First-round voting for the 2027 Grammy Awards ran from Oct. 12 to Oct. 22, and the Recording Academy will announce nominees on Nov. 16. The 69th Grammy Awards air Feb. 7, 2027, on ABC, Disney+ and Hulu from Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
Grammy Voting Timeline
The Recording Academy’s first-round voting guide says ballots opened at 9 a.m. PT on Oct. 12 and closed at 6 p.m. PT on Oct. 22. The Academy will announce the nominees Monday, Nov. 16, at 4:45 a.m. PT, or 7:45 a.m. ET, according to its viewing guide. A group of past winners and nominees will make the announcement, and the Academy said it will name the participating artists later.
The livestream runs on Grammy.com and the Grammys YouTube channel, and a wrap-up show follows on Grammy.com, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitch and X. Final-round voting runs from Dec. 10 to Jan. 7, 2027. The eligibility period for recordings ran from Aug. 31, 2025, to Aug. 28, 2026, and the Academy’s online entry period ran from July 7 to Aug. 21. Deloitte, an independent accounting firm, collects and tabulates the ballots.
Calendar Math for the 2027 Grammy Season
The following figures are calculations from the Academy’s published dates. First-round voting lasted 11 days counting both end dates. Nominations come 25 days after the first round closes, and final voting opens 24 days after the nominations. The final round runs 28 days from its first day to its last.
The ceremony follows the end of final voting by 31 days. From the day first-round ballots opened to the ceremony is 118 days. The Academy also scheduled the Clive Davis and Recording Academy Pre-Grammy Gala for Saturday, Feb. 6, 2027, according to its Oct. 8 announcement, one day before the ceremony.
New Category for R&B Duo/Group Performances
The Academy announced five new categories on June 16, and one is Best R&B Collaboration or Duo/Group Performance. It recognizes contemporary R&B works by established duos or groups and collaborations between solo artists, duos and groups. The award goes to the performing artists. The Academy renamed Best R&B Performance as Best R&B Solo Performance in the same update.
Harvey Mason jr., the Recording Academy’s CEO, told Grammy.com that collaboration is “a defining element of R&B.” He said the solo rename keeps solo creators represented in the process and that community members help the Academy understand how to change. The Academy’s own release said the changes members advanced reflect “the breadth of today’s music industry.”
The other four new categories are Best Asian Pop Music Performance, Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance, Best Traditional Folk Album and Best Latin Song. Best Folk Album became Best Contemporary Folk Album. The show now has 100 categories, according to the Academy’s guide.
The Academy names five finalists in most categories. If the standard rule applies, the two R&B performance categories will carry up to 10 nominations between them, a figure calculated from the five-nominee rule.
How Recordings Reach the Ballot
The Academy’s submission guide says only Recording Academy Voting Members can vote. Media companies, Professional Members and Grammy U Members cannot. Recordings reach the ballot through a single online entry process, open to registered media companies and to Voting and Professional members. Academy staff review each entry by hand for eligibility, and the Academy encourages artists to attach an Artist Intent statement to help staff and screening committees with category placement.
The guide says the Academy can receive more than 20,000 entries in a season and that a recording not formally submitted cannot be considered for a nomination. Entries close on Aug. 21, a week before the eligibility period ends on Aug. 28, so releases from the last week of August still had to be entered by the earlier date. The guide says releases must stay available to the public through at least the final ballot date. It does not mention submission fees.
How Ballot Plus Changes Voting
The Academy added an opt-in option called Ballot Plus. A voter with verified professional credits across several genres can vote in up to 15 peer-related categories regardless of field. Members must opt in and submit credits by a deadline, and credit verification decides participation. Members who miss the window or fail verification receive the standard ballot.
The standard ballot, called 10/3, lets a member vote in up to 10 categories across three genre fields, plus the six General Field categories. That is a maximum of 16 categories on a standard ballot, or 16% of the 100 categories, a calculation from the Academy’s figures.
The Academy’s guide does not say whether General Field categories count toward the 15 on a Ballot Plus ballot. The guide tells voters to vote only in areas of expertise and categories in which they are peers. It said the Academy chose voters from thousands of applicants and did not publish a count of voting members.
Nominee Counts in the Top Grammy Categories
Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist each have eight nominees, which makes 32 nominations across those four categories, a calculation from the Academy’s rule. Producer of the Year, Non-Classical and Songwriter of the Year, Non-Classical each have five.
Rule Changes for Songwriters
Songwriters and composers of new material on winning albums in most genre album categories will receive Grammy statuettes and Achievement Certificates, the same recognition producers and engineers already receive. Mason said it is important that they feel acknowledged and celebrated in the same way.
The share of new recordings an eligible album must contain dropped from 75% to 66%, a nine-point change. Best New Artist guidelines now let each artist submit four entries instead of three. Internet-only releases are eligible for Best Album Notes and Best Historical Album if the additional materials and album notes are part of the commercial download.
