Music’s Biggest Night
But it takes the whole year to get there.
Have you ever wondered how the process works?
The GRAMMY is the only music award in which nominees and winners are determined solely by creators themselves: the peers of those being judged.
Around 20,000 Entries Are Submitted Each Year
Online Entry Process
To be eligible for the 69th Annual Grammy Awards recordings must be released between August 31, 2025 and August 28, 2026.
Voting and Professional Recording Academy members as well as Registered Media Companies can submit recordings and music videos/films during the Online Entry Process. For the 69th GRAMMY Awards the window to make entries is July 7, 2026 – August 21, 2026.
Recording Academy members must be in good standing in order to submit recordings for GRAMMY consideration. Members access the entry site by logging into their Recording Academy member dashboard and clicking on the "Submit To Online Entry Process" button.
Media companies must register here to submit recordings. Media Company registration is open from June 25 - August 14, 2026.
There is only one submission window in which to make entries. Please make entries as early as possible so that our Awards team can assist with any questions!
Eligibility & Genre Screening
The Recording Academy Awards Department reviews each entry to confirm eligibility. Once eligibility has been confirmed, submissions are then reviewed by genre-based screening committees.
The screening committees, comprised of more than 300 experts across various musical genres, meet to ensure that recordings are placed in the proper Categories. From there, we arrive at the official First Round ballot.
The purpose of genre screening committees is not to make artistic or technical judgments about the recordings, but rather to make sure that each entry is eligible and placed in its proper category.
- Alternative
- American Roots Music
- Children’s
- Classical
- Comedy
- Contemporary Instrumental Music
- Country
- Dance/Electronic Music
- Global Music
- Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music
- Jazz
- Latin
- Music for Visual Media
- Music Video/Film
- Musical Theater
- New Age
- Pop
- R&B
- Rap
- Reggae
- Rock
- Spoken Word
First Round Voting
Voting Members of the Recording Academy are active creative professionals involved in the recording process, such as performers, songwriters, producers, and engineers.
They may vote in up to ten categories across three genre fields plus the six categories in the General Field (Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, s Song Of The Year, Best New Artist, Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical, and Songwriter Of The Year, Non-Classical.)
To learn more about Membership, click here.
- Alternative
- American Roots Music
- Children’s
- Classical
- Comedy
- Contemporary Instrumental Music
- Country
- Dance/Electronic Music
- Global Music
- Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music
- Jazz
- Latin
- Music for Visual Media
- Music Video/Film
- Musical Theater
- New Age
- Pop
- R&B
- Rap
- Reggae
- Rock
- Spoken Word
Nominations
First Round Ballots
Are tabulated by the indipendent accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche LLP.
Five Finalists
In each category are nominated for a GRAMMY Award.
In the General Field, however, the top eight finalists are the nominees, with the exception of Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical and Songwriter Of The Year, Non-Classical, both of which have five nominees.
Final Round
Final round determines GRAMMY Winners.
After nominations have been determined and announced, Academy voting members vote in up to ten categories across three genre fields in the genre fields plus the six categories in the General Field to determine the winners.
2025 Grammy Nominations
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