The Grammys have been crazy in love with Beyoncé since she got her first of a record 99 nominations with Destiny’s Child 25 years ago.
And since DC’s “Bills, Bills, Bills” lost to TLC’s “No Scrubs” for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group in 2000, Bey has gone on to become the winningest artist in Grammy history, bagging her 32nd of those golden gramophones in 2023.
But despite her staggering success on music’s biggest night, Beyoncé has never won the award that matters most: Album of the Year. She’s been nominated four times — for “I Am … Sasha Fierce” in 2010, “Beyoncé” in 2015, “Lemonade” in 2017 and “Renaissance” in 2023. And she’s lost four times.
While hubby Jay-Z accepted the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award last year, he called the Grammys out about it: “She has more Grammys than everyone and never won Album of the Year. So even by your own metrics, that doesn’t work. Think about that. The most Grammys, [but] never won Album of the Year. That doesn’t work.”
In front of the industry, he said the quiet part out loud, as Mrs. Carter stood in the uncomfortable audience.
Weeks later, Queen Bey dropped “Cowboy Carter” — her groundbreaking, genre-bucking country collection — which leads the contenders at Sunday’s Grammys with 11 nominations, the most ever by a female artist in a single year.
And — here we go again — she’s up for Album of the Year in what will be the story of the night.
So how did we get here, where Beyoncé has perfected the beauty-queen smile-and-clap routine in loss after loss for Grammy’s biggest award?
It all started in 2010, when Beyoncé once again led the nominees with 10 for her 2008 album “I Am … Sasha Fierce,” which featured the hits “If I Were a Boy,” “Halo” and, biggest of all, “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).”
That year B was up against Taylor Swift’s “Fearless,” Lady Gaga’s “The Fame,” the Black Eyed Peas’ “The E.N.D.” and Dave Matthews Band’s “Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King.”
There was certainly no shame in losing to Swift’s country-pop blockbuster in the first of her record four AOTY victories. Clearly, that was no fluke. Heck, even a loss to Gaga for her insta-classic debut would’ve been acceptable.
Of all of Beyoncé’s Album of the Year losses, this one is the fair-and-squarest.
But five years later, Beyoncé was robbed for the first time when her surprise self-titled set that forever changed the game for album drops — and boasted a visual companion with videos for every track — lost to Beck’s “Morning Phase” in 2015. This was not “Odelay,” for which the slacker hero was previously nominated for AOTY in 1997.
I would even argue that Sam Smith’s “In the Lonely Hour” would’ve been a worthier winner than “Morning Phase.” But looking at the impact of “Beyoncé” and its legacy 10 years later — with its ambitious artistry, this was the beginning of Bey 2.0 — there’s really no competition.
Even more egregious, though, was the “Lemonade” loss for Album of the Year at the 2017 Grammys. “Lemonade” was one of those once-in-a-generation albums that changed not only Beyoncé’s career but the culture. From the moment that she surprise-dropped “Formation” the day before performing it at the 2016 Super Bowl, it was a whole damn movement, complete with a “Lemonade” film.
Embracing her blackness more than ever, she simply slayed.
It made poor Adele embarrassed when her “25” LP triumphed over “Lemonade” after she had already won AOTY — and deservedly so — for “21” in 2012.
“I can’t possibly accept this award,” said the tearful “Hello” singer as she reluctantly did just that. “My artist of my life is Beyoncé. And this album to me, the “Lemonade” album, is just so monumental … And all us artists here adore you. You are our light.”
It may have been better than losing to Justin Bieber (“Purpose”) or Drake (“Views”), but this one felt like an even bigger slap in the face after 2015.
And while Beyoncé represented for black women on “Lemonade,” she did the same for the black queer community — a foundational source of inspiration throughout her career — on 2022’s “Renaissance.” In the end, it was probably too black and too queer for Grammy voters, who played it safe with the pop-rock pick of Harry Styles’ “Harry’s House” in 2023.
But hey, at least Adele didn’t win again for “30,” surely to her relief.
Still, it had to sting when Beyoncé broke the record for most Grammy wins — but not with the big one she really wanted.
A little perspective, though: There are plenty of legit legends throughout the history of pop music who haven’t won Album of the Year — from Aretha Franklin and Bruce Springsteen to Prince and Madonna. So Beyoncé is in good company.
But in an era where Swift has four AOTY wins, it’s getting harder and harder to make it make sense why Bey doesn’t have one yet. Enough is enough — this has got to be her year.
