The team that produced the 2025 Grammy Awards experienced a big disappointment when the nominations for this year’s Primetime Emmys were announced on July 15 and Music’s Biggest Night wasn’t on the short-list for outstanding variety special (live). The Grammys had been nominated in that category in five of the previous seven years.
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Only one awards show was nominated in that category this year – and it was, unsurprisingly, the granddaddy of all awards shows, the Oscars. The other nominees were Beyoncé Bowl, The Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show Starring Kendrick Lamar and a pair of SNL50 celebrations – The Anniversary Special (which won) and The Homecoming Concert.
Here’s something that may provide some consolation for Team Grammy – the 2025 Grammys were the only awards show to win multiple awards across the three nights of the 2025 Primetime Emmys – the main telecast on Sunday (Sept. 14) and two Creative Arts ceremonies on Sept. 6 and 7. The Grammys won outstanding choreography for variety or reality programming for a specific routine – Doechii’s musical performance – and also outstanding lighting design/lighting direction for a special. Doechii performed “Catfish” and “Denial Is a River” on the Grammys as part of an extended sequence focusing on each of the eight best new artist nominees.
This marked the first time in 12 years that the Grammy telecast has won two Primetime Emmys in a single year. The 2013 show won awards for sound mixing and costumes.
The only other awards show to win a Primetime Emmy this year was the Oscars, which won outstanding production design for a variety special.
The Grammys have never won in the top variety program category – now called outstanding variety special (live). This year’s show aired less than a month after wildfires devastated wide swaths of Los Angeles, calling the feasibility of even putting on a show into question. The Grammys, which aired on Feb. 2, combined traditional awards show elements with emotional appeals and fundraising efforts.
Note: Conan O’Brien: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor also won one Primetime Emmy – outstanding variety special (pre-recorded). While that’s a prestigious award, that’s not a traditional awards show with winners and, um, non-winners.
This year’s Primetime Emmys honored programs that aired between June 1, 2024, and May 31, 2025.
Ben Winston, Raj Kapoor and Jesse Collins were executive producers of the 2025 Grammys for Winston’s Fulwell 73 Productions. Trevor Noah hosted the show for the fifth year in a row. Hamish Hamilton directed. David Wild served as writer.
