After the Oscars moved their awards to an earlier date in February, the Grammys followed suit and adjusted its entire schedule as well. From the usual September 30 cutoff, the eligibility deadline for was moved to August 31 this year for the awards in January 2021.
While it may be a little early to tell who are going to win what next year, Billboard and Goldderby have already come up with their lists of front-runners for the Album of the Year award. We decided to narrow it down and focus on artists and bands who have never been nominated in this category. Here is our fearless forecast: 1.) Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Ghosteen The Australian veteran rock has not been nominated in the Grammys before. But their recent album made a record on MetaCritic with the score of 96. The album was said to be inspired by the death of Nick Cave's son. 2.) Harry Styles - Fine Line Including his career as One Direction member, Styles has yet receive a Grammy nomination. Fine Line is his second album as a solo artist, which topped the Billboard 200 lists for two weeks. One of his album's single "Adore You" is seventh on Hot 100 of Billboard, as of writing. 3.) Niall Horan - "Heartbreak Weather" If not Harry Styles, could another One Direction alum break the band's Grammy curse? Horan's second solo album debuted in the top 5 of the Billboard 200 albums. 4.) Miranda Lambert - Wildcard Lambert has already won two Grammy awards, including Best Country Album in 2015. However, she has never been nominated for Album of the Year category. Her seventh album, "Wildcard", has reached the top spot for country albums and fourth place in Billboard Top 200. 5.) Bad Bunny - YHLQMDLG Bad Bunny got three Grammy nominations for best Latin, rock, and alternative album awards. YHLQMDLG is his second album that also entered second place in Billboard 200 list, making it the first Spanish language album that made in the list. 6.) Tame Impala - The Slow Rush Impala's two albums Lonerism and Currents were nominated best alternative music album but not in the bigger Album of the Year. This is also the project headed by musician Kevin Parker and entered top 3 at Billboard 200. 7.) BTS - Map of the Soul:7 The Korean boyband made their debut performance at the 2020 Grammy Awards. While they have earned the spotlight, they have yet to earn a nomination, and their fourth album, "Map of the Soul: 7" could be the key to that. The group's single "ON" made has peaked at fourth place on the Billboard's Top 100, their highest peak to date. 8.) Selena Gomez - Rare Selena might be one of the most popular stars of her generation, but Grammy has yet to recognize her work, either as a solo artist or as part of The Scene. Her third album, "Rare", could be her best bet as it debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, while her single, "Lose You to Love Me", was her first No. 1 on the Hot 100 chart. 9.) Summer Walker - Over It Summer Walker's album is her first studio album, one of her new single "Playing Games" is now at the second spot of Billboard 200. The album has collaboration songs with Usher and Drake. 10.) Roddy Ricch - Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial Ricch's collaboration with Nipsey Hussle in "Racks in the Middle" won Best Rap Performance in this year's Grammy. This automatically makes him not elligible to be nominated as best new artist next year. However, his debut album stands a good chance for an Album of the Year nomination. "Please Excuse Me..." has dominated Billboard 200 for four weeks, while his song "The Box" is topped the Hot 100 for 11 weeks. Last year, seven out of the eight contenders were first-time nominees for Album of the Year award. We have yet to find out if newbies will continue to dominate one of the "Big Four" awards this year.
There are now 16 artists that are vying for the title of best album of the year in next year's Grammys with 10 of them are first timers
Australian Band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds were one of the first timers in Grammys for 2021
Former One Direction member Harry Styles have its first Grammy nomination in his whole career
Miranda Lambert won a Grammy in the field of country music but it will be her first time in the Album of the Year category
Tame Impala won best alternative album in Grammys but not on the larger Album of the Year award
Korean boy band BTS will be one of the first timers in Grammy Awards
Selena Gomez will be having a Grammy nomination in her whole career
