First-round voting for the 2027 Grammys began Oct. 12 and closes at 6 p.m. Pacific on Thursday, Oct. 22, the Recording Academy said in its voting guide. The academy will announce nominations Nov. 16, and the ceremony airs Sunday, Feb. 7, 2027, on ABC, Disney+ and Hulu.
Key Dates for the 2027 Grammys
The academy’s guide lays out the full calendar. Eligible recordings were released between Aug. 31, 2025, and Aug. 28, 2026, a window of 362 days by a count of the two dates. Online entries ran from July 7 to Aug. 21.
First-round ballots opened at 9 a.m. Pacific on Oct. 12 and close at 6 p.m. Pacific on Oct. 22, which gives voting members 10 days. Nominations come 25 days after the first round closes. Final-round voting runs from Dec. 10 through Jan. 7, 2027, a 28-day period, and the ceremony follows 31 days after that on Feb. 7. The academy’s submission guide places the ceremony at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Deloitte, an independent accounting firm, collects and tabulates the ballots, the guide says.
How the Ballots Work
The ceremony has 100 categories. Voting members in good dues standing receive a ballot, and the academy tells them to vote only in areas where they are peers. The standard ballot, known as the 10/3 structure, lets a member vote in up to 10 categories across three genre fields, plus the six categories in the General Field. Members with verified credits across several genres can opt into a second structure called Ballot Plus.
It lets them vote in up to 15 peer-related categories, regardless of field. A member who does not opt in, misses the selection window or fails verification receives the standard ballot, the academy said. Ballot Plus allows five more categories than the 10 in the standard ballot, an increase of 50%, a calculation from the guide’s numbers. The guide does not state how many voting members the academy has.
Who Can Submit and Who Can Vote
The academy’s submission guide says only registered media companies and academy members, both voting and professional, can submit recordings. Only voting members can vote. Professional members, Grammy members and media companies cannot. The academy said it can receive more than 20,000 eligible entries in a single season and that awards staff vet each one by hand.
Submitters can include an artist intent statement to explain why they chose a category or genre. The guide also says a recording that is not formally submitted cannot be considered for a nomination. The academy’s two descriptions of the first round differ. One section of the guide says first round voting determines nominees in the majority of categories, while the key dates section says it determines all nominees.
Nominee Counts by Category
In most categories the top five finalists become nominees. Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist have eight nominees each. Producer of the Year, Non-Classical and Songwriter of the Year, Non-Classical have five each. Eight nominees in four categories puts 32 nominations in the General Field’s four marquee awards, a figure that follows from the academy’s counts. The academy does not state a total nomination count for the whole ceremony.
Five New Categories and Rule Changes
The academy announced the 2027 changes June 16 in a rule update. It added five categories: Best Asian Pop Music Performance, Best R&B Collaboration or Duo/Group Performance, Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance, Best Traditional Folk Album and Best Latin Song.
The R&B category honors contemporary R&B works by established duos or groups and collaborations among solo artists, duos and groups, and awards go to the performing artists. The academy also renamed two existing awards. Best R&B Performance is now Best R&B Solo Performance, and Best Folk Album is now Best Contemporary Folk Album.
Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. said in an interview on the academy’s site that members asked for definitions and titles that better match their music. The academy’s account of the R&B change is that collaboration is central to the genre. Mason said, “Anytime we can celebrate more music, that’s a great outcome.”
Other rule changes affect eligibility. The share of new recordings an album must contain drops from 75% to 66%. The maximum number of Best New Artist submissions per entrant rises from three to four. Songwriters and composers of new material on winning albums in most genre album categories will now receive Grammy statuettes and achievement certificates, matching what producers and engineers already receive.
Digital-only albums can qualify for Best Album Notes and Best Historical Album if the added materials come with the commercial download.
The Pre-Grammy Gala
The academy also announced Oct. 8 that the Pre-Grammy Gala will take place Saturday, Feb. 6, 2027, at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, the evening before the ceremony. The academy and Clive Davis present the event, and the academy’s announcement refers to Davis as late. It says the gala honors him.
Davis created the gala in 1976 and partnered with the Recording Academy on it in 2009, according to the announcement. The academy said the event has drawn people from music, film, television, sports, politics and business. The academy has not named performers and said details will come in the coming months. Mason said in the announcement, “It’s our honor to celebrate the legacy he left behind.”
What Happens after the First Round
The first round closes Oct. 22 and the final round opens Dec. 10, so 49 days pass between the two ballots, a calculation from the academy’s dates. Nominations land inside that gap on Nov. 16. The academy’s guide says the top finalists in each category become nominees, so the Nov. 16 list will show the results of this round. The final round that follows decides the winners.
