Grammys 2025’s Biggest Snubs: Ariana Grande, Megan Thee Stallion, Dua Lipa, Jack Antonoff

We thought y’all loved her? Dua Lipa has been a Grammys favorite dating back to her 2019 Best New Artist win. With 2020’s Future Nostalgia, she earned another trophy and three other nods (including one for “Un Día,” her left-field collab with J Balvin and Bad Bunny). Last year, her Barbie song earned her two more nods. But Dua’s music will be absent at the 2025 Grammys — Radical Optimism earned not a single nomination. She didn’t fare any better in the song categories, either. Not even for “Houdini.” —Tomás Mier

Megan Thee Stallion’s “Hiss” is often credited as the song that started rap’s year of diss songs — but it wasn’t recognized by the Academy. The January 2024 single wasn’t just splashy, it was a prime exhibition of just how good of a technical MC she is. For her to maintain the song’s double-time cadence while tossing bombs like “these hoes don’t be mad at Megan/These hoes mad at Megan’s Law” is top-tier MC work. But it seems like the Grammy committee didn’t agree — or at least not enough to give her a Best Rap Song nod. —Andre Gee

Ariana Grande is back in the Best Pop Vocal Album race for her seventh studio album, Eternal Sunshine, expertly crafted with Max Martin. It’s her fifth nomination in the category — yet she’s only made it into the Album of the Year category once, after Thank U, Next solidified her as an indomitable pop force in 2019. Eternal Sunshine is the sleekest album Grande has ever made, measured and concise without sacrificing character. But it arrived in the calm before a storm of pop phenomena rolled through, led by Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, and Charli XCX, plus tried and true Grammy darlings Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift. Apparently that didn’t leave room for one of Grande’s most acclaimed releases in the AOTY category. The Grammys didn’t have much time for “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love),” either, shutting the poignant single out of Song and Record of the Year, along with every pop category. When it rains, it pours. —Larisha Paul

After the Beatles broke up in 1970, their Sixties rivals the Rolling Stones simply kept going, releasing 16 studio albums and touring relentlessly. As far as this year’s Grammys voters were concerned, though, they might as well have not bothered. With Mick Jagger and Keith Richards both in their eighties, the Stones’ latest album, Hackney Diamonds, is a defiant miracle — an almost supernaturally vital rock album. But it somehow ended up getting only one nomination, fewer than “Now and Then,” a reconstituted Beatles single featuring John Lennon vocals from 1977. —Brian Hiatt

Jack Antonoff has dominated the Producer of the Year, Non-Classical category in recent years, winning three years straight. Though he has his detractors, it’s surprising he didn’t even get a nomination in a year in which he worked on massive, much-nominated albums like Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet and Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department. 

From the veterans who still receive nominations to the tribute section of the telecast, the Grammys have always shown an appreciation for the past. So it’s all the more confounding that the Best Historical Album category (which awards audio restoration, not packaging) doesn’t include one of the year’s most important excavations: Joni Mitchell Archives — Volume 3: The Asylum Years (1972-1975), which documents the making of her crucial records For the Roses, Court and Spark, and The Hissing of Summer Lawns. Especially in light of Mitchell’s unexpected renaissance in recent years, how could it not have crossed anyone’s mind? —David Browne

In 2014, Hozier’s breakthrough single “Take Me to Church” scored the Irish musician a Song of the Year nomination at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. It remained his biggest hit for a decade — that is, until the luscious pop hit “Too Sweet” catapulted him to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in April. Earlier this year, Hozier told Rolling Stone that he considered shelving the song, which appeared on an expanded edition of his album Unreal Unearth, believing no one would want to hear it. But TikTok sunk its teeth in deep, then radio and streaming followed suit. “Too Sweet” is the polar opposite of “Take Me to Church” in every way, but in the midst of a true pop renaissance, nothing else sounded quite like it. It would have been a deserving standout in the Pop Solo Performance category, maybe even Record of the Year, but it seems the Recording Academy wasn’t interested in giving into the indulgence. —L.P. 

Tyla made waves at last year’s Grammys as she won the inaugural Best African Performance Award for her smash “Water,” beating out Afrobeats giants Asake, Burna Boy, and Davido. “Water” was a distinct fusion of Afrobeats, South African Amapiano, pop, and R&B. She kept up the momentum in March with a remarkable, self-titled debut album that we predicted would clinch a Grammy nod for Album of the Year and should have been a shoo-in for Best Global. Instead, and perhaps more remarkably, she didn’t earn a single nomination this year. In fact, the Best African Performance Award roster is exclusively populated by Nigerian acts, while Amapiano has become a global phenomenon and other regions of the continent have their own beloved sounds. —Mankaprr Conteh

The Grammys have always had a strange relationship with heavy metal. Although this year’s nominations recognized songs by reliable headbangers (Metallica, Judas Priest, Gojira) and some fresh faces (Knocked Loose with Poppy and Spiritbox), it seems unusual that former Slayer guitarist Kerry King’s excellent From Hell I Rise and Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson’s equally epic The Mandrake Project didn’t make the cut. Chances are low that they would win — Ozzy Osbourne is the only solo artist to claim a metal Grammy — but Maiden have won once previously and Slayer twice, so they should have had a chance. —Kory Grow

Blink-182 have never won a Grammy, but this seemed like a promising year for at least a nomination. In 2023, the classic lineup of Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge, and Travis Barker returned for their first album in 12 years with One More Time. The album was a mature effort from the raucous pop-punkers, chronicling the fallout from Hoppus’ battle with lymphoma and helping the band reconnect with their fervent fanbase. One More Time was also released on the heels of a wildly successful reunion tour (and Coachella headlining set). Still, the Grammys  didn’t give a damn; Blink-182 didn’t receive a single nomination in any category this year. —Maya Georgi

For years, two-time Grammy winners Linkin Park held onto “Friendly Fire” — an outtake from the sessions for One More Light, the last record the group recorded with late singer Chester Bennington. They finally released the song, a synth-driven pop song on which Bennington wants to stop fighting with someone, on the compilation Papercuts (Singles Collection 2000–2023). The song is powerful and catchy, it made it up to Number One on Billboard’s Rock Airplay chart, and its video got a VMAs nod from MTV. Why not the Grammys? —K.G.

2024 was the year Tinashe finally earned some deserved recognition for her all-around stellar artistry.  No one can write, sing, and dance like she does. She’s been delivering hit-worthy songs for years — 2023’s “Needs” was a bop, 333’s “Bouncin” would’ve slayed at radio. Then, “Nasty” came, re-introducing her to a new audience that welcomed her on TikTok and beyond — but the Grammys clearly weren’t looking. “Nasty” and its sassy lyrics were worthy of a Record of the Year nomination. Recording Academy, you’ve been a nasty girl for ignoring Ms. T.  —T.M.