The Recording Academy is switching up its Country Album category after Beyoncé became the first Black artist to win Best Country Album at the 67th Academy Awards in February for Cowboy Carter, her first full-album foray into the genre, which also won her Album of the Year. According to Variety, the Academy announced that the 68th Grammy Awards will take place Feb. 1, 2026, where the Best Country Album category will now be split into two. “The existing Best Country Album Category has been renamed Best Contemporary Country Album, and a new Category, Best Traditional Country Album, has been added,” per the announcement. The critical and commercial success of the Cowboy Cartercreated tensionfor some majority-white country music entities, and the album was totally snubbed by the Country Music Awards. The Recording Academy last added major categories to its Awards in 2023: Best African Music Performance, Best Alternative Jazz Album, and Best Pop Dance Recording.
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