Grammys add 5 new categories, including 1st Asian pop award

The 2027 Grammy Awards will include five new categories, including best Asian pop music performance, which will recognize artistic excellence in Asian pop music performances originating from or widely recognized within Asian markets, including K-pop, J-pop and C-pop recordings that feature meaningful use of one or more Asian languages.

The four additional categories announced Tuesday by the Recording Academy include best Latin song, best traditional pop vocal performance, best R&B collaboration or duo/group performance and best traditional folk album.

The 69th Grammy Awards will air live on ABC, Disney+ and Hulu on Feb. 7, 2027.

"2027 is going to be an amazing year for the Grammy Awards, and one that reflects the extraordinary growth we're seeing across music," Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. said in a statement. "The changes advanced by our Academy members speak to the breadth of today's music industry and the many genres, crafts and creators shaping it."

According to the Recording Academy, the best Asian pop music performance category was created to recognize the breadth of Asian pop music and its growing impact across the global music landscape.

The new best Latin song category creates a dedicated space within the Latin field to honor songwriting, while best traditional pop vocal performance recognizes recordings that do not fit within contemporary pop categories.

The addition of best traditional folk album also creates a separate category for traditional folk recordings.

As a result, best folk album has been renamed best contemporary folk album.

Similarly, best R&B performance will now be known as best solo R&B performance following the creation of the new collaboration category.

The Academy also announced several changes to its voting and eligibility rules ahead of the 69th Grammy Awards.

A new opt-in voting option called Ballot Plus will allow eligible voting members with expertise across multiple genres to vote in up to 15 peer-related categories based on their verified professional credits.

Eligibility requirements for best new artist have been revised to provide greater flexibility, increasing the maximum number of times an artist may be submitted from three to four.

In another notable change, the percentage of new recordings required for an album to qualify for Grammy consideration has been lowered from 75% to 66%, a move the Academy said better reflects how albums are released in today's music industry.

The Academy also expanded recognition for songwriters and composers.

Going forward, songwriters and composers of new material on winning albums in most genre album categories will receive Grammy statuettes and achievement certificates, bringing their recognition in line with producers and engineers.

In addition, internet-only releases will now be eligible for consideration in the best album notes and best historical album categories if supporting materials are included with the commercial download.

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