Who are the Grammy darlings the academy can’t resist: Billie Eilish, Bruno Mars … but not Taylor Swift?

I throw around the concept of “Grammy darlings” a lot, but what exactly constitutes a Grammy darling? Is it just an artist who doesn’t lose Grammys often, like U2, Adele or Bruno Mars? Let’s go through a few top names.

Beyoncé: Darling
Listen, the most awarded person in Grammy history is definitely a darling. Granted, she has yet to win Album of the Year. However, more impressively, all of her projects have won at least one Grammy. Most have won multiple, including “Dangerously in Love,” “Lemonade,” and “Renaissance.” Beyoncé also gets nominations for pretty much anything she submits, and will likely become the first artist to nab nominations in rap, rock, R&B, dance, pop and country. On top of all that, it’s rare for Beyoncé to miss nominations in the general field, especially with no nominations review committees anymore to potentially force her out.

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Taylor Swift: Not a darling
This might be controversial given that Swift has four Album of the Year trophies, the most for any artist. Allow me to explain. First and foremost, a lot of Swift albums are actually not Grammy winners. She didn’t prevail for “Taylor Swift,” “Red” (the original version), “Reputation,” “Lover” or “Evermore.” On top of that, even when she wins awards, she doesn’t sweep. Her two Best Pop Vocal Album winners, “1989” and “Midnights,” both lost other nominations in the pop field and in the general field, winning three and two total Grammys, respectively. Compare that to other big Album of the Year winners like Adele’s “25” (five Grammys), Bruno Mars’s “24k Magic” (seven Grammys) and Daft Punk’s “Random Access Memories” (five Grammys). Swift also routinely struggles to win for individual songs, even when predicted to do so. And there have been instances where she missed nominations she was expected to get, like “Evermore” in Best Pop Vocal Album, “Red (Taylor’s Version)” for Best Country Album and Album of the Year and “Delicate” for Best Pop Solo Performance, among others.

Billie Eilish: Darling
Her sophomore era, “Happier Than Ever,” went away empty-handed at the 2022 Grammys. However, the album still got seven nominations, an impressive amount considering that that year was extremely competitive for pop. Eilish also routinely gets nominations for most of her submissions, even in cases where she is facing bigger hits. She’s also won six general field awards in the span of four years. There seems to be no voter fatigue for Eilish.

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Olivia Rodrigo: Not a darling
The “Guts” shutout might be similar to “Happier Than Ever,” but Rodrigo had not reached the initial heights of her contemporary Eilish. Her debut album “Sour” was a huge success and won Best Pop Vocal Album, but the album nabbing no general field wins besides Best New Artist might indicate that, while voters do like Rodrigo, they’re not as devoted to her as they are to an Eilish or an Adele. It might be because of Rodrigo’s more teen-oriented style, which is less appealing to older voters. Still, Rodrigo could achieve darling status in the future. As it is right now, let’s call her TBD.

Bruno Mars: Darling
His track record is actually insane. The R&B/pop singer-songwriter has not lost a single one of his nominations since 2016, amassing 13 Grammys total since then. He had also won two awards prior, for his song “Just The Way You Are” and album “Unorthodox Jukebox.” All of Mars’s albums won at least one Grammy, and most of those wins were actually in competitive races, facing off against voter favorites like Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, and Justin Timberlake. With such a great track record, it’s hard to deny Mars is a Grammy darling. We’ll have to see how his upcoming album does, though, to see if his streak continues.

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Jon Batiste: Not a darling
Did he become a Grammy darling with his 2022 domination, where he won five awards including Album of the Year? Well, his follow-up project “World Music Radio” showed that Batiste might be more hit-or-miss than we thought. “World Music Radio” did get five nominations, but only two of those were outside of the general field (Best American Roots Performance and Best Jazz Performance), and Batiste lost them to artists who weren’t even up for the top awards. You might always want to keep Batiste in your nomination predictions, but in terms of wins, it might’ve been a one-time thing.

Adele: Darling
Maybe you’re ready to drop Adele from Grammy darling status after her album “30” kind of underperformed. While she lost most of her categories, despite expectations that she would win big, she still claimed a prize for Best Pop Solo Performance, her fourth trophy there. As with Mars, all of Adele’s eras have taken home prizes, and she wins more than she loses. Granted, she might be out of the “Let’s give her everything” period of her career, but you can still expect Adele to win at least one award every time she drops another fantastic project. Plus, amassing 16 Grammys with just four albums is an insane feat. If her next album falters, then we’ll talk, but in the meantime, Adele is still a darling of the Recording Academy.

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