The nominations for the 2019 Grammy Awards were released on Friday, Dec. 7, with Post Malone‘s song “Rockstar” scoring nods for Record of the Year and Best Rap/Sung Performance.
Ahead of the announcement, the Recording Academy’s Twitter account made sure to note the eligibility period for this year’s ceremony, which was Oct. 1, 2017 – Sept. 30, 2018, an unusual period when it comes to awards shows, which usually consider projects from the previous calendar year spanning January to December.
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After this year’s Grammy nominations were announced, a number of fans used Twitter to note that “Rockstar” was actually released on Sept. 15, 2017, which would seemingly make it ineligible for the 2019 ceremony.
uhh,, rockstar was released before the timeframe for this year’s noms? im so confused how is it up for a grammy pic.twitter.com/skd7SPxcLz
— bee 🐝 (@melletsbix) December 8, 2018
Some people offered songs they wished were nominated instead.
fake love or ntltc deserve rockstar’s place @RecordingAcad get on it
— bianca (@jhszip) December 7, 2018
In actuality, the full Grammy rules state that eligible works must have been first released or achieved prominence during the eligibility period, and since “Rockstar” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October, where it stayed for eight weeks, it’s clearly within the time frame to be nominated for this year’s ceremony.
A song in a similar situation is Little Big Town’s “When Someone Stops Loving You,” which was released as a single in June 2017. Ultimately, the song earned its peak position (No. 37) on the Billboard Country Airplay chart in January 2018, which means it also achieved its ultimate prominence during the eligibility period.
The fact that the eligibility period runs from October through September means that Taylor Swift’s November 2017 album Reputation was included in this year’s nominations, but the soundtrack to A Star Is Born, which many assumed would rack up nods, was not, as it was released on Oct. 5, 2018. However, the lead single from the project, “Shallow,” was released on Sept. 27 and is therefore nominated.
Along with its eligibility period, the Grammys have often been scrutinized for their eligibility criteria for one of the night’s biggest awards, Best New Artist, which is touted as recognizing a musician who has had a “breakthrough” during the previous 12-month eligibility window.
While it could be argued that Malone had a huge public breakthrough during the past year, he ultimately wasn’t nominated for the award, though a source told Billboard that his name was submitted for consideration.
Photo Credit: Getty / Paul Morigi
