In a significant restructuring of its awards system, the Recording Academy has divided the Grammy for Best Country Album into two distinct categories: Best Traditional Country Album and Best Contemporary Country Album. This decision comes precisely one year after Beyoncé’s groundbreaking victory in the category with her album ‘Cowboy Carter,’ which sparked both celebration and controversy within the country music establishment.
The reorganization, announced ahead of this Sunday’s Grammy ceremony, represents the Academy’s response to decades of genre evolution that have seen country music increasingly incorporate elements from pop, rap, and hip-hop. While some critics have interpreted the timing as a reaction to Beyoncé’s unexpected win, Academy officials maintain that the change resulted from years of deliberation within the country music community.
Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. emphasized that the category split had been proposed multiple times before finally gaining approval from voting members in 2025. ‘The addition of the Traditional Country Album category creates space to celebrate even more music and the many artists who are shaping the genre’s future,’ Mason stated in an official communication.
The 2026 nominations reflect this new dichotomy. The contemporary category features both established country acts like Miranda Lambert and Eric Church alongside genre-blending artists like rapper-turned-country star Jelly Roll and pop-country singer Kelsea Ballerini. Meanwhile, the traditional category showcases living legend Willie Nelson alongside emerging talents including his son Lukas Nelson and critically acclaimed artist Charley Crockett—the only person of color nominated in this division.
Music historian Jason King from the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music noted that while Beyoncé’s win may have accelerated the change, conversations about category division had been ongoing for years. King referenced Lil Nas X’s 2019 viral hit ‘Old Town Road’ as a previous boundary-pushing moment that challenged genre definitions.
The controversy surrounding Beyoncé’s win highlighted deeper racial tensions within country music, a genre with diverse roots that has historically struggled with representation. Black artists like Darius Rucker, Mickey Guyton, and Kane Brown have previously broken racial barriers in country music, but Beyoncé’s album specifically celebrated the Black origins of the genre, featuring Grammy winner Rhiannon Giddens on banjo for her hit ‘Texas Hold ‘Em.’
Despite her Grammy victory, Beyoncé received no nominations from Nashville’s Country Music Association Awards in the same year, underscoring the industry’s ongoing struggle with genre boundaries and inclusion. The Recording Academy’s category split may signal a broader movement toward recognizing country music’s evolving identity while honoring its traditional foundations.