Interscope Geffen A&M led the pack among the record labels that racked up Grammy nominations in the “Big Four” categories of record of the year, album of the year, song of the year and best new artist. With Geffen breakout star Olivia Rodrigo leading with way with nominations in all four of those categories, IGA nabbed 10 nods, besting the Sony Music duo of RCA (6) and Columbia (5), which came in second and third, respectively.
It’s the third time in four years that IGA has grabbed the top spot, since the Grammys expanded the top categories beyond the five nominees that had been standard for the past 50 years. (The past three years had increased the nominees to eight per category; this year it increased again, to 10.) The label also led the way in 2018, with eight, and 2019, with seven, while Republic led a tight race last year with five.
This year also marks the second time in three years that IGA has had a blossoming star grab a nomination in all four categories following Billie Eilish two years ago, who cleaned up at the awards show by winning them all. Joining Rodrigo in Interscope’s stable of nominees are Eilish’s three (record, album, song), one for Eilish’s brother and collaborator Finneas (best new artist) and two for the Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga collaboration: record of the year for “I Get A Kick Out Of You” and album of the year for Love For Sale. (Love For Sale was released by Columbia/Streamline/Interscope, but was distributed by IGA; similarly, Silk Sonic’s album was released on Aftermath/Atlantic, but distributed by Atlantic. In those cases, the distributing label was given credit for the release.)
Sony’s RCA and Columbia also had strong showings, with Doja Cat (record, album, song), perennial Grammy favorite H.E.R. (album, song) and the Alicia Keys and Brandi Carlile collaboration “A Beautiful Noise” (song) contributing to RCA’s big haul. Columbia, meanwhile, saw Lil Nas X return with a strong showing and three Big Four noms (record, album, song) as well as two best new artist contenders in The Kid LAROI and Baby Keem.
Def Jam came in fourth among all labels with four nominations, as Kanye West’s album of the year nom for DONDA joined a trio for Justin Bieber (record, album, song). Silk Sonic’s two (record, song) and Ed Sheeran’s one (song) added up to three for Atlantic, while Verve (led by overall top-nominated artist Jon Batiste), Republic (Taylor Swift’s Evermore for album and Glass Animals for best new artist) and Elektra (Brandi Carlile for record and song) landed two apiece. Warner and Capitol each earned one nomination, with Saweetie landing a best new artist nomination for the former and ABBA a surprise record of the year nom for the latter. Four indie labels also picked up a nomination as well, all for best new artist: Dead Oceans (Japanese Breakfast), New Amsterdam Records (Arooj Aftab), BBR Music Group (Jimmie Allen) and Transgressive (Arlo Parks).
Overall, the Universal Music Group racked up 19 nominations through its labels, with Sony Music at 11, Warner Music at six and indies at four. Last year, UMG had 10 nominations total among the Big Four, with Sony at nine, Warner at seven and indies at six.