While there are a number of music awards ceremonies in a given year, none are as closely followed as the Grammys. That’s why fans were in an uproar on Tuesday after seeing that The Weeknd had not been nominated for a single 2021 Grammy Award despite his album After Hours being one of the most commercially successful records of the year.
The Weeknd was awarded for his album at nearly every other music awards ceremony this year so many of the singer’s listeners were surprised to learn that After Hours was snubbed for a Grammy nomination. After the full list of nominations was unveiled, fans flooded Twitter with their disappointment.
I’m also not understanding how tf YUMMY by Justin Bieber got nominated for best solo performance over blinding lights by The Weeknd ??? Abel sounds exactly like himself when he sings AND he puts on an entire show with costume and everything !!! pic.twitter.com/gRNuUqKYwA
— torieᴴ (@HESOG0LDEN) November 24, 2020
the weeknd gave one of the best visuals, quality music and era from any artist this year and the grammys still snubbed him… pic.twitter.com/AvmfTW7QFb
— chu (@chuuzus) November 24, 2020
noah cyrus being nominated this year but not the weeknd or rina sawayama pic.twitter.com/qt5JOT3DvA
— mauricio (@futurefolkIore) November 24, 2020
so you telling me the weeknd, abel, got snubbed for EVERY category for the grammys…. that doesn’t make any type of sense
pic.twitter.com/PppNdLd0Og
— mAwAhIb is a hot gurl 🙂 (@itsmawahib) November 24, 2020
THIS IS FOR THE WEEKND pic.twitter.com/Viz79aaFVX
— taeil’s bitch³³☆ (@taeilsballs) November 24, 2020
i’m happy about taylor, BUT i’m so sad about the weeknd, like finally a good male artist who reinvents himself serving vocals and concepts, dropping one of the biggest global smash hit of this year and for what?
— swiffer struggle tweets (@swifferstruggle) November 24, 2020
Despite fans’ disappointment, the Recording Academy interim president Harvey Mason Jr. stood by the Grammy nominations in an interview with Billboard. When asked about The Weeknd not being nominated, he responded, “For The Weeknd, in every year you only have a certain amount of people you can nominate for each category,” he said.
The Weeknd’s snub is particularly surprising seeing how successful After Hours was upon its release. Just this week, the singer broke Post Malone’s previous record for the most time spent in the top 10 of Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart, as “Blinding Lights” has appeared in that range for an impressive 40 weeks total. The feat arrived just after the singer had set the record for the most weeks spent in the top five spots of the Hot 100.
See how fans reacted to The Weeknd not receiving any Grammy nominations above.
After Hours is out now via Republic. Get it here.