John Rich Explains How Beyoncé Nabbed Album Of The Year, Says It’s ‘ZERO’ To Do With ‘Best Music’

Despite Beyoncé’s fans being overjoyed about her winning her first ever Grammy Award for Album of the Year, plenty of other award show winners were confused. They failed to recognize how the 43-year-old pop singer nabbed the night’s biggest prize for “Cowboy Carter,” a country album, especially against such stiff competition.

Country artist John Rich weighed in with his thoughts on awards shows and how they picked winners. The former Big & Rich member said the whole thing is rigged and has nothing to do with actual talent.

“Folks are asking me ‘how do music award shows work?’” Rich posted on X.

He continued, “Labels/publishers all have blocks of votes. They make deals with each other ‘you vote for mine, we’ll vote for yours’ type thing. It has ZERO to do with who made the best music, thus, Beyonce with ‘Country album of the year.’ Nice, right? The same thing is true with the CMA’s, ACM’s, Billboard, etc…all work exactly the same. Last night, the Grammy’s outed themselves in a big way.”

Folks are asking me "how do music award shows work?" Labels/publishers all have blocks of votes. They make deals with each other "you vote for mine, we'll vote for yours" type thing. It has ZERO to do with who made the best music, thus, Beyonce with "Country album of the year."…

— John Rich???????? (@johnrich) February 3, 2025

The replies were full of people saying they weren’t even slightly surprised.

“The Grammys just proved what we already knew—it’s all about backroom deals, not real talent. Meanwhile, actual country artists are out here making real music and getting ignored. Absolute joke,” one person wrote.

“Yes, sadly, it’s not about the music anymore. Also performance spots are paid. That’s why it’s the same people performing over and over again. Like a vanity show of the richest,” another comment said. “…For lifelong musicians, who really care about the music—it is soul-crushing. Unbearable to watch.”

Conservative commentator Megyn Kelly also weighed in on Beyoncé’s big win in a clip that was then posted to TikTok.

“Beyoncé, she’s won 33 Grammys, including for Best Country album last night. Frank Sinatra got 11 Grammys. The Beatles won 7. Judy Garland, 2. Beyoncé: 33. The most overrated artist of all time.”

“We’re not buying it,” Kelly added after reading Rich’s tweet out loud. “We know what happened and how she got this award.”

Other nominees for the highly coveted Album of the Year Award included Andre 3000, Sabrina Carpenter, Charli xcx, Jacob Collier, Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan, and Taylor Swift.

Beyoncé is the most nominated person in Grammys history, with 99 total nominations.