Taylor Swift! Beyoncé! Charli XCX! Many of the biggest names in music — including relative newcomer Chappell Roan and previous winner Billie Eilish — are up for Album Of The Year at the 2025 Grammys. We’re still months away from the ceremony on February 2, 2025 (and over two years from a move to Disney+), so instead of making individual predictions, I’m going to make a brief case for why every Album Of The Year nominee could and/or should win.
Let’s kick things off with arguably the most surprising nomination…
André 3000 – New Blue Sun
If Album Of The Year was given to the most daring album, André 3000 would have this thing locked down. Not every Outkast fan loved his solo debut being a jazz album with more flutes than rapping and track titles like “Ghandi, Dalai Lama, Your Lord & Savior J.C. / Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, And John Wayne Gacy,” but you can’t accuse Andre of not following his muse.
Beyoncé – Cowboy Carter
Beyoncé is the most-nominated artist in Grammys history (99!). She also has the most wins (32) — but not the biggest award. Despite her stature as one of the most influential titans of pop and R&B (and now country) in the 21st century, Beyoncé has yet to win Album Of The Year. This could — and if the critical reception to Cowboy Carter is any indication, should — be the time.
Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard And Soft
Billie Eilish is the first artist ever to have her first three albums nominated for Album Of The Year. And she’s still only 22 years old! Hit Me Hard And Soft features Eilish’s biggest hit (“Birds Of A Feather”) since her breakthrough single “Bad Guy,” and the album as a whole is quietly confident with some of her strongest vocals. It gets better with every listen.
Chappell Roan – The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess
Chappell Roan had a meteoric 2024. Could her 2025 be historic? Only Christopher Cross and Billie Eilish have won the “Big Four” at the Grammys (Album Of The Year, Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Best New Artist) in the same year. Roan is up for all four, and a sweep is very possible. She is your favorite artist’s favorite artist, after all.
Charli XCX – Brat
Charli XCX became what I like to call “Mom Famous” this year. As in, my mom now knows who Charli XCX is (the next time I’m in a glum mood, I’ll remember the time she called me to ask, “What is ‘brat’?” and I’ll cheer right up). But Brat is not only a word of the year phenomenon. It’s also a devil-may-care, club-classic album. “kamala IS brat” didn’t turn out so great, but how about “charli IS album of the year winner”?
Jacob Collier – Djesse Vol. 4
Jacob Collier isn’t a household name like the Taylor Swifts and Beyoncés of the world. But that’s what makes rooting for Djesse Vol. 4, a unique exercise in genre experimentation, to upset the frontrunners so fun. Who doesn’t love an underdog story?
Sabrina Carpenter – Short N’ Sweet
Everyone knows “Espresso” and “Please Please Please,” but a lot of people don’t realize that Short N’ Sweet is Sabrina Carpenter’s sixth album. She’s been doing it for a while! But with songs like her first two top-5 hits, as well as “Taste” and the Short N’ Sweet Tour highlight “Juno,” Carpenter has elevated her game. Just imagine the outro to her acceptance speech!
Taylor Swift – The Tortured Poets Department
Taylor Swift has won Album Of The Year four times, more than any other artist or band ever. She’s the frontrunner any time she’s nominated in the category. The Tortured Poets Department isn’t the album many Swifties were expecting, it’s better, and she (and Jack Antonoff) could be awarded once again for it.
The 2025 Grammys air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ on February 2, 2025.