Grammy Awards announce 5 new categories and voting changes ahead of 2027

Looking at the 2027 Grammy Awards, the Recording Academy has announced five new categories and made some changes to how voting and eligibility work. The 69th ceremony is set for February 7, 2027.

The Recording Academy has added five new categories and updated several rules ahead of next year’s show.

The five new categories are:

Best Asian Pop Music Performance, which recognises great work in Asian pop styles like K-pop, J-pop and C-pop that feature one or more Asian languages.

Best R&B Collaboration or Duo/Group Performance, which honours modern R&B work by multiple artists.

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance, which celebrates classic pop songs and performances that are different from today’s pop music.

Best Traditional Folk Album, which rewards excellent traditional folk recordings. Because of this, the existing Best Folk Album category has been renamed Best Contemporary Folk Album.

And Best Latin Song, which recognises songwriters of new Latin songs where at least 51 per cent of the lyrics are in Spanish.

Grammy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. said the changes show the variety and ongoing growth of music around the world.

The voting and rule changes include a few notable updates.

Ballot Plus has been introduced, letting eligible voting members with knowledge across several genres opt into a new system where they can vote in up to 15 related categories, instead of the standard 10/3 voting structure for those who qualify.

The Best New Artist eligibility has been expanded, so artists can now be submitted up to four times instead of three.

Album eligibility requirements have been lowered, with albums now needing only 66 per cent new recordings to qualify, down from 75 per cent before.

Digital-only releases are now eligible for Best Album Notes and Best Historical Album, as long as supporting materials come with the commercial download.

Finally, songwriters and composers of new material on winning albums in most genre album categories will now receive Grammy statuettes and achievement certificates, putting them on equal footing with producers and engineers.