The Grammy Awards are known for having a massive number of categories. After adding five more for 2027, the Grammys now sit at 101 categories, including awards for such niche genres as Latin Jazz and Regional Roots Music, and for technical categories like Best Album Notes and Best Recording Package.
Yet, despite this remarkable level of category specificity, there’s one award that has never existed, and its absence remains a mystery: Best Pop Song, an award for the songwriters of the best pop music track of the year.
There are awards for Pop Vocal Album, and for Pop Performance (Solo and Group), but there’s no Pop award for songwriters. There has never been such an award, even though numerous other genres (R&B, Rap, Rock, Country) have a songwriter’s award.
Why do the Grammys continue to refuse to create a Pop songwriter’s award? Will the Grammys ever correct this oversight?
Songwriting Awards at the Grammys
Song of the Year is the major songwriting award at the Grammys. It’s considered one of the “Big Four” categories. It features eight nominees from all genres competing for a single trophy.
The Grammys also added a Songwriter of the Year category a few years back, to honor the individual whose body of work was most impressive over a one-year span.
But what’s most relevant to this discussion are the eight genres that currently have a “best song” award. All of these awards are given to the songwriters.
Genres that currently have a “best song” award for songwriters:
Best Rock Song
Best R&B Song
Best Rap Song
Best Country Song
Best American Roots Song
Best Latin Song
Best Gospel Performance/Song
Best Contemporary Christian Performance/Song
Since so many other genres have a songwriter’s award — the Best Latin Song category was just added in 2027, in fact — it makes no sense for Pop to not have such an award.
The Grammys’ Justification for Not Having a Best Pop Song Award
In the past, when Grammy officials or observers have been asked why there’s no Best Pop Song award, they say it’s unnecessary, because the all-genre Song of the Year award covers it. They assume most of the same songs would be nominated for both awards.
But that makes no sense. Song of the Year covers all genres. It regularly features rap songs, rock songs, country songs. It’s not a Pop award.
Using that same silly logic, if we don’t need a Best Pop Song category because Song of the Year already covers it, then we don’t need a Best Pop Vocal Album category, because Album of the Year covers it. And we don’t need a Best Pop Solo Performance award, because Record of the Year covers it.
Obviously, no one would ever seriously make either of the latter two arguments. Yet intelligent Grammy observers stubbornly cling to the notion that Song of the Year makes a Best Pop Song category redundant. This logic is mystifying. It’s been a head-scratcher for many years.
Billboard’s Paul Grein wrote back in 2019, “The Grammys have long believed that the nominees for best pop song would overlap too much with the nominees for song of the year. There’s probably something to that, but that’s scant consolation for pop-leaning songwriters. As the Grammys make an ongoing effort to diversify their nominations in the Big Four categories, including by genre, they might consider adding a best pop song award. In a diverse musical era, the overlap between song of the year and best pop song might be less than the Grammys think.“
Would Best Pop Song Overlap Too Much With Song of the Year?
I went back and looked at the past several years of Grammy nominees to determine how much overlap there would have been between the actual Song of the Year nominees and a potential Best Pop Song category.
The answer? Yes, there would’ve been quite a bit of overlap in the nominees, but not as much overlap in the winners.
Over the last 10 years (2017-2026), there were five Song of the Year winners that would not have been nominated for Best Pop Song, because they came from different genres: Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” Bonnie Raitt’s “Just Like That,” Silk Sonic’s “Leave the Door Open,” H.E.R.’s “I Can’t Breathe,” and Childish Gambino’s “This is America.”
The other five Song of the Year winners during that span (three from Billie Eilish, one each from Adele and Bruno Mars) likely would have won Best Pop Song.
As for the nominees, a modest majority of them did come from the Pop field. Here’s the breakdown of how many of the past five years’ nominees would have been eligible for a Best Pop Song category:
2026: 4/8 (Wildflower, APT., Golden, Manchild)
2025: 5/8 (Birds of a Feather, Die With a Smile, Fortnight, Please Please Please, Good Luck Babe!)
2024: 6/8 (What Was I Made For, A&W, Anti-Hero, Dance the Night, Flowers, Vampire)
2023: 6/10 (ABCDEFU, About Damn Time, All Too Well, As it Was, Bad Habit, Easy on Me)
2022: 5/10 (Bad Habits, Drivers License, Happier Than Ever, Kiss Me More, Montero)
*Note: In some cases, it’s unclear whether a song would’ve been considered Pop. For instance, Lady Gaga’s “Abracadabra” was nominated in the Dance field rather than Pop, so we’re assuming it would not have been eligible for Best Pop Song.
So, yes, 59% of Song of the Year nominees (26/44) would’ve been eligible for Best Pop Song in the past five years. That’s a majority, but it’s not overwhelming. Is that enough overlap to justify not having a Best Pop Song category? I don’t think so.
Going back further, there have been several years where pop songs made up a minority of Song of the Year nominees: 2012 (2/5), 2011 (1/5), 2010 (2/5), 2007 (2/5). All of these years could’ve used a Best Pop Song category.
There was even one year, 2006, with zero pop songs nominated for Song of the Year. That year, the nominees came from R&B (Mariah Carey, John Legend), rock (U2, Bruce Springsteen), and country (Rascal Flatts.)
Which Artists Would Benefit From a Best Pop Song Category?
If there had been a Best Pop Song category for the last 20 years, the biggest beneficiary probably would have been Taylor Swift.
For as many awards as Swift has won, she only has 14 Grammy wins in her career. Compare that to 35 for Beyonce, 25 for Jay-Z, 24 for Kanye West, and 22 for U2. All of those artists inflated their Grammy totals by winning genre songwriting awards. Swift didn’t have that opportunity.
Had there been a Best Pop Song category, Swift would have been a strong contender to win it numerous times, especially for “All Too Well,” “Cardigan,” and “You Belong With Me,” all of which were nominated for Song of the Year but lost to non-pop songs.
Other artists who might have won Best Pop Song Grammys in the 2000s include Olivia Rodrigo (2022, Drivers License), Lady Gaga (2019, Shallow), Carly Rae Jepsen (2013, Call Me Maybe), Cee Lo Green (2011, F— You), Jason Mraz (2009, I’m Yours), and James Blunt (2007, You’re Beautiful).
Some of those songs didn’t win any Grammys at all. It would’ve been cool to see them get the chance to win a Best Pop Song Grammy Award.
The bottom line: If artists in other genres are eligible to double-up on songwriting awards — like Kendrick Lamar winning both Best Rap Song and Song of the Year for “Not Like Us,” and Silk Sonic winning both Best R&B Song and Song of the Year for “Leave the Door Open” — there’s no reason why pop songwriters shouldn’t be able to win or be nominated for both Best Pop Song and Song of the Year.
It’s well past time that the Grammys rectify this injustice and create a Best Pop Song category.
Do you think the Grammys should create a Best Pop Song category? Leave a comment with your opinion!
Last Updated on July 10, 2026