13 Times Women Made GRAMMY History: Beyoncé, Taylor Swift & More | GRAMMY.com

Editor's Note: This article was originally published on May 15, 2017, and was updated on Feb. 4, 2025 to reflect history-making moments through the 2025 GRAMMYs, and on March 4, 2025 with a new graphic.

The 2025 GRAMMYs marked another big night for female artists, from Doechii's dynamic performance and Chappell Roan's powerful speech to Beyoncé's career-defining wins. But it was far from the first time that women have made waves on the GRAMMY stage.

In the GRAMMY Awards' 67-year history, women have set a wide array of GRAMMY records, along with achieving many remarkable firsts. This year alone, Beyoncé did both, setting the record for the most GRAMMY nominations ever at 99, and becoming the first Black woman to win the GRAMMY for Best Country Album for COWBOY CARTER (which also won the superstar her first Album Of The Year honor).

Beyoncé is in good company when it comes to female GRAMMY record holders, which includes the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, and Lauryn Hill. From the first women to ever win a GRAMMY to the top GRAMMY-winning woman, as well as the first female GRAMMY performers and the first female GRAMMY host, here are 13 examples of how women blazed trails in music — and left their indelible marks in GRAMMY history.

Ella Fitzgerald: The First Woman To Win Multiple GRAMMYs

The 1st Annual GRAMMY Awards took place in 1958, and several women were among the first crop of recipients. The first female multiple GRAMMY winner was jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald, who took home two gramophones: Best Vocal Performance, Female and Best Jazz Performance, Individual. The roster of first-time female GRAMMY winners also included Keely Smith, Salli Terri, Barbara Cook, Pert Kelton, Helen Raymond, and Renata Tebaldi.

The First Women To Win GRAMMYs In The General Field

Wins by women in the General Field Categories — Record, Song and Album Of The Year and Best New Artist — date all the way back to the 4th Annual GRAMMY Awards in 1962. The first female winner for Album Of The Year was Judy Garland, for her 1961 album, Judy At Carnegie Hall.

Three years later, Astrud Gilberto became the first woman to win Record Of The Year, winning alongside Stan Getz for "The Girl From Ipanema" in 1964. Then in 1968, country singer/songwriter Bobbie Gentry became the first female Best New Artist winner. And in 1971, Carole King was the first woman to claim the Song Of The Year honor for "You've Got A Friend" in 1971. 

Taylor Swift: The Artist With The Most Album Of The Year Wins

Taylor Swift is the artist with the most Album Of The Year wins in GRAMMY history, with four awards under her belt. The singer/songwriter scored her first win in the Category at the 2010 GRAMMYs for 2008's Fearless, which also won Best Country Album; Swift later won in 2016 for 2014's 1989 (also winning Best Pop Vocal Album) and in 2021 for 2020's critically acclaimed Folklore, the latter of which made her the first woman to win Album Of The Year three times.

In 2024, she broke the Category's record for all artists, winning for her tenth album Midnights (which also scored Best Pop Vocal Album that year). Overall, Swift has been nominated for Album Of The Year a total of seven times, with the other nods for 2012's Red, 2020's Evermore, and 2024's The Tortured Poets Department.

Read More: A Timeline Of Taylor Swift's GRAMMYs History, From Skipping Senior Prom To Setting A Record With 'Midnights'

Carole King: The First Woman To Win Multiple General Field GRAMMYs

The first woman to win multiple GRAMMYs in the General Field in the same night was Carole King, when she swept Record ("It's Too Late"), Album (Tapestry) and Song Of The Year ("You've Got A Friend") in 1971. The first women to win multiple GRAMMYs in the same General Field Categories include Roberta Flack, who took Record Of The Year in 1973 and 1974, for "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" and "Killing Me Softly With His Song," respectively. 

While Taylor Swift holds the record for most Album Of The Year wins, there are many female artists with multiple victories in the Category. Lauryn Hill, Norah Jones, and Alison Krauss have each won Album Of The Year twice (but only once in each case for their own recordings). At the 2017 GRAMMYs, Adele became the first artist in GRAMMY history to win Record, Song and Album Of The Year in the same night twice, five years after doing so in 2012.

Billie Eilish: The First Woman To Sweep The General Field

At the 2020 GRAMMYs, Billie Eilish made history as the first woman to win in all four General Field Categories — Album Of The Year, Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Best New Artist — in the same night, thanks to her 2019 debut album, WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? and its breakout hit "bad guy." (She also took home a golden gramophone for Best Pop Vocal Album.) The record-setting moment made a then-18-year-old Eilish the youngest General Field sweeper, and only the second to do so, nearly 40 years after Christopher Cross did so in 1981. 

At the 2025 GRAMMYs, both Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan were nominated in all four General Field Categories, giving them a chance to make history alongside Eilish. While neither of them completed the sweep, both singers earned their first GRAMMYs; Carpenter won Best Pop Vocal Album for 2024's Short n' Sweet album and Best Pop Solo Performance for her viral smash "Espresso," while Roan took home Best New Artist.

Beyoncé: The Artist With The Most GRAMMY Wins & Nominations

Before the 2025 GRAMMYs, Beyoncé already held the record for the most GRAMMY wins of any artist in history. She achieved the feat at the 2023 GRAMMYs, when she took home the GRAMMY for Best Dance/Electronic Music Album for her 2022 album, RENAISSANCE to bring her total GRAMMY count to 32. Not only did she add to her lead at the 2025 GRAMMYs, but she made history twice over, thanks to both her nominations and her wins.

Scoring 11 nods at the 2025 GRAMMYs thanks to her eighth studio album, 2024's COWBOY CARTER, Beyoncé's nomination total went up to 99, making her the artist with the most GRAMMY nominations of all time. 

At the 2025 ceremony, the "TEXAS HOLD 'EM" singer won her career-first Album Of The Year award for COWBOY CARTER, making her the first Black woman to win the award since 1999, when Lauryn Hill won for 1998's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. In the same night, Beyoncé also became the first Black artist to win Best Country Album for COWBOY CARTER. With three wins in total (she also won Best Country Duo/Group Performance for "II MOST WANTED" with Miley Cyrus), Beyoncé brought her record-holding number of GRAMMY wins to 35.

Read More: A Timeline Of Beyoncé's GRAMMY Moments, From Her First Win With Destiny's Child To Making History With 'Cowboy Carter'

The First Women To Perform On The GRAMMYs

The first televised GRAMMY event, a taped "NBC Sunday Showcase," in honor of the 2nd GRAMMY Awards, aired Nov. 29, 1959. It was Fitzgerald's performance on this broadcast that earned her the distinction of being the first woman to take the GRAMMY stage. 

When the GRAMMYs transitioned to a live television broadcast format for the 13th GRAMMY Awards in 1971, several female artists performed as part of the milestone event, including Karen Carpenter of the Carpenters, Aretha Franklin, Wanda Jackson, Anne Murray, and Dionne Warwick.

Bonnie Raitt: The Most GRAMMY Performances

Beloved singer/songwriter Bonnie Raitt is the woman who has performed the most at the GRAMMYs. From her first solo performance of "Thing Called Love" at the 32nd GRAMMY Awards in 1990 through her latest performance in honor of B.B. King with Chris Stapleton and Gary Clark, Jr. at the 58th GRAMMY Awards in 2016, Raitt has graced the stage nine times. In a tie for a close second are Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston, who each notched eight career GRAMMY performances in their lifetimes.

Whoopi Goldberg: The First Female GRAMMY Host

Whoopi Goldberg served as the GRAMMYs' first female host at the 34th GRAMMY Awards in 1992. An EGOT (Emmy, GRAMMY, Oscar, and Tony) winner, the comedian already had an impressive array of credentials when she helmed the GRAMMY stage. Not one to shy away from pushing the envelope, she delivered arguably one of the raunchiest jokes in GRAMMY history when referencing the show's accounting firm: "I must tell you, Deloitte & Touche are two things I do nightly."

The First Female Special Merit Awards Recipients

The inaugural Recording Academy Special Merit Award was given in 1963 to Bing Crosby, but it wasn't long until women made their mark. Ella Fitzgerald was the first woman to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1967. Liza Minnelli became the first female artist to receive a GRAMMY Legend Award in 1990.

In 1992, Christine M. Farnon became the first woman to receive a Trustees Award. She served as The Recording Academy's National Executive Director for more than 20 years. 

The First Recordings By Women To Be Inducted Into The GRAMMY Hall Of Fame

The GRAMMY Hall Of Fame — established in 1973 by the Recording Academy's Board of Trustees to honor outstanding recordings that were made before the inception of the GRAMMY Awards — inducted its first female recipients in 1976. Billie Holiday's "God Bless The Child," which was originally done in 1941, marked the first solo female recording. Gershwin's Porgy & Bess (Opera Version), featuring Camilla Williams, and the original Broadway cast version of "Oklahoma!," featuring Joan Roberts, were inducted into the Hall that same year.

Lauryn Hill, Cardi B, MC Lyte: The Women Who Changed Rap At The GRAMMYs

While rap music is a largely male-dominated genre, women have continued to evolve the sound since the beginnings of hip-hop. It's no surprise, then, that female rappers have also made GRAMMY history throughout the decades.

With the release of her debut album, Lyte As A Rock, in 1988, MC Lyte became the first female rapper to release a solo album. She then followed the feat by becoming the first woman rapper to receive a GRAMMY nomination when her 1993 chart-topping song "Ruffneck" received a nomination for Best Rap Solo Performance at the 36th GRAMMY Awards in 1994.

Just a few years later, Lauryn Hill continued the history-making streak at the 1997 GRAMMYs; she became the first female rap artist to win Best Rap Album thanks to The Score, her second album with The Fugees. Hill also made GRAMMY history on her own at the 1999 GRAMMYs, when she won Album Of The Year for her monumental 1998 album, The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill, becoming the first rap artist to win that major Category.

Cardi B ushered in another GRAMMY first two decades later: At the 2019 GRAMMYs, she became the first solo female rapper to win the GRAMMY for Best Rap Album for her 2018 debut album, Invasion of Privacy. The 2025 GRAMMYs found history repeating itself, as Cardi B presented Doechii the Best Rap Album award for 2024's Alligator Bites Never Heal. The win made Doechii the third female rapper in history to win the Category.

Amy Allen: The First Woman To Win Songwriter Of The Year, Non-Classical

Making history with one of the most recent additions to the GRAMMY canon, Songwriter Of The Year, Non-Classical — which was first awarded in 2023 — Amy Allen became the first woman to be awarded with the honor at the 2025 GRAMMYs. Her win was thanks to her work on Sabrina Carpenter's GRAMMY-winning album, Short N' Sweet, and songs by Tate McRae, Olivia Rodrigo, Justin Timberlake, and Koe Wetzel.

With several new historic feats at the 2025 GRAMMYs, female artists are continuing to dominate on the GRAMMY stage and beyond — and show no signs of slowing down.

This article features contributions from Bianca Gracie and Taylor Weatherby.

If the past 12 months were any indication, it has been a celebratory and transformative time for women in music. Women swept at the 2025 GRAMMYs, with some Categories (Best Pop Solo Performance, Best Pop Vocal Album) exclusively recognizing female nominees. Amy Allen became the first woman to win Songwriter Of The Year, Non-Classical. Meanwhile, Beyoncé extended her record as the most decorated GRAMMY artist. Women artists won Album Of The Year and Best New Artist for the third time in five years. 

Beyond chart achievements and awards, women stepped up to advocate for their right to take up space in the industry — and called for safer, more inclusive spaces. Chappell Roan, for example, took the GRAMMY stage for her Best New Artist win to challenge executives: "I told myself if I ever won a GRAMMY, and I got to stand up here in front of the most powerful people in music, I would demand that labels and the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists would offer a livable wage and health care, especially to developing artists."

Her acceptance speech caused a rippling effect, prompting Universal Music Group and the Music Health Alliance to launch a music industry health fund. Shortly after, first-time GRAMMY winners Sabrina Carpenter and Charli xcx joined Roan's campaign with a $25,000 donation to support rising musicians.

Read more: 13 Times Women Made GRAMMY History: Beyoncé, Taylor Swift & More

While the Recording Academy has made meaningful progress in increasing women's representation within its Membership, there is still more work to be done industry-wide. In honor of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, GRAMMY.com celebrates the women in music who have broken barriers and paved the way for a more inclusive industry. When there’s more women, there’s more music. Together as advocates and allies, we encourage the music industry to unite in uplifting, supporting, and creating more opportunities for women. 

Press play on female empowerment anthems that can sum up the past year of taking charge in music history, from the joyous declarations of unapologetic femininity on Megan Thee Stallion's "HISS" and Ariana Grande's "yes, and?," to the odes to sisterhood on Tori Kelly's "Spruce" and Camila Cabello's "DREAM-GIRLS."

Editor's Note: This article was originally published on Feb. 8, 2018 and was updated on Feb. 12, 2025 to reflect current stats and wins; Taylor Weatherby also contributed.

Black artists have been making history at the GRAMMYs since the awards were first presented on May 4, 1959, when Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie each took home two awards. African-American creators have continued to set records and celebrate monumental firsts through the 2025 GRAMMYs, when Beyoncé became the first Black artist to win the golden gramophone for Best Country Album.

Of course, that's not Beyoncé's only GRAMMY record. And she's joined by a host of other Black superstars that have had a historic moment on the GRAMMY stage, from Michael Jackson's huge night in 1983 to Lauryn Hill's big win in 1998.

To help celebrate Black History Month, take a look at 15 Black artists who have set GRAMMY records.

The 5th Dimension

Los Angeles soul group the 5th Dimension had two big GRAMMY nights in 1968 and 1970, scooping up six awards between the two. And with those six wins, they became the first group or duo to win twice for Record Of The Year: "Up, Up And Away" in 1968, and "Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures)" in 1970.

Babyface

In 1993, Babyface shared his first Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical win with L.A. Reid, and the pair tied for the win with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. But just three years later, he won on his own — and proceeded to win the award solo for three years straight.

With that, Babyface became a four-time winner in the Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical Category, making him the only producer to do so to date.

Thom Bell

The 1974 GRAMMYs marked the first year that the Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical Category was awarded. Thom Bell was the inaugural winner, making him the first producer to win Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical.

Beyoncé

Perhaps Beyoncé's biggest story of the 2025 GRAMMYs was her first win for Album Of The Year, but she actually made history with another one of her three wins. COWBOY CARTER was also crowned Best Country Album, making Beyoncé the first Black artist to win in the Category.

The "TEXAS HOLD 'EM" singer's three wins at the 2025 GRAMMYs brought her total to 35, which extends her lead as the artist with the most GRAMMYs. She actually broke the record at the 2023 GRAMMYs, when she won four golden gramophones to bring her total to 32.

Beyoncé broke another record prior to the 2025 GRAMMYs, as her 11 nominations brought her total to 99 — making her the artist with the most GRAMMY nominations, too.

Interestingly, Beyoncé and her husband, Jay-Z, are the only couple where both individuals have received 20 or more GRAMMYs. As of press time, Jay-Z has won 25.

Long before setting her latest records, Beyoncé had another historic GRAMMY night in 2010. She became the first woman to win six GRAMMYs in one night thanks to I Am… Sasha Fierce; her awards included Song Of The Year for "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)."

Ray Charles

During his remarkable lifetime, Ray Charles was a 12-time GRAMMY winner. And even after his passing in 2004 at the age of 73, he not only managed to posthumously add more to that count, but he also made GRAMMY history in doing so.

Charles' beloved final album, 2004's posthumously released Genius Loves Company, won five golden gramophones at the 2005 GRAMMYs, including Album Of The Year. As of press time, it holds the record as the most posthumous GRAMMYs in one night.

Elizabeth Cotten

Blues and folk pioneer Elizabeth Cotten won her first GRAMMY at 90 years old, which also made her the oldest female artist to win a GRAMMY. She was 90 years and 52 days old when she won Best Ethnic Or Traditional Folk Recording for Elizabeth Cotten Live! at the 1985 GRAMMYs (which beats Betty White's record by 26 days, as the late comedian's 2011 win for Best Spoken Word Album (Includes Poetry, Audio Books & Storytelling) came when she was 90 years and 26 days old).

Ella Fitzgerald

At the very first GRAMMYs in 1959, Ella Fitzgerald was nominated for Album Of The Year for Ella Fitzgerald Sings The Irving Berlin Song Book. Not only was she the only woman in the Category, but the nomination made her the first woman to ever receive an Album Of The Year nomination.

Eight years later, Fitzgerald also became the first woman to receive a GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award.

Roberta Flack

At the 1973 GRAMMYs, Roberta Flack won Record Of The Year for "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face." She won the Category the following year as well for "Killing Me Softly With His Song," making her the first artist to win back-to-back awards for Record Of The Year.

Aretha Franklin

From 1968-2011, Aretha Franklin accrued an impressive 18 GRAMMY wins and 44 nominations. Among her wins is a unique record: most consecutive awards in any Category.

Franklin won Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female for eight consecutive years, from 1968 to 1975; the streak kicked off with her classic hit "Respect."

Lauryn Hill

To this day, Lauryn Hill's The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill is revered as one of hip-hop's most iconic albums — and the 1999 GRAMMYs was proof of its significance.

At the ceremony, Hill had five wins, becoming the first woman to win five GRAMMYs in one night. One of those golden gramophones was for Album Of The Year, which made Hill the first rapper to win Album Of The Year. (One year prior, she also became the first woman to win in the Best Rap Album Category, when her group, the Fugees, won for The Score.)

Michael Jackson

At the 1984 GRAMMYs, the King of Pop became the first artist to win eight GRAMMYs in one night, thanks to his blockbuster album Thriller. The album helped Michael Jackson take home Album Of The Year and Record Of The Year for "Beat It," as well as Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical alongside Quincy Jones. His other Thriller wins were in the Pop, Rock and R&B Fields, and he even took home a golden gramophone for Best Recording For Children for his reading of "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial."

With 12 nominations in total that year, Jackson also became the first artist to amass that many nods in one night.

Quincy Jones

While Quincy Jones wasn't the first winner of Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical, he became the first to win it two and three times. His first win came in 1982; his second (which he won alongside Michael Jackson) was in 1984; and his third win was in 1991.

Hazel Monét

The 2024 GRAMMYs marked a milestone night for Victoria Monét, who won three GRAMMYs including Best New Artist. But it was also a history-making occasion for her daughter, Hazel, who earned a GRAMMY nomination for featuring on her mom's song "Hollywood," which was up for Best Traditional R&B Performance. Receiving the nomination at just 2 years old, Hazel is the youngest GRAMMY nominee ever.

Pinetop Perkins

Twenty-eight years after his first nomination, Pinetop Perkins won his first GRAMMY at the 2008 GRAMMYs — and became the oldest GRAMMY winner in the process. He won Best Traditional Blues Album, for Last Of The Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen: Live In Dallas, at 95 years and 218 days old.

But even more remarkably, three years later, he topped his own record. Winning again in the Best Traditional Blues Album Category (this time for Joined At The Hip), this time, he was 97 years and 221 days old — making him the oldest living artist to win a GRAMMY at that time. (At the 2025 GRAMMYs, Jimmy Carter posthumously won at 100, making him the oldest winner.)

Stevie Wonder

Though Taylor Swift holds the record for the most Album Of The Year wins, Stevie Wonder is the only artist in GRAMMY history to win Album Of The Year with three consecutive studio albums. He achieved this extraordinary three-peat with Innervisions in 1974, Fulfillingness' First Finale in 1975, and Songs In The Key Of Life in 1977.

Innervisions also helped Wonder become the first artist to win Album Of The Year with an entirely self-produced album.

Watch highlights from the 2025 GRAMMYs on live.GRAMMY.com.

The 2025 GRAMMYs telecast was reimagined to raise funds to support those impacted by the wildfires in the greater Los Angeles area. The Recording Academy and MusiCares launched a dedicated campaign to support affected music professionals, and we need your help. Donate now.

The 2025 GRAMMYs celebrated an abundance of new winners and iconic moments for superstars — and according to Luminate, many of them saw big gains in streaming, sales and chart movements.

Following her momentous first Album Of The Year win, Beyoncé also earned the night's biggest boost for an album. COWBOY CARTER, which also won Best Country Album and Best Country Duo/Group Performance for the Miley Cyrus collab "II MOST WANTED," earned 25,000 equivalent album units post-GRAMMYs — a 254 percent gain.

Doechii's Alligator Bites Never Heal also saw a big bump following her historic win for Best Rap Album, which made her the third woman to win in the Category. The album earned 31,000 equivalent album units (combining consumption via streams, downloads, sales, etc.), earning not just a 107 percent gain, but also its best week yet on the Billboard 200 at No. 14.

The night's biggest winner, Kendrick Lamar — whose viral hit "Not Like Us" nabbed the rapper five more golden gramophones, including his first for Record Of The Year and Song Of The Year — saw perhaps the most interesting boost. Despite the song not being featured on his latest album, GNX, the 2024 LP is up 9 percent. Four more of his six albums also saw a gain: Mr. Morale and The Big Steppers is up 13 percent; Good Kid, M.A.A.D City is up 11 percent; and DAMN. and To Pimp a Butterfly are both up 9 percent.

Billie Eilish saw a similar impact to Lamar's gains, as all of her albums saw a streaming boost following her stirring performance of "BIRDS OF A FEATHER" on the telecast. Her 2024 album, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT — which earned Eilish six more nominations this year — gained 47 percent, while 2022's Happier Than Ever gained 17 percent and 2019's WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? gained 10 percent. Even her 2017 EP, don't smile at me, saw a 14 percent boost.

Chappell Roan had one of the biggest album boosts following her Best New Artist win and theatrical performance of "Pink Pony Club." Her debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, gained 56 percent. ("Pink Pony Club" also reached a new high on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, jumping to No. 18 after a 98 percent gain; more on other Hot 100 moves later.)

On the heels of her own two wins, Sabrina Carpenter enjoyed a 20 percent boost for Short N' Sweet as well as an 8 percent gain for its predecessor, 2022's emails i can't send. Short N' Sweet helped Carpenter win Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Pop Solo Performance for its viral smash "Espresso"; the singer earned six nominations in total, including Best New Artist.

In fact, all eight of the Best New Artist nominees saw streaming gains thanks to their appearances on the telecast. Benson Boone, RAYE, Shaboozey, and Teddy Swims — all of whom, along with Doechii, were featured in a medley performance of their individual hits — each earned a boost. RAYE saw the biggest boost with 65 percent; Boone's Fireworks & Rollerblades album is up 44 percent; Shaboozey's Where I've Been, Isn't Where I'm Going is up 13 percent; Swims' I've Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 1) is up 8 percent. Khruangbin, who were spotlighted in a performance just before the Best New Artist medley, also earned a big gain, as their most recent LP, 2024's A La Sala, rose 36 percent. 

Charli xcx topped off a BRAT GRAMMY night — which included her first three wins and a party-fueled performance of album singles "Von dutch" and "Guess" — with the album seeing a 28 percent gain.

Several winning songs and artists also jumped up on the Billboard Hot 100. The chart's Top 10 is almost entirely dominated by GRAMMY winners and performers, helmed by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars' "Die With a Smile," which returns to the No. 1 spot for a fifth week. Though the pair opted to tribute those affected by the Los Angeles wildfires with a moving rendition of "California Dreamin'" for their joint performance on the telecast, they were awarded Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for "Die With A Smile" (and Lady Gaga delivered a powerful message in support of queer and trans communities in her speech).

Elsewhere on the Hot 100, Lamar's wins helped his latest SZA collab, GNX's "Luther," move back to No. 3 for the first time since its December debut; Eilish's "BIRDS OF A FEATHER" jumped from No. 7 to No. 4; and Shaboozey's "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" held on No. 5 after seeing a 118 percent boost in sales.

The Weeknd saw the biggest bound into the Top 10 thanks to his monumental GRAMMYs surprise. Ending a nearly four-year boycott, the Canadian superstar took the GRAMMYs stage for a performance of "Cry For Me" and "Timeless" (with collaborator Playboi Carti) from his new album, Hurry Up Tomorrow; the latter jumped from No. 18 to No. 7 on the chart.

Boone's "Beautiful Things" also saw a significant increase, moving from No. 15 to No. 9. His backflip-filled performance on the telecast also helped the song see a 29 percent streaming gain and a remarkable 515 percent boost in sales. 

Though Swims' "Lose Control" performance didn't quite have the same effect, he still holds at No. 8. Lamar's GNX single "tv off" closes out the Hot 100's Top 10 by rising from 11-10 on the post-GRAMMYs chart — but he surely will be seeing another big boost on the next tally, thanks to his instantly iconic halftime performance at Super Bowl LIX. 

Watch highlights from the 2025 GRAMMYs on live.GRAMMY.com.

The 2025 GRAMMYs telecast was reimagined to raise funds to support those impacted by the wildfires in the greater Los Angeles area. The Recording Academy and MusiCares launched a dedicated campaign to support affected music professionals, and we need your help. Donate now.

"The thing that makes my life exciting is the fact that I always feel like I'm ready," Nile Rodgers says.

The Lifetime Achievement Award honoree may be the textbook example of the axiom: "if you stay ready, you won't have to get ready." From a tour stop in London, Rodgers notes that he always has his guitar with him — typically his white 1960 Stratocaster, which Fender has since issued a replica of — and "always" has a recording studio with him. "I always believe that I can add something musically," he says.

There's little hubris in that statement, and there shouldn't be. The past 12 months alone have seen Rodgers tour with his band Chic internationally (including his first-ever performance in Korea), work on a GRAMMY-winning project with the most awarded artist of all time, and accept another five-year term as the Chairman of the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

This level of activity is far from uncommon for the four-time GRAMMY winner. Rodgers got his start as a session musician in the "Sesame Street" traveling band in the early 1970s, though his legend truly began when he co-founded Chic — a disco group whose sound and language have become the blueprint for much of contemporary pop and dance music.

Over six decades, Nile Rodgers developed something of a midas touch, writing and producing canonical earworms for the likes of David Bowie, Madonna, Mick Jagger, Diana Ross, Daft Punk (which netted the producer his first three GRAMMY Awards), and many others. Rodgers has so honed his skill and ear that it's le freaky; his contributions to the pop pantheon come with ease. "I never think about a song before I get to the studio, unless it's an idea that I had come up with the night before," he says.

Such was the case with "LEVII'S JEANS" from Beyoncé's Album Of The Year-winning COWBOY CARTER; the song itself was nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 2025 GRAMMYs. COWBOY CARTER is the second time Rodgers has worked with Bey: The two celebrated a Best R&B Song win for "Cuff It" at the 65th GRAMMY Awards, while Renaissance itself took some DNA from Rodgers' Chic era.

Nile Rodgers spoke with GRAMMY.com about his genre-defying career and the artists who have helped populate it. Read on for insights into his nominated work, the now-iconic jheri curl activator commercial he penned in 1988, and much more: 

I'm going to get right to business, and start with an existential question.

My favorite kind.

What makes a good and lasting pop song?

Everybody has a different formula and a different concept and a different approach. Rather than try and analyze what are the components of the great lasting pop song, let's just say that all great songs that last are what my music teacher used to tell me: they are always internalized. They're songs that you can't get out of your head no matter how much you try.

The way my professor taught me, he said: "The Itsy Bitsy Spider, went up the water spout down came the rain, and washed the spider out," and he says, "That's internalization. You can't help it." He says, "The national anthem. Go to a baseball game. Look at everybody's mouths. They start doing the lyrics, even though you would never buy the record." Can you imagine going up and buying that? But everybody knows it. It's internalized.

Speaking of great pop songs, I would love to know a bit more about your work on COWBOY CARTER. Is this the first country and Americana influenced album that you've worked on?

Not at all. I've worked with Keith Urban quite a bit. I've worked with David Lee Roth years ago when he did a collaboration with Travis Tritt and I produced a record by David. I've been in the mix with quite a few country players.

Did you bring those experiences to work when you were working on "Levii's Jeans" or when you were chatting with Beyoncé about various projects?

"Levi's Jeans" really started with my guitar part. [Producer The-] Dream and I were just working together out in the Hamptons, and I picked up the guitar and started writing to a lick he was singing. Or I played it and Dream said, "Damn, what's that?" And then started singing on top of it.

So one of those two stories is true. I remember me playing the whole thing. And the voice leading of the guitar playing has the melody and the vibe of [imitates "Levis Jeans" riff.]. So that had to have come before it was even called "Levi's Jeans" or anything like that, because Dream and I were just jamming.

From there, are you involved in the creative process? Do you work directly with Beyoncé or with Post Malone when putting this together?

It’s interesting how songs are composed in today's world. By providing that bed track, that's sort of all I needed to do. Then that sparks an idea, and then they write on top of that. I don't remember it even coming back to me and me having to fix anything.

Honestly, just playing it down the one or two times that I played it down — which is basically the way I always write — I never think about a song before I get to the studio, and unless it's an idea that I had come up with the night before or something. I just was in the room with Dream and mixed it. It was probably one of many songs that we wrote that day.

That was the day that he came to the studio really late; I was sitting there for hours. So that may have been the only song that we wound up doing, and maybe what wound up happening is that there was such clarity and such great direction that by the time we finished it, that's all we needed to do that day. I'm picturing the studio, the house, and the long-ass drive. My studio in Connecticut, in Westport, Connecticut, all the way out to the Hamptons.

You also worked on Renaissance, and "Cuff It," specifically. What was it like to work on projects centered on radically different genres? It seems to me that there's a bit of a parallel between your musical fingerprint and what Beyoncé is doing.

The  way that I look at all music — be it symphonic or small jazz trio or quartet — I always believe that I can add something musically. I'm an old school arranger, so even if my playing isn't the type of playing they want, I could write string parts or I could write horn parts, I could write whatever to make the music a little better.

The most fun I have is just doing stuff. I really say this with no ego: I just believe in my heart that I always have a musical idea that's worth sharing. No matter what the situation is, especially if it comes to composition. The reason why I feel so comfortable writing with people is because, with composition, you don't have to get perfect right then on the spot. You can get something close, and it's just inspirational and it can take you to the next place. I am lucky enough that most of the time I get my part right the first day or maybe the first hour, usually. But if a person calls me back, as some have, and said, "You know what, Nile? That's close, but I was thinking more like this," I go, "Oh, okay, cool."

In today's world, a lot of the recordings that we do, we're not necessarily in the same room at the same time. In the old days, we were always in the same room at the same time. Now, I record in my hotel rooms all the time. I always have a recording studio with me.

For either COWBOY CARTER or Renaissance, was that the situation for your work?

With Renaissance, they had already gotten to a certain place; Renaissance was almost like Daft Punk. So Daft Punk had been working on Random Access Memories and on the track that wound up becoming "Get Lucky" for eight years; Dream had told me that many of the songs that he's done, he's worked on for years. And so he'll play me an idea and I’ll jump on it.

What happened with "Cuff It" was a situation like that. I came in near the end on that one, as opposed to "Levi's Jeans," where I was actually at the beginning. It started with guitar and whatever Dream and I did.

That speaks to your ability to just have that great idea and know how to fit yourself in. You can come in at the beginning, you can come in at the end and provide that flourish that makes the song a bop.

The point I was really making was that I feel like I can always add at any point during the process.

I'm on the new Coldplay record. So Coldplay, I happened to walk in the studio and they just asked me to join the circle, like, Whoa, hey, great. So I had my guitar walked in and started playing. That's unusual in today's world because rarely is the band there, and I happened to have my guitar. That was just a very sort of freak occurrence, and it wound up being cool.

The thing that makes my life exciting is the fact that I always feel like I'm ready. I drag my guitar with me everywhere. If somebody wants to write or perform, I'm down. I learned years ago to not be afraid of failing or making a mistake or having people criticize it, because that's sort of what music is all about. You definitely want to touch people's hearts, you want to get some kind of emotional response; most of the time you want them to like it. Certainly I've written a protesty type of song or two, and it was designed for the person that I was writing it about not to like it. However, I wanted it to be internalized.

You've worked on an incredible number of classic songs over the years that it's hard to pick something in particular to ask you about. Off the top of your head, is there a song that you played on or that you composed, that you produced that makes you smile?

There's been so, so many, but I would have to say probably the most shocking and successful was "Let's Dance" with David Bowie.

When David asked me to produce Let's Dance, he and I had just met. We just bumped into each other at a club and started talking, and I was amazed at his knowledge of jazz artists and composers and arrangers. He was deep into it; we tried to sort of one up each other, going more and more avant-garde, like, "Yeah, well, have you heard so-and-so's record?" "Well, but have you heard 17 West by Eric Dolphy?" I mean, we were really just going at it man.

He then called me and realized, okay, you're the guy I want to produce my next album. I go to his house in Switzerland, and he comes into my bedroom and says, "Now darling, I think this is a hit." And he starts playing a song that sounds very much like a folk song, and that wasn't what we agreed we were going to do, but he was really into it. He said, "I call it 'Let's Dance.'"

I said, "Man, I come from dance music. Let me do an arrangement." And basically, I restructured the whole thing. I had never heard "Let's Dance" until we went to the recording studio the following day and played it. Of course, as an arranger, you can hear it in your head sort of, but I write for an ensemble. When we did the demo, we didn't have a keyboard player. It was just two guitars, very James Brown style.

I said, "David, I want you to sing what you sang in the bedroom and sing it over this music." It really worked. When you hear the "Let's Dance" demo, you can hear how much fun he's having; you're going to hear that he likes it. Obviously, it's the biggest record of his career, but he thought that my arranging skills on a song called "Ricochet" were far superior to "Let's Dance," and he couldn't understand why people didn't like that more. And I thought, Wow, how weird is that?

Usually when I finish a record, I'm on to the next project. If you look at my discography, you'll see that. How could I possibly? The day I finished "Like a Virgin," the very next day I was in the studio with Mick Jagger.

You've worked with so many multi-hyphenate talents and big personalities. Who has been among the most fascinating people that you've worked with?

I certainly know Beyonce's got an incredible work ethic. The first time we ever worked together, we were doing a show where I was the music director for VH1, a television special for Diana Ross. And man, Beyonce was there when she had the group, and they worked so hard. But it was a television show, and usually you do work hard. You only have a certain amount of hours to get things right.

I have to say Madonna. The thing that was so incredibly special about Madonna was her work ethic. It was like her taking power back or control or something. All the musicians were my musicians, we’re working at my recording studio, the place that I called home and christened the Power Station. And she went out of her way to be the boss. It was like, "Madonna, it's cool. We know we're working for you."

But it was incredible; she worked so hard. No matter how early I got to the studio, she would always be there before me. So I called my doorman and asked them one day, I say, "Does Madonna call here and ask you guys has Mr. Rogers left so she can make sure she gets to the studio first?"

She would work out early in the morning, she'd swim and then go to the recording studio and get there before me. The studio's literally 10 blocks from my house.

It seems like you've done a lot with K-pop recently, and you're just finished your first concert in Korea. What excites you about Korean music?

What’s great about K-pop is that a lot of the artists that I work with like sort of sophisticated R&B-styled music. So I get to do interesting arrangements and very sort of old school R&B  guitar playing, and they really appreciate it, man.

I had a big record last year with LE SSERAFIM called "Unforgiven." And then I just did G-Dragon, and he was so cool. It’s almost like I couldn't play enough guitar parts, no matter whatever I did. It was like, "Okay, cool. No, no, no, do some more. Do some more." So I just playing and playing, which I like to do anyway.

Coming to America is my favorite movie of all time, hands down. And when I learned that you did the Soul Glo jingle, my mind was blown. Why didn't we know about this?

I got that job because the person who was in charge of music at Paramount Pictures at the time, I used to do television commercials for him. His name was Steve Adele, and I used to play classical guitar for him, play Spanish guitar for a coffee brand called Savarin Coffee, and the character was El Exigente. And I used to play El Exigente's theme music.

But Coming to America, I composed everything. That's me singing and playing on all of the music that's spilling out the tenements and stuff like that. I did everything like the full orchestral score and the funny, interstitial stuff. And Soul Glo, the commercial.

I learned a lot from [director] John Landis about scoring film. He was saying that even when you're writing funny songs, you have to treat it like it's totally serious. And so then of course, since then, I've done "Beavis and Butt-Head" and all sorts of stuff that was supposedly really silly, but of course I write it in character. When I did Beavis and Butt-Head, and I wrote "Come to Butt-Head" with Mike Judge. I've done quite a few films where I had to do comedic songs, Soul Glo just happens to be one of the best ones.