2024 was filled with a lot of excitement for new album releases by many top artists in the industry. Not only were these works of art appreciated by millions of people, they also had a huge cultural impact. 

From Beyonce’s “Cowboy Carter” breaking barriers for black artists in the country music genre to Charli XCX’s “brat” turning into a worldwide phenomenon and marketing strategy, this year saw plenty of hits. As a lover of music, 2024 brought me plenty of new sounds from artists that many of us can recognize will shape the future.

According to my Spotify Wrapped, I listened to 171,952 minutes of music this year, putting me in the top 0.5% of listeners worldwide. Based on my listening history and what I’ve read based on charts and new records set, here are my picks and predictions for the top four categories based on the 2025 Grammy Awards nominations.

Song of the Year

According to the Grammy’s, the Song of the Year goes to the best written song, meaning who wrote the song and its melodies based on composition, as well as the performer. 

The Song of the Year that I believe fits this criteria is “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” by Billie Eilish. Not only does the song have over 1.5 billion streams on Spotify in seven months, it also has gone viral on various social media platforms.

Many people used this song as a way to express their love for their friends, and especially partners. I believe that the lyrics of this song truly capture the expression “birds of a feather,” the feeling of wanting to stay with someone because you’re alike in many ways. 

With lyrics that read “I want you stay/’Til I’m in the grave,” the song truly captures Eilish’s emotion for loving someone and wanting to be by their side forever, even if it won’t always be reciprocated. To me, the song captures young love in a hopeless-romantic way, allowing people to be vulnerable and resonate with these lyrics. 

Record of the Year

Record of the Year is the opposite of Song of the Year. Rather than being awarded to the person who wrote the song, it’s awarded to the producers, mixers and sound engineers, as well as the performer. 

To me, the song that should receive this award is “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter. Not only did this song become the top streamed song on Spotify and was in the top three streamed songs of 2024, the production captures the time that it was released. 

The song was released on April 11, ahead of the summer. Not only was it the top streamed song of the year, but to me the production and performance really captured this past summer.

The “Please Please Please” singer set the music video to “Espresso” at a beach wearing vintage clothing and partying in the sun. As an instant hit, this song was everywhere this summer, from dance clubs to grocery stores, with plenty of people streaming the song on their own playlists. 

Every time I hear the song it makes me think of sunshine and warm weather with the production capturing a vintage feeling, an aesthetic that Carpenter embodies on her “Short n’ Sweet” tour.

Best New Artist

The Best New Artist category is based on a new artist who releases music in the eligibility period that brings the artist to the fore. This award recognizes the artist’s identity because the body of work they submitted solidifies them as a huge artist or caused them to gain a huge following.

I believe this year the Best New Artist award should go to Chappell Roan. Roan has been releasing music for over 10 years before she became the opener on the Guts World Tour. 

While she had some songs that were successful, many people didn’t have a person to attach the song to. It wasn’t until she released “Good Luck, Babe!” earlier this year that she found monumental growth. 

The “Redwine Supernova” singer received millions of streams in the course of eight months on her “Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” album that was released in the fall of 2023. Fans also showed up to many music festivals where she played, one of which broke the record at Chicago’s Lollapalooza festival for most people in a crowd to watch a set (a crowd I was in). Many artists that were headliners that weekend did not draw as many people as Roan.

Not only did her career begin to grow exponentially by fans, but plenty of A-list celebrities shared their love for her on their social media, instilling her “I’m your favorite artist’s favorite artist” claim. 

Album of the Year

The Album of the Year category recognizes the entire body of work that the artist creates, from beginning to end, including songwriting and production. It is the most prestigious award at the ceremony. 

Plenty of albums this year broke records and set new ones, as well as having great cultural influence. When coming to this decision, I feel as though there are multiple right answers for this category, but I would choose Charli XCX’s “brat.” 

This album in particular had a huge impact on the general public, from memes to professional corporations using “brat” as a way to market their brand and products. The “360” singer not only had an impressive marketing campaign, but many declared the summer of 2024 “brat summer.”

The album also received universal acclaim with Rolling Stone declaring it the no. 1 album of 2024, while Metacritic gave it a score of 95/100, surpassing all of her opponents. She released a remix album of “brat” earlier this fall that is also higher than some of the albums on the list of nominations as well. 

Between professional music reviewers and the general public, it sits well above the rest in sound, style and genre. 

Snubs

Something that I find important in all of this is people that didn’t make these main categories as well. I will say that this year I was extremely disappointed to see that Ariana Grande’s “eternal sunshine” did not make any of these main categories.

As someone who is a superfan of Grande (of the 171,000+ minutes I streamed, 84,000+ minutes were of her alone), I find it insulting that her album, which has a higher Metacritic score than “The Tortured Poets Department” by Taylor Swift, was not considered for Album of the Year.

Not only did her album have general acclaim, but she has consistently been in the top artist, album and song lists of this year alone. With two songs going no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, “yes, and?” and “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)” did not make the Song of the Year or Record of the Year category. 

The song “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)” is also her fastest song to reach a billion streams ever in her career. I cannot wrap my head around it and I think the Record Academy overlooked this incredible body of art this year.

Overall, this year I will be tuning in to the Grammy Awards show to see who takes home these prestigious awards while also rooting for my favorite artists.