The 65th annual Grammy Awards airs on Sunday, Feb. 5, with Trevor Noah returning to host, and music fans are eagerly waiting to see which of their favorite artists will take home wins.
This year’s crop of nominees read like a “who’s who” of the very biggest names in music, with folks like Adele, Beyoncé, Lizzo, Harry Styles, ABBA, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar, Coldplay, BTS, and Taylor Swift among the nominees in top categories. But if you’re wondering why some of your favorite fall music releases didn’t make the cut, there could be a simple explanation. In many cases, they didn’t meet the eligibility deadline.
According to the official rules from the Recording Academy, in order to qualify for the 2023 Grammys, eligible music had to be released between Oct. 1, 2021, and Sept. 30, 2022. Eligible entries could then be submitted for consideration to the Recording Academy during a single nomination period, which ran from July 18, 2022, to Aug. 31, 2022. Only “registered media companies” and members of the Recording Academy are permitted to submit entries for consideration.
This eligibility period means that some of 2022’s most notable music releases were actually not eligible for consideration for the 2023 Grammys. The most obvious, of course, is Taylor Swift’s “Midnights.” Since it was released on Oct. 21, 2022, the album came out three weeks too late to be eligible this time around. Instead, it will likely be submitted next year and eligible for awards at the 2024 Grammys.
However, Swift did receive nominations for other work this year that was released in time for the 2023 eligibility window. She earned four nods in total: song of the year for “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (The Short Film),” best country song for “I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault),” best song written for visual media for “Carolina” (written for “Where the Crawdads Sing”), and best music video for “All Too Well: The Short Film.”
Even with the music from the last couple of months unable to compete this year, there’s still a ton of incredible music up for top prizes at the 2023 Grammys. So be sure to tune in on Feb. 5 to watch your favorite artists perform – including Styles, Blige, Lizzo, Sam Smith, Bad Bunny, Brandi Carlile, Kim Petras, Luke Combs, and Steve Lacy – and see who takes home music’s most coveted trophies.