The Recording Academy adds three new Grammy Award categories
Raising the total number of categories to 94, the Recording Academy has added three new Grammy Award categories to the 66th annual Grammy Awards for the 2024 year. This is the highest total of categories since 2008, which held a total of 110 different categories.
The three new Grammy Award categories include “Best African Music Performance”, “Best Alternative Jazz Album”, and “Best Pop Dance Recording”. In addition, the current categories of “Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical” and “Songwriter Of The Year, Non-Classical” will be transferred to the general field. The general field has traditionally included the following four categories: album, record, best new artist, and song of the year. These are also known as “The Big Four”.
At the Recording Academy’s most recent semi-annual Board of Trustees meeting, which took place in May 2023, these Category additions and revisions were voted on and approved.
“The Recording Academy is proud to announce these latest Category changes to our Awards process,” said Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. “These changes reflect our commitment to actively listen and respond to the feedback from our music community, accurately represent a diverse range of relevant musical genres, and stay aligned with the ever-evolving musical landscape.”
To breakdown the “Best African Music Performance” category, the award is given to a track that “recognizes recordings that utilize unique local expressions from across the African continent,” as stated on the Grammy website. “Highlighting regional melodic, harmonic and rhythmic musical traditions, the Category includes but is not limited to the Afrobeat, Afro-fusion, Afro Pop, Afrobeats, Alte, Amapiano, Bongo Flava, Genge, Kizomba, Chimurenga, High Life, Fuji, Kwassa, Ndombolo, Mapouka, Ghanaian Drill, Afro-House, South African Hip-Hop, and Ethio Jazz genres.”
“By introducing these three new categories, we are able to acknowledge and appreciate a broader array of artists, and relocating the Producer Of the Year and Songwriter Of The Year categories to the General Field ensures that all our voters can participate in recognizing excellence in these fields,” added Mason. “We are excited to honor and celebrate the creators and recordings in these categories, while also exposing a wider range of music to fans worldwide.”
We look forward to finding out the very first winners of the three new Grammy Award categories next year!