U2 
, Adele 
and Vince Gill 
may win Grammys, but Coldplay 
, Bruno Mars 
and Mariah Carey 
win streamers.
On Sunday the Recording Academy will hand out the annual Grammy awards. The elite group of music industry insiders vote to decide the best in music and to honor work that they think will stand the test of time. But do audiences agree?
The Times gathered data from Spotify, the top audio streaming platform, and compared today’s listener favorites with past decisions made by Grammy voters.
Over the last 40 years, the Recording Academy has handed out 857 awards in the top five genres and categories. Of those, only 36% of the winners are now the most popular with listeners online. In a majority of cases, the favorite of today's Spotify’s listeners was one of the other nominees passed over by the academy.
Various artists and listeners have complained about who the Recording Academy deems award-worthy, and these results show the gap in tastes between these two groups.
That said, Spotify is not a full measure of public opinion. While it is the largest audio streaming platform in the world, it only makes up around a third of all paid streams. It also doesn’t include offline listening. In addition, Spotify’s popularity metric only reflects current tastes, not the prevailing view when past awards were handed out.
The biggest disparity is in the Big Four categories: album of the year, song of the year, best new artist and record of the year. In this group, the Grammys and audiences have disagreed 77% of the time.
How often do Spotify listeners agree with the Grammys?
23%
Big Four
35%
Country
36%
Pop
37%
Rock
46%
Rap
47%
R&B
47%
46%
37%
36%
35%
23%
Pop
Rap
Country
Rock
R&B
Big Four
47%
46%
37%
36%
35%
23%
Big Four
Country
Pop
Rock
Rap
R&B
This visualization shows the 20 artists with the most Grammy nominations since 1980.
The nominations to the right of the line won a Grammy. The ones to the left lost.
If the artist, song or album has more listeners on Spotify than its Grammy competition does, it is highlighted in green.
U2 has the most Grammy wins of any group, but by today’s streaming numbers, it wouldn’t win often. Of U2’s 21 Grammy-winning albums and songs, only two are current listener favorites.
Eminem 
has lost 10 Grammy competitions to artists currently less popular on Spotify, more than any other artist.
Breakthrough performers often lose the best new artist competition. Both Taylor Swift 
and Drake 
lost this award in 2008 and 2011, respectively, but listeners rank them ahead of their peers.
In each major award category, we compared the five artists with the most discrepancy between their Grammy wins and Spotify popularity. Some artists have won lots of awards even though their reputation with modern listeners isn’t as strong as their rivals’. Others are roundly beloved by Spotify listeners but lost numerous Grammy competitions.
In the rock category, the Recording Academy desires U2 , Bruce Springsteen 
, and Sheryl Crow 
. Audiences want to give it away to the Red Hot Chili Peppers 
and Coldplay’s .
Won more Grammys, but less popular with audiences
Lost more Grammys, but were more popular among listeners
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
Much of Coldplay’s most popular work, like the 2008
album “Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends,”
lost in several different arenas
Won more Grammys, but less popular with audiences
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
Lost more Grammys, but were more popular among listeners
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
Much of Coldplay’s most popular work, like the 2008
album “Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends,”
lost in several different arenas
Won more Grammys, but less popular with audiences
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
Lost more Grammys, but were more popular among listeners
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
Much of Coldplay’s most popular work, like the 2008
album “Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends,”
lost in several different arenas
In the country category, Vince Gill , Mary Chapin Carpenter 
and The Chicks 
take away awards. Alan Jackson 
, Shania Twain 
and Dolly Parton 
are the ones audiences want.
Lost more Grammys, but were more popular among listeners
Won more Grammys, but less popular with audiences
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
The Chicks won plenty of awards, but their popularity declined, explaining their
relative unpopularity among streamers. Some attribute that decline
to their vocal protest of the Iraq war.
Won more Grammys, but less popular with audiences
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
The Chicks won plenty of awards, but their popularity declined, explaining their relative unpopularity among streamers. Some attribute that decline to their vocal protest of the Iraq war.
Lost more Grammys, but were more popular among listeners
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
Won more Grammys, but less popular with audiences
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
The Chicks won plenty of awards, but their popularity declined, explaining their relative unpopularity among streamers. Some attribute that decline to their vocal protest of the Iraq war.
Lost more Grammys, but were more popular among listeners
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
In the R&B category, audiences say “yeah” to Usher 
, Chaka Khan 
and Janet Jackson 
. Grammys go crazy for Prince 
and Stevie Wonder 
.
Won more Grammys, but less popular with audiences
Lost more Grammys, but were more popular among listeners
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
Many of Usher’s Grammy losses are related to his album “Confessions.”
The album and its single “Yeah” lost album, record, and song of the year.
Won more Grammys, but less popular with audiences
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
Lost more Grammys, but were more popular among listeners
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
Many of Usher’s Grammy losses are related to his album “Confessions.”
The album and its single “Yeah” lost album, record, and song of the year.
Won more Grammys, but less popular with audiences
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
Lost more Grammys, but were more popular among listeners
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
Many of Usher’s Grammy losses are related to his album “Confessions.”
The album and its single “Yeah” lost album, record, and song of the year.
In the rap category Grammys got a feeling for Kendrick Lamar 
and Black Eyed Peas 
. Eminem , Kanye West 
and Drake run away with streamers.
Won more Grammys, but less popular with audiences
Lost more Grammys, but were more popular among listeners
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
Kendrick Lamar, whose 2014 “Good Kid, M.A.A.D City”
and 2016 “To Pimp a Butterfly” famously did not win
best rap album or album of the year, respectively,
triumphs over the other nominees on Spotify.
Won more Grammys, but less popular with audiences
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
Kendrick Lamar, whose 2014 “Good Kid, M.A.A.D City” and 2016 “To Pimp a Butterfly” famously did not win best rap album or album of the year, respectively, triumphs over the other nominees on Spotify.
Lost more Grammys, but were more popular among listeners
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
Won more Grammys, but less popular with audiences
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
Kendrick Lamar, whose 2014 “Good Kid, M.A.A.D City” and 2016 “To Pimp a Butterfly” famously did not win best rap album or album of the year, respectively, triumphs over the other nominees on Spotify.
Lost more Grammys, but were more popular among listeners
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
In the pop category Sting 
and Tony Bennett 
are in fields of awards, but Barbra Streisand 
and Backstreet Boys
are back.
Won more Grammys, but less popular with audiences
Lost more Grammys, but were more popular among listeners
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
Many of the Backstreet Boys’ losses stem from the album “Millennium,” which lost best pop vocal album and album of the year.
Won more Grammys, but less popular with audiences
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
Lost more Grammys, but were more popular among listeners
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
Many of the Backstreet Boys’ losses stem from the album “Millennium,” which lost best pop vocal album and album of the year.
Won more Grammys, but less popular with audiences
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
Lost more Grammys, but were more popular among listeners
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
Many of the Backstreet Boys’ losses stem from the album “Millennium,” which lost best pop vocal album and album of the year.
In the competition for the Big Four awards, listeners are obsessed with Michael Jackson 
, Mariah Carey, and Bruno Mars. Steve Winwood 
and Adele are rolling in deep with Grammys.
Won more Grammys, but less popular with audiences
Lost more Grammys, but were more popular among listeners
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
At the 38th Grammys, Carey was nominated
for six awards but walked away empty-handed.
Won more Grammys, but less popular with audiences
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
Lost more Grammys, but were more popular among listeners
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
At the 38th Grammys,
Carey was nominated
for six awards but
walked away
empty-handed.
Won more Grammys, but less popular with audiences
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
Lost more Grammys, but were more popular among listeners
Lost Grammy
Won Grammy
At the 38th Grammys, Carey was nominated
for six awards but walked away empty-handed.
Many artists both beloved by streamers and passed over for previous Grammys are nominated for awards tonight. Will the Recording Academy close the gap between the industry and its audience?