Kanye West just reached another milestone. The rapper/producer has garnered a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year for his album Donda. This marks the fourth of West’s solo albums to be nominated in this prestigious category.
Should Donda win, it would be West’s first time winning the category. In 2005, he was nominated for his debut album, The College Dropout, but lost to Ray Charles’ Genius Loves Company. The following year, his album Late Registration was nominated, but U2 took home the award for How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. West, or Ye’s, most recent album to be nominated in the category was 2008’s Graduation but he lost to Herbie Hancock’s River: The Joni Letters.
West has also been in the running for Album of the Year as a producer on other artists’ projects. These include Alicia Key’s Diary of Alicia Keys in 2005, Mariah Carey’s The Emancipation of Mimi in 2006, Lil Wayne‘s Tha Carter III in 2009, The Weeknd’s Beauty Behind the Madness in 2016, Drake‘s Views in 2017, and even this year, with Lil Nas X’s Montero.
For the 2022 Grammys, West earned five total nominations. Along with his two for Album of the Year, he is also up for Best Rap Album for Donda, Best Melodic Rap Performance for “Hurricane” featuring The Weeknd and Lil Baby, and Best Rap Song for “Jail,” featuring Jay-Z.
This marks 75 nominations for West in his career. The only rapper who has more is his “Jail” collaborator Jay-Z, with 83, more than any artist in Grammy history, as theGrio previously reported.
West has won 22 Grammys. The latest was a year ago when his album Jesus is King took home the statuette for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album.
Despite his success, West has had a checkered relationship with NARAS (the National Organization of Recording Arts and Sciences), the organization behind the awards. He’s expressed his disappointment over not winning Album of the Year.
Last year, before his Jesus is King win, West went viral after posting a video urinating on one of his Grammy trophies as a sign of protest.
He reiterated his disgust during a Nov. 4 interview on the Drink Champs podcast, expressing his disbelief that neither one of his hit albums, 2010’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy or 2011’s Watch The Throne, with Jay-Z, were even nominated for Album of the Year.
“I feel like this year, just should nobody put their album in the category for Album of the Year so I can finally win Album of the Year,” West said. “‘Cause, you don’t want to be the person that beat Donda for Album of the Year.”
In addition to Album of the Year, West has yet to win any award in the General Field categories, including Record of the Year, Song of the Year, or Best New Artist. In 2005, West was nominated but didn’t win for “Jesus Walks” and lost Best New Artist to Maroon 5.
He was nominated once for Record of the Year in 2006 for “Gold Digger,” losing to Green Day’s “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” despite an incendiary performance with Jamie Foxx and an HBCU band.
West has been nominated for Song of the Year, an award for songwriters, three times. In 2009, he was up for his collaboration with Estelle, “American Boy,” and in 2012, for his song “All of the Lights” with Rihanna and Kid Cudi.
This year, the General Field categories have expanded to 10 nominees per category. In addition to Lil Nas X, West will be competing with Jon Batiste’s We Are,Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga’s Love for Sale, Justin Bieber’s Justice (Triple Chucks Deluxe), Doja Cat’s Planet Her (Deluxe), Billie Eilish’s Happier Than Ever, H.E.R.’s Back of My Mind, Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour, and Taylor Swift’s Evermore.
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