The Recording Academy announced that there will an expansion in the number of nominees at the Grammy Awards.
The news was first reported by Billboard.
As part of its expansion, the top categories — Album, Song and Record of the Year and Best New Artist — will now have eight nominees, compared to five previously. This the biggest change for the awards show since it started in 1959. The rules will go into effect immediately, beginning with the 2019 awards.
“Throughout the year, we team up with music people across all genres and disciplines to consider revisions and subsequently make amendments to our rules and entry guidelines to ensure we’re keeping up with our ever-changing industry and meeting the needs of music creators,” said Recording Academy president/CEO Neil Portnow in a statement. “This creates more opportunities for a wider-range of recognition in these important categories and gives more flexibility to our voters when having to make the often challenging decisions about representing excellence and the best in music for the year. We look forward to celebrating all of our nominees when they are announced later this year.”
The changes were made at a Trustees’ meeting in Hawaii in May, Billboard reported.
On top of the additional nominees in these categories, the Grammys made some other minor changes, including allowing music supervisors to be eligible as nominees in the Best Compilation Soundtrack Album category.
This is likely the last major changes under Portnow’s leadership, as he previously announced he planned to step down from his position as president/CEO of the Recording Academy at the end of his contract in 2019.