{"id":162204,"date":"2025-09-22T20:50:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T20:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/162204\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T20:50:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T20:50:09","slug":"grammy-ballot-in-2026-to-list-entries-in-randomized-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/162204\/","title":{"rendered":"Grammy Ballot in 2026 to List Entries in Randomized Order"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWhen Grammy voters open their digital ballots beginning on Friday Oct. 3, they\u2019ll notice a big difference from years past \u2013 all entries will be listed in randomized, rather than alphabetical, order for the first time. That won\u2019t make all that much difference in categories with modest numbers of entries, but it will make it significantly harder to find what you\u2019re looking for in categories with large number of entries.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd, while the academy doesn\u2019t come right out and say it, that\u2019s the point. The academy is trying to force (or at least strongly encourage) voters to read through the entire list of entries, so they\u2019re reminded of entries that they may have forgotten about, rather than just revert to a handful of favorite artists every year.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRelated\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Grammy<\/p>\n

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\n\t\u201cThis ballot update brings our process in line with standard voting best practices \u2026 and further ensures the process is fair and equitable for all entries,\u201d Ruby Marchand, chief awards and global industry officer for the Recording Academy, said in an exclusive statement to Billboard. \u201cAs with any change, there will be an adjustment period in the first year but, our staff will be on hand to assist voters with any questions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAll categories that appear on the first-round ballot will be listed in a randomized order. However, voters will be able to download a PDF of all entries listed in alphabetical order. And voters will still have access to locate their selections via a search tool within the voting platform.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe academy\u2019s awards team has worked with their technical partners to craft uniquely personalized, randomized ballots. No two voter ballots will be identical (in terms of the order that entries are listed in). <\/p>\n

\n\tThis change was brought forward and supported by academy trustees, all of whom are members of the Recording Academy.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe change will make it harder to find entries in categories with large numbers of entries. Last year, 14 categories had 300 or more entries, topped by three of the highest-profile categories \u2014 song of the year (978 entries), record of the year (780) and album of the year (707). In the past, albums and songs were listed alphabetically by artist\u2019s last names, so if you were looking for something from, say, Sabrina Carpenter<\/a> or Kendrick Lamar<\/a>, you could go right to it. Songs were listed alphabetically by song title, so again you could go right to, say \u201cEspresso\u201d or \u201cNot Like Us.\u201d Now, they\u2019re in jumbled order. Voters will have to hunt through hundreds of entries to find what they want.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRelated\t\t<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Grammy<\/p>\n

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\n\tThe Recording Academy has begun to put the word out so that voting members won\u2019t be shocked when they go to vote \u2013 first-round voting runs from Oct. 3 through Oct. 15. The academy notes that members can return to their ballot multiple times, if need be, before they finally submit, at which no further changes can be made. Each voter\u2019s ballot will remain the same, no matter how many times that voter revisits their ballot as they listen, assess, and make their final vote selections.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe key is to approach the process with preparation and patience,\u201d Marchand said in a Q&A posted on Grammy.com. \u201cStart early, set a reasonable pace, and plan for multiple visits to the ballot. This year, the ballot will appear in randomized order (not alphabetical), so giving yourself time to navigate and review thoroughly is especially important. Don\u2019t wait until the last day \u2013 or worse, the last hour \u2013 to submit, as technical issues can derail your vote. Use Academy resources ahead of time, and once the ballot opens, take time to explore the diversity of entries along with tools within the ballot to assist in your voting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAll voting members may join a half-hour ballot overview webinar on Sept. 29 at 2 p.m. ET for guidance and tips. Marchand will be joined by Harvey Mason jr<\/a>., Recording Academy CEO; Michael Almanza, senior director, awards; and Nick DiFruscia, senior director, awards<\/p>\n

\n\tThe webinar, dubbed \u201cYour Ballot at a Glance,\u201d promises to shed light on these topics: \u201chow to navigate your voter portal, changes to the ballot, including the new randomized ballot order, the importance of having a voting strategy, features\/tools within the ballot to assist with your voting and critical resources to help you during 68th Grammy voting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe number of categories in which voters can vote remains unchanged. Voters can vote in up to 10 categories across no more than three different genre fields plus all categories in the \u201cgeneral field\u201d (which consists of album, record and song of the year, best new artist, and producer and songwriter of the year, non-classical).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Grammy voters open their digital ballots beginning on Friday Oct. 3, they\u2019ll notice a big difference from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":162205,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[3042,84216,49,48,75,50706,51892,341],"class_list":{"0":"post-162204","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-awards","9":"tag-billboard-green","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-grammy-awards","14":"tag-grammys","15":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}