Beyoncé, Album of the Year, and the Subtle Persistence of Racism in the Grammy Awards

For years, the Grammy Awards have positioned themselves as the pinnacle of musical achievement, an annual celebration of artistic excellence. Yet, time and time again, they remind us that certain artists— Black artists—are often deemed worthy of nominations and performances but not the top prize.
This year, at the 2025 Annual Grammy Awards, Beyoncé finally won her first Album of the Year for Cowboy Carter. However, of course, with every success, there is a challenge that proceeds. Fans of Billie Eilish are complaining that her most recent album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, should have won Album of the Year.
Hit Me Hard and Soft was nominated for 7 Grammys this year, including: Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, Song of the Year, and Record of the Year. Although, yes, Billie Eilish truly deserved some Grammy Awards this year, why are fans commenting on how she was “robbed” of Album of the Year only when a successful black woman received the award? Why not criticize another artist in a category her album didn’t win?
The answer to this is a long-standing truth: racism in the music industry is not always apparent, but it is embedded in the way success is measured and rewarded.
Beyoncé is one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful artists of all time. She has redefined Pop, Hip-Hop, Rap, R&B, and now Country Music, pushed artistic boundaries and shaped cultural conversations in ways few artists ever have. Yet, until this year, despite being the most awarded artist in Grammy history, she had never won the biggest award of the night. The fact that she lost repeatedly in previous—despite creating generation-defining albums like Lemonade, B’Day, and Renaissance—was not just a mere coincidence; it was part of a long history of Black artists, especially Black women, being undervalued by the Recording Academy.
The backlash to Beyoncé’s win this year is telling. When white artists like Taylor Swift or Adele win, their victories are framed as inevitable and justified, even when their albums are not as sonically groundbreaking. If Sabrina Carpenter's Album Short n’ Sweet won Album of the Year, fans would be upset but ultimately accept it with little to no backlash. The discomfort and criticism with Beyoncé finally receiving her due reflects a subconscious bias among white audiences: the belief that Black artists, particularly Black women, can be excellent but should not be the best.
Racism in the Grammys is rarely explicit. It’s not about open hostility or slurs; it’s about who gets celebrated and who is constantly made to justify their success. It’s about why Hip-Hop and R&B albums by Black artists are often deemed unworthy of Album of the Year, while similar works by white artists are praised as revolutionary. It’s about why Beyoncé winning is met with resistance, while white artists who have won multiple times are met with praise and glorification.
Beyoncé’s Album of the Year win should be a moment of long-overdue recognition, but instead, it’s become yet another example of how Black excellence is constantly scrutinized, second-guessed, and diminished. The backlash isn’t about music; it’s about who we, as a society, believe deserves to be on top. And as long as that remains in question for artists like Beyoncé, the fight for true equity in the music industry is far from over.