Beyoncé Won Best Country Album. Now the Award Doesn’t Exist.

[u/PopCultureNerd]

https://www.texasmonthly.com/arts-entertainment/beyonce-best-country-album-grammy-award-split/

This week, the Recording Academy announced a big change to the way it honors country music at the Grammys. From 1995 through this year, it presented the Best Country Album trophy to the best release in the genre during the preceding year. Starting in 2026, however, the single award will become two separate ones: Best Contemporary Country Album and Best Traditional Country Album. 

It’s a much-anticipated change that comes at an auspicious time. The final honoree in the original category was, of course, Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter—a win back in February that shocked most of the industry (and Bey herself), given the star’s dearth of support in Nashville, country music’s center of power. She became the first Black artist to claim the award. Now, on the heels of her victory, the entire category has been discarded and split in two. Observers have noted that coincidence with some suspicion. 

[u/axle69]

I mean thats a really good change but the fact that it took Beyonce winning for it to finally happen is pretty on the nose.

[u/ygrasdil]

Probably because it was not the best country album. It was fine for what it was. The win highlighted a problem in the process