the 2027 awards: Best Asian Pop Music Performance, Best R&B Collaboration or Duo/Group Performance, Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance, Best Traditional Folk Album and Best Latin Song.
The introduction of Best Asian Pop Music Performance is likely to attract particular attention. The Academy says the category is intended to recognize artistic excellence in contemporary popular music originating from or widely recognized within Asian markets, including K-pop, J-pop and C-pop.
One of the biggest acts that might have been expected to figure in that conversation will not be on the ballot.
BTS announced in July that the group would not submit its comeback album ARIRANG for Grammy consideration. In a statement shared by the members, the group said it hoped its music could be “heard and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language.”
The decision came after the Academy announced the new Asian pop category and immediately became part of a wider discussion about how global pop should be classified by major Western awards institutions.
Drake is another major name reported to be absent from this year’s submissions, despite releasing eligible material during the awards period.
For the artists who are competing, there is another variable this year: the people casting the ballots.
The Recording Academy added more than 2,300 voting members to its 2026 class, bringing its voting community to nearly 16,000 music creators, according to reporting cited by The Gleaner. Fifty-four percent of those new voting members are 39 or younger.
That does not necessarily mean the results will look dramatically different, but it adds another unknown to a year without an obvious consensus field.
The voting system is changing, too
The Academy is also introducing Ballot Plus, an optional voting method designed for members whose verified professional work crosses multiple genre areas.
Under the standard system, members vote in up to 10 categories across three genre fields, in addition to the General Field categories. Ballot Plus allows eligible members to vote in additional categories tied to areas in which they are professionally active.
The Academy says the change is intended to let members vote more broadly where their professional credentials support it, while maintaining the principle that Grammy voting should remain peer-based.
The basic nomination process remains familiar. Ballots are independently tabulated by Deloitte & Touche LLP. Most Grammy categories produce five nominees, while the four major General Field categories, Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist, have eight.
That makes the next 10 days consequential even before the familiar awards-season machinery reaches full speed.
The field takes shape on Nov. 16
First-round voting closes Oct. 22. The nominees will be announced Nov. 16, followed by final-round voting from Dec. 10 through Jan. 7.
The winners will be revealed at the 69th Annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 7, 2027, at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
The ceremony will also begin a new chapter for the Grammys as a television event. After decades at CBS, the awards will air on ABC and stream on Disney+ and Hulu. It will be the first Grammy ceremony broadcast on ABC since 1972 and the beginning of a new long-term partnership between the Recording Academy and Disney.
Until Nov. 16, however, the more important story is happening away from television.
Thousands of recordings have made it through the entry process. Now the Recording Academy’s voting members begin deciding which of them will actually have a place in the 2027 Grammy race.
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