Grammys add rap category

Two new categories have been added and two others have been consolidated, bringing the number of Grammy Awards that will be awarded next year to 105, the Recording Academy announced.

For the first time, there will be a category for best rap song, with the award going to the songwriter. And the one category that previously existed for best world music album will now be broken into two: best traditional world music album and best contemporary world music album.

Proving that they can subtract as well as add, academy governors also moved to combine the categories for best salsa album and best merengue album into one: best salsa/merengue album. There were too few merengue entries to warrant its own category, a spokeswoman said.

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Lee Margulies