Why are artists removing their names from Grammy consideration? – NBC10 Philadelphia

Morgan Wallen has decided his Billboard 200 No. 1 album won’t be in the running for a 2026 Grammy Award, joining a list of artists who have boycotted the potential accolade.

Representatives for Wallen confirmed to TODAY.com that the country music artist will not submit his latest album, “I’m the Problem,” for consideration at the 68th Grammys.

Wallen’s album, which contains a whopping 37 songs, has sat at the top of Billboard 200 chart for 11 nonconsecutive weeks, marking the third time his album has hit No. 1 on the charts.

While Wallen hasn’t spoken publicly about the decision, the singer has a controversial history with award shows.

The first round of voting for the Grammys runs Oct. 3-15, with nominations set to be announced Nov. 7. The Grammys will be held Feb. 1, 2026.

Why Is Morgan Wallen Removing His Album, ‘I’m the Problem’ From Grammy Consideration?

Wallen has not publicly spoken about removing his name from Grammys consideration as of Aug. 24.

While the artist remains popular among country music fans and has had numerous No. 1 hits, Wallen has never won a Grammy and has only received two nominations. 

At the 67th Grammy Awards, Wallen was nominated for his duet with Post Malone, “I Had Some Help,” for best country duo/group performance and best country song. Wallen has never been nominated for any work on his solo albums. 

Wallen’s controversial history and legal complications, however, have also led to some fraught relationships with award shows and his record label. 

In 2020, Wallen was seen in videos partying without a mask amid the Covid-19 pandemic, violating restrictions at the time. He had been schedule to perform as the musical guest on “Saturday Night Live,” but was pulled from the spot after the videos surfaced. He was later rescheduled. 

Morgan Wallen is clarifying what really went down on “Saturday Night Live.” Youtuber Caleb Pressley poked fun at Wallen infamously walking off the “SNL” stage during the May 11 episode of his “Sundae Conversation” show before asking the country star why he really left the show early.

Months later in 2021, TMZ shared a video of a person who appeared to be Wallen using a racial slur. After the video surfaced, Wallen was suspended from his recording label, Big Loud Records. 

Thereafter, Wallen issued an apology obtained by NBC News. 

“I’m embarrassed and sorry. I used an unacceptable and inappropriate racial slur that I wish I could take back,” Wallen said. “There are no excuses to use this type of language, ever. I want to sincerely apologize for using the word. I promise to do better.” 

That year, Wallen was banned from attending the 2021 Billboard Music Awards, as well as the American Music Awards. The Grammys, however, never disqualified Wallen from being nominated. 

He has since been welcomed back to the ACM and CMA shows. 

What Artists Have Removed Their Names from Grammy Considerations? 

Drake 

Drake has declined to submit his music for Grammy consideration for several years while also pointedly telling his fellow musicians that the award “doesn’t dictate s—- in our world.” 

But Drake has had a longstanding history with the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, receiving five Grammys and 55 nominations over the years. He also served as both performer and presenter prior to his critiques. 

The “Family Matters” rapper’s criticism of the Grammys began in 2017, when his hit “Hotline Bling” won best rap song and best rap/sung performance. Drake slammed the Grammys for categorizing the song as rap, as opposed to pop. 

“I’m a Black artist, I’m apparently a rapper, even though ‘Hotline Bling’ is not a rap song,” Drake said during in an interview with U.K. DJ Semtex. “The only category that they can manage to fit me in is in a rap category, maybe because I’ve rapped in the past or because I’m black. I can’t figure out why.” 

In 2019, the last time Drake attended the Grammys, he accepted the award for best rap song for “God’s Plan” and gave a pointed acceptance speech about how he and the other artists there that night “play in an opinion-based sport, not a factual-based sport.”

After his album “Certified Lover Boy” was nominated in 2022 for best rap album and his single “Way 2 Sexy” was nominated for best rap performance, Drake asked the Recording Academy to remove his work from the nominations. The Academy honored Drake’s request and rapper didn’t attend the awards show.

In 2023, although Drake refused to submit his 2022 album, “Honestly, Nevermind,” or any of its songs for consideration by the Grammys, he received four nominations. Once again, however, Drake boycotted the awards show. 

In 2024, Drake received four Grammy nominations for his joint 2022 album with 21 Savage, “Her Loss.” Per the Grammys, Drake “submitted material for nomination for the 2024 GRAMMYs,” but the rapper, who did not attend that year, ultimately did not take home an award. 

The Weeknd 

The Weeknd has also had a winding history with the Grammys, receiving 14 nominations and four wins over the years. 

After his his “Blinding Lights” and “After Hours” were snubbed from nominations at the 2021 ceremony, The Weeknd announced he would not submit his work to Recording Academy. 

He told The New York Times at the time that he will “no longer allow my label to submit my music to the Grammys” due to “secret committees” involved in the nomination process. 

From 2022 to 2024, the singer boycotted the award show, until an unexpected return this past year, when the Weeknd sang “Cry For Me” and “Timeless” with Playboi Carti from his new album, “Hurry Up Tomorrow.” 

Sinéad O’Connor 

Irish singer-songwriter and activist Sinéad O’Connor first performed at the Grammys in 1989, just two years before writing an open letter to the Recording Academy, criticizing “false and destructive materialistic values.” 

Just a year prior to O’Connor’s pointed “SNL” performance, during which she destroyed a photo of Pope John Paul II on live television, she dropped her planned Grammys performance and published her 1991 letter. 

Directing her message to both the Academy and the industry at large, O’Connor wrote, per the Los Angeles Times, “They acknowledge mostly the commercial side of art. They respect mostly material gain, since that is the main reason for their existence. And they have created a great respect among artists for material gain–by honoring us and exalting us when we achieve it, ignoring for the most part those of us who have not.” 

O’Connor won the best alternative music performance Grammy in 1991 for her album, “I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got,” but refused to accept the award, marking the first time in the award show’s history that an artist rejected a win. 

O’Connor’s letter led to waves of artists refusing to attend the show. 

When best rap performance by a duo or group was not televised at the 1991 Grammys — following the award show’s history of not televising wins in the rap category — nominee Public Enemy decided to boycott the show and released their own statement, via their label head Russell Simmons, that year. 

When Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid accepted the 1991 win for Best Hard Rock Performance, he donned a T-shirt displaying a giant photo of O’Connor. 

Bruno Mars 

In 2022, Bruno Mars told Rolling Stone that he and Anderson .Paak, who together make up R&B duo Silk Sonic, withdrew their album, “An Evening with Silk Sonic” from Grammys consideration. 

“We truly put our all on this record, but Silk Sonic would like to gracefully, humbly and most importantly, sexually, bow out of submitting our album this year,” Mars told the outlet. “We hope we can celebrate with everyone on a great year of music and partake in the party. Thank you for letting Silk Sonic thrive.” 

The two artists did not attend the 2023 ceremony. 

Mars has received 33 Grammys nominations and 16 wins. His last win was at this past year’s ceremony in best pop duo/group performance for “Die With a Smile,” his duet with Lady Gaga. 

Why Are Artists Removing Themselves From Grammy Consideration?

While some artist have removed their work from future considerations after past snubs, others have took a stronger stance against the Recording Academy. 

While Drake has been vocal about his message that a Grammy win “doesn’t dictate s—- in our world” as an artist, he has also made reference to his frustration with the Grammys in his music. In his 2023 collaboration with J. Cole, “First Person Shooter,” Drake boasts, “I told Jimmy Jam I use a Grammy as a door stop.” 

When The Weeknd refused to submit his work for Grammys consideration in 2021, he referred to “secret committees” involved in the nomination process when talking to The New York Times. 

In O’Connor’s 1991 open letter criticizing the Recording Academy, she wrote that they “acknowledge mostly the commercial side of art. They respect mostly material gain, since that is the main reason for their existence.” She added that the industry has “created a great respect among artists for material gain–by honoring us and exalting us when we achieve it, ignoring for the most part those of us who have not.” 

In response, per the LA Times, former president of the Academy Michael Greene, said they “applaud that Sinead feels so strongly about these issues and believe that her convictions only add to the seriousness of her work,” while suggesting she “may be misguided.” 

“I’m afraid that Sinead may not be properly informed about the difference between the overtly commercial aspects of popularity contests as opposed to the Grammys, which are voted on by the creative community.” 

In a later interview with LA Times, however, O’Connor said, despite directing the letter to the Academy, she was “not criticizing the Grammys in particular,” clarifying, “I am criticizing the music industry. I am criticizing my peers . . . artists who are not doing their job.”

This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY: