Grammys expand lineup with five new categories for the 2027 ceremony

The Grammy Awards is expanding its horizons by adding five new categories to its lineup, including Best Asian Pop Music Performance and Best Latin Song. Scheduled to debut at next year’s awards ceremony, the expansion follows a historic year where international genres dominated the spotlight.

The major shift comes following a historic night for global music at Grammys 2026. Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny became the first artist to win the coveted Album of the Year prize for a Spanish-language record, while the anthem "Golden" from the movie KPop Demon Hunters also made history at the US ceremony earlier this year.

A push for inclusivity

The annual award show—widely regarded as music's biggest night—hands out gongs to artists across a vast landscape of genres. According to the Recording Academy, these new additions are designed to better reflect the diverse reality of today's global charts.

Grammys chief executive Harvey Mason Jr shared the vision behind the expansion in a statement and said, "Expanding the number of categories makes the event more inclusive and enables the awards to represent more music creators, artists, writers and producers."

This change has been in the making for some time. The Recording Academy, which organizes the Grammy Awards, strategically added a number of Korean and Latino artists to its voting panel last year—a move widely seen as laying the groundwork for this very expansion.

Mason Jr emphasized that the academy listened directly to the industry.

"The changes were all inspired by our music community sharing with us that they felt they needed to have more opportunities to celebrate different and new genres of music."

New rules and guidelines

The Academy has laid out clear guidelines for the new global fields. Tracks hoping to be nominated for the new Best Latin Song award will need to be "predominantly in the Spanish language." Meanwhile, the Best Asian Pop Music Performance category will cast a wide net, making music across various Asian pop genres—including K-pop, J-pop, and C-pop—fully eligible.

The decision closely follows the massive commercial momentum of global artists. Bad Bunny, who was crowned the world's most-played artist in 2025 according to Spotify, also picked up Best Música Urbana Album for Debí Tirar Más Fotos (I Should Have Taken More Photos) and Best Global Music Performance at the Grammys in February.

Simultaneously, "Golden"—the inescapable hit performed by the fictional band Huntr/x for the film KPop Demon Hunters—became the first-ever K-pop song to win a Grammy for Best Song for Visual Media, underscoring the undeniable cultural and commercial force of Korean pop.

Shuffling the traditional categories

The remaining three new categories focus on defining and honouring specific American genres including Best R&B Collaboration or Duo/Group Performance, Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance, Best Traditional Folk Album.

To accommodate these additions, some existing categories are getting a makeover. The current R&B Performance category is being renamed to focus strictly on solo acts. Additionally, the existing Folk Album prize will now be dedicated entirely to contemporary folk, leaving the traditional roots to the newly created traditional folk category.

Apart from changing genres, the Academy is loosening its strict rulebook for emerging talent. The eligibility criteria for Best New Artist have been altered, increasing the number of times a performer can be submitted for consideration from three to four.

This rule change gives a massive lifeline to up-and-coming acts like Ravyn Lenae and Ella Langley. Both artists had already been put forward in three previous years and would have been locked out under the old rules, but they are now eligible to be nominated once again.

All new categories and rule adjustments will officially take effect starting with next year's ceremony.