How Beyoncé May Have Sparked New Country Grammy Categories

The Recording Academy has announced some new changes to its categories for the 2026 Grammys after Beyoncé's groundbreaking country wins.

On Thursday (June 12), the Grammys announced that it would be breaking up its Best Country Album award into two categories, making a distinction between "traditional" and "contemporary" country.

The introduction of the "Best Traditional Country Album" and "Best Contemporary Country Album" categories for the 2026 Grammys comes after Beyoncé's COWBOY CARTER took home wins for Best Country Duo/Group Performance, Best Country Album, and Album of the Year at the 2025 awards ceremony.

Many believe Bey's country wins influenced the change, as critics have argued that COWBOY CARTER wasn't "traditional" country and undeserving of the awards it received. One X user noted that this is the second time the Recording Academy has introduced new categories after the singer was awarded in music categories outside of Hip-Hop, R&B, and pop. In 2023, Beyoncé won Best Dance/Electronic Recording for "Break My Soul" before the Grammys launched its Best Dance Pop Recording category in 2024.

“Beyoncé won Best Country Album, so they had to rename/create new categories like Best Contemporary Country Album + Best Traditional Country Album in an attempt to differentiate from “traditional” (white) country music. Go racism!” one X user said of the new change.

“That ‘Cowboy Carter’ win really pissed folks off huh? Way to move the goalpost," another wrote.

Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. said the proposal for the Best Traditional Country Album category had been previously submitted before being approved this year.

“The community of people that are making country music in all different subgenres came to us with a proposal and said we would like to have more variety in how our music is honored. They said, we think we need more space for our music to be celebrated and honored," Mason said in a statement.

Mason added that the change aligns county categories with other genres that already differentiate contemporary from traditional albums and performances.

“It makes country parallel with what’s happening in other genres,” Mason said, “But it is also creating space for where this genre is going.”

See more reactions to how Beyoncé may have influenced the Grammys' new country categories below.

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