Several years ago the Recording Academy cut out or consolidated several music categories in the list of Grammy Awards.  Suddenly the 110 possible Grammy Awards was cut to 84.  Over the years, a few more awards have been added back or other categories split into two new ones.

Now the Academy has added five more awards, bringing the total back to near 100.

The new awards will be a part of the 2027 Grammy Awards set for February 7.

Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr spoke on the changes saying, “2027 is going to be an amazing year for the Grammy Awards, and one that reflects the extraordinary growth we’re seeing across music.  The changes advanced by our Recording Academy members speak to the breadth of today’s music industry and the many genres, crafts and creators shaping it. We’re excited to see these updates come to life in the year ahead as we celebrate the music people who are driving music forward.” 

With the popularity of KPop and other Asian music, including a meaningful use of Asian language.  The Recording Academy has added a new award – Best Asian Pop Music with the award going to the artist.

The best Folk music album category is being split into two awards – Best Contemporary Folk Album and Best Traditional Folk Album.

Latin music is getting a new award with the Best Latin Song for music written predominantly in Spanish.

R&B is also getting a new award with the Best R&B Collaboration or Duo/Group Performance.  The award goes to the artists.  With the new award, the Best R&B Performance Category has been renamed the Best R&B Solo Performance.

The new category Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance is being added to “recognize excellence in singles and tracks that consist of a type and style of song and/or performance that cannot properly be intermingled with present forms of pop music” with the award going to the artist.

The Academy is also making some changes to the Best New Artist category; allowing an artist to submit music in the category up to four times – up from the previous three submissions.  The move is in recognition that “overnight sensations” don’t really exist and it takes time for an artist to breakthrough; especially in this age of predominantly independent artists.

However, once an artist receives a New Artist nomination, they are no longer eligible for that category.

Previously, for an album to be considered as a new album release, it had to contain 75% new music.  The Academy has lowered that number to 66%.

With the popularity of internet only downloads, the Academy has updated the eligibility for Best Album Notes and Best Historical Album to be added in the list of nominees if the additional material and notes are a part of the commercial download (ie, the booklet found as a part of the download).

Songwriters and Composers of new music will now be recognized alongside engineers and producers in many of the album categories.

Voting members who have a wide range of experience in multiple genres will not be eligible to vote in up to 15 awards categories.