The 2025 Grammy Awards simply laid their playing cards down (down, down, down) for Beyoncé.

The singer lastly received Album of the Yr throughout Sunday's 67th annual ceremony for her 2024 nation album, Cowboy Carter, after dropping the extremely coveted award 4 instances prior to now. She additionally wonBest Nation Album earlier within the night time. She was nominated for 11 trophies in varied classes general.

"I'd prefer to thank and acknowledge and reward all the firefighters protecting us protected," Beyoncé mentioned after a bunch of Los Angeles Firefighters offered her with the award. "I simply really feel very full and really honored. It's been many, a few years."

Whereas Beyoncé is the most-decorated artist in Grammys historical past, she has been notoriously snubbed within the Album of the Yr class each single time she's been nominated beforehand: for Renaissance in 2023, for Lemonade in 2017, for Beyoncé in 2015, and for I Am… Sasha Fierce in 2010. She misplaced the award to Taylor Swift, then to Beck, then to Adele, and at last to Harry Types, and even referenced the previous snubs on her Cowboy Carter observe "Candy Honey Buckin'" with the lyrics: "AOTY, I ain't win / I ain't stuntin' 'bout them / Take that s— on the chin / Come again and f— up the pen."

Beyoncé says Cowboy Carter was born out of experience where she did not 'feel welcomed' in country genre

Along with her lastly breaking her Album of the Yr dropping streak, Beyoncé already made historical past by changing into the primary Black lady to be nominated within the class for a rustic album. Ray Charles holds the distinction for being the primary Black man nominated for the award for 1962's Trendy Sounds in Nation and Western Music.

Solely three Black ladies have received Album of the Yr beforehand: Natalie Cole in 1992, Whitney Houston in 1994, and Lauryn Hill in 1999. Beyoncé can also be the first Black woman to top Billboard's country chart, with "Texas Maintain 'Em."

No Black lady has ever received a Grammy for a rustic track, though Beyoncé tried beforehand in 2016, when she submitted "Daddy Classes," from Lemonade, in a rustic class. Nonetheless, the Recording Academy's nation music committee rejected it.

When Beyoncé's husband, Jay-Z, received the Dr. Dre International Affect Award ultimately yr's ceremony, he used his time on the Grammys stage to name out the Recording Academy for by no means honoring his spouse with the Album of the Yr award.

"I'm simply sayin’, we would like y’all to get it proper," the rapper mentioned. "We love y’all… not less than get it near proper. And clearly it's subjective — y’all don't gotta clap at all the things — clearly it's subjective as a result of it's music and it's opinion-based. However some issues, you recognize… I don't wish to embarrass this younger girl, however she has extra Grammys than everybody and by no means received Album of the Yr, so even by your individual metrics, that doesn't work. Take into consideration that: essentially the most Grammys, by no means received Album of the Yr. That doesn’t work."

In the meantime, Cowboy Carter got no love from the Country Music Association Awards, receiving zero nominations for its November ceremony, including one other chapter to the controversial "is Cowboy Carter a country album?" debate.

For those who ask Bey herself, she calls it "a 'Beyoncé' album," as a result of it was born out of an expertise she had years in the past when she didn’t "really feel welcomed" within the nation style.

Beyoncé addresses Grammys Album of the Year snubs on Cowboy Carter: 'Take that s— on the chin'

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"And it was very clear that I wasn't," she wrote on Instagram 10 days before Cowboy Carter's release. "However due to that have, I did a deeper dive into the historical past of nation music and studied our wealthy musical archive. It feels good to see how music can unite so many individuals all over the world, whereas additionally amplifying the voices of a number of the individuals who have devoted a lot of their lives educating on our musical historical past."

She continued, "The criticisms I confronted after I first entered this style compelled me to propel previous the restrictions that have been placed on me. Act II is a results of difficult myself, and taking my time to bend and mix genres collectively to create this physique of labor… I hope you can hear my coronary heart and soul, and all of the love and keenness that I poured into each element and each sound. This ain't a Nation album. It is a 'Beyoncé' album."

The 67th Annual Grammy Awards have been held Sunday on the Crypto.com Enviornment in Los Angeles, and streamed reside on CBS and Paramount+.

For those who missed EW and PEOPLE's pink carpet present from the Grammys, try our interview with Kehlani: