Billie Eilish could tie this Frank Sinatra Grammy record with ‘TV’
Billie Eilish has accomplished quite a lot at her young age in terms of awards records and milestones. Now she’s coming after another one. If she’s nominated for Record of the Year at the upcoming Grammys for “TV,” she’ll become just the second artist — and the first woman — to receive ROTY noms for four consecutive years.
As it stands, four artists have earned nominations for three straight years. Eilish did it with “Bad Guy” (2020), “Everything I Wanted” (2021), and “Happier Than Ever” (2022), winning for the first two. Before her, Roberta Flack went on a run of three with “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” (1973), “Killing Me Softly with His Song” (1974), and “Feel Like Makin’ Love” (1975); she also won on the first two of her three bids. Then Steve Winwood earned noms for “Higher Love” (1987), “Back in the High Life Again” (1988), and “Roll with It” (1989); he won on his first nom. And Post Malone did it with “Rockstar” (2019), “Sunflower” (2020), and “Circles” (2021); he’s the only artist who didn’t win on any of his three consecutive noms.
But Frank Sinatra stands alone with four consecutive ROTY bids: “Witchcraft” (1959), “High Hopes” (second 1959 ceremony), “Nice ‘n’ Easy” (1961), and “The Second Time Around” (1962). He didn’t win for any of those, but he did claim ROTY a few years later for “Strangers in the Night” (1967). So if Eilish is nominated at the upcoming Grammys for “TV,” she’ll match Sinatra.
Eilish is helped by the fact that she’s been competing in an expanded field. Sinatra’s noms came when there were only five slots for ROTY. When Eilish earned her first two bids there were eight slots, and the year of her third nom had 10 available slots. There will be 10 nominations again at the 2023 awards, so an artist as loved by voters as Eilish has been must always be considered a strong threat for a nomination.
According to the combined predictions of Gold Derby users as of this writing, Eilish sits just outside of nomination position in 12th place. Why not higher? Well, “TV” hasn’t had the cultural or commercial impact as her previously nominated singles. “Bad Guy” was a number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100. “Everything I Wanted” made the top 10. “Happier Than Ever” peaked at number-11. But “TV” debuted on the chart and peaked at number-52. And with three nominations and two wins under her belt already, there may not be a sense of urgency to nominate her again so soon.
Still, given her high profile at these awards, she may just pull a Sinatra. Check out the current odds in the race here. And make or update your predictions here. We’ve made lots of changes to the predictions center since Grammy voting started on October 13, and the landscape isn’t exactly the same as we were expecting.
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