Beyoncé has finally won Album of the Year. The win comes more than two decades into her career for Cowboy Carter, her history-making eighth studio album created in response to her experience being rejected from the country genre as a Black woman from the South.
It was an emotional moment as Beyoncé experienced the career milestone, pulling her daughter Blue Ivy on the stage with her to accept her award. “I just feel very full and very honored,” the singer said as she teared up. “It’s been many, many years.” In continuing the theme of Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé dedicated her Album of the Year win to Linda Martell, the country legend who appeared on the album. “I hope we just keep pushing forward opening doors. God bless y’all,” Beyoncé said.
The record beat out André 3000’s New Blue Sun, Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet, Charli XCX’s Brat, Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft, Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department, Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, and Jacob Collier’s Djesse Vol. 4.
In 2023, Beyoncé became the most-awarded artist in the history of the Grammy Awards with 32 wins. But only one of those awards has been for a major category: Song of the Year for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” in 2010. Last year, Jay-Z called out the disconnect evident in Beyoncé’s track record at the legacy awards show while accepting a Global Impact Award from the Recording Academy.
“Obviously, it’s subjective because it’s music and it’s opinion-based. But you know, some things — you know, I don’t want to embarrass this young lady, but she has more Grammys than everyone and never won Album of the Year,” he said, gesturing to Beyoncé in the audience. “So even by your own metrics, that doesn’t work. Some of you are gonna go home tonight and feel like you’ve been robbed. Some of you may get robbed. Some of you don’t belong in the category.”
When the 2025 Grammy Awards nominations were unveiled in November, Beyoncé broke another record — this time as the most nominated artist in the show’s history. In addition to Album of the Year, she scored 10 other nods: Best Country Album for Cowboy Carter; Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Country Song for “Texas Hold ‘Em”; Best Pop Solo Performance for “Bodyguard”; Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “Levii’s Jeans” featuring Post Malone; Best Melodic Rap Performance for “Spaghettii” featuring Linda Martell and Shaboozey; Best Country Solo Performance for “16 Carriages”; Best Country Duo/Group Performance for “II Most Wanted” featuring Miley Cyrus; and Best Americana Performance for “Ya Ya.”
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Of these, she won Best Country Duo/Group Performance and Best Country Album. Swift presented Beyoncé with the her genre category win.
Towards the end of Cowboy Carter, on the Shaboozey-assisted “Sweet Honey Buckiin’,” Beyoncé spits: “A-O-T-Y, I ain’t win/I ain’t stuntin’ ’bout them/Take that shit on the chin/Come back and fuck up the pen.” It’s what she did with the industry-changing Beyoncé in 2013, the culture-shifting Lemonade in 2016, and the homage-paying Renaissance in 2022. But it took the amalgamation of these qualities on Cowboy Carter for the Recording Academy to recognize her mastery of the album format.
It’s better late than never, but the win still feels palpably overdue.
