The Recording Academy has announced some new categories as the industry prepares for the 2026 Grammys.
One of which is the sole new country category: Best Traditional Country Album— which means the existing country album category will now be the Best Contemporary Country Album category.
Many believe the change was prompted after Beyoncé took home wins for Best Country Duo/Group Performance, Best Country Album, and Album of the Year for COWBOY CARTER.
2023 Grammys: Beyoncé wins Best dance/electronic recording 2024 Grammys: The academy introduces a new category-Best Dance pop recording 2025 Grammys: Beyoncé wins Best country album 2026 Grammys: The academy introduces a new category-Best traditional Country album pic.twitter.com/nOY8kXzDbv
On X, one user noted that this was the second time the Recording Academy introduced new categories following Bey winning in music categories outside of Hip-Hop, R&B, and pop. Culture historian Mikeisha Vaughn tweeted, “Beyoncé won Best Country Album, so they had to rename/create new categories like Best Contemporary Country Album + Best Traditional Country Album in an attempt to differentiate from “traditional” (white) country music. Go racism!”
Music/culture journalist Njera Perkins commented, “That ‘Cowboy Carter’ win really pissed folks off huh? Way to move the goalpost.”
They added this Best “Traditional” Country Album category so the yts can win and dominate because they are still angry that a black woman, Beyoncé, won Best Country Album AND that she led the charge for other Black country acts to be noticed, too. https://t.co/M7W9z51Q5g
Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. explained to Billboard, “The community of people that are making country music in all different subgenres came to us with a proposal and said we would like to have more variety in how our music is honored. They said, we think we need more space for our music to be celebrated and honored.”
He noted that the switch will align country categories with other genres that already differentiate contemporary from traditional albums and performances.
“It makes country parallel with what’s happening in other genres,” Mason continued, “But it is also creating space for where this genre is going.”
The goal is for this new category to benefit artists who fall outside of mainstream, commercial country music. Mason did confirm the proposal for Best Traditional Country Album had been previously submitted several times before finally being approved this year.
