At every Grammy Awards show, all eyes are on the nominees of the coveted “big four” categories – album of the year, song of the year, record of the year and best new artist. These awards highlight the music industry’s finest, celebrating upcoming talent and industry professionals alike.

Song of the year is aptly named since it honors the track that exceeds artistic achievement and quality, regardless of chart position or sales numbers. This award is for a song’s composition and goes to its songwriters. This differs from record of the year which is awarded for a song’s recording, going to the performing artist, producer, recording engineer and/or mixer.

Let’s look at every Grammy Award-winning song of the year, and see what tracks are nominated at this year’s 67th annual ceremony.

Song of the year 2025 Grammy nominees

• “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” performed by Shaboozey. Written by Sean Cook, Jerrel Jones, Joe Kent, Chibueze Collins Obinna, Nevin Sastry & Mark Williams
• “Birds of a Feather” peformed by Billie Eilish. Written by Billie Eilish O’Connell and FINNEAS
• “Die With A Smile” performed by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars. Written by Dernst Emile II, James Fauntleroy, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars and Andrew Watt
• “Fortnight” performed by Taylor Swift, featuring Post Malone. Written by Jack Antonoff, Austin Post and Taylor Swift
• “Good Luck, Babe!” performed by Chappell Roan. Written by Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, Daniel Nigro & Justin Tranter
• “Not Like Us” performed by Kendrick Lamar. Written by Kendrick Lamar
• “Please Please Please” performed by Sabrina Carpenter. Written by Amy Allen, Jack Antonoff & Sabrina Carpenter
• “Texas Hold ‘Em” performed by Beyoncé. Written by Brian Bates, Beyoncé, Elizabeth Lowell Boland, Megan Bülow, Nate Ferraro and Raphael Saadiq

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Song of the year Grammy winners

Here are all the song of the year Grammy Award winners since 1959:

• “Nel blu, dipinto di blu (Volare)” – Domenico Modugno (1st Grammy Awards in 1959)
• “The Battle of New Orleans” – Jimmy Driftwood (2nd Grammy Awards in 1959)
• “Theme of ‘Exodus’” – Ernest Gold (3rd Grammy Awards in 1961)
• “Moon River” – Henry Mancini, Johnny Mercer (4th Grammy Awards in 1962)
• “What Kind of Fool Am I?” – Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley (5th Grammy Awards in 1963)
• “Days of Wine and Roses” – Henry Mancini, Johnny Mercer (6th Grammy Awards in 1964)
• “Hello Dolly!” –Jerry Herman(7th Grammy Awards in 1965)
• “The Shadow of Your Smile” – Paul Francis Webster, Johnny Mandel (8th Grammy Awards in 1966)
• “Michelle” – John Lennon, Paul McCartney (9th Grammy Awards in 1967)
• “Up, Up, and Away” – Jimmy Webb (10th Grammy Awards in 1968)
• “Little Green Apples” – Bobby Russell (11th Grammy Awards in 1969)
• “Games People Play” – Joe South (12th Grammy Awards in 1970)
• “Bridge over Troubled Water” – Paul Simon (13th Grammy Awards in 1971)
• “You’ve Got a Friend” – Carole King (14th Grammy Awards in 1972)
• “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” – Ewan MacColl (15th Grammy Awards in 1973)
• “Killing Me Softly with His Song” – Norman Gimbel, Charles Fox (16th Grammy Awards in 1974)
• “The Way We Were” – Alan and Marilyn Bergman, Marvin Hamlisch (17th Grammy Awards in 1975)
• “Send In the Clowns” – Stephen Sondheim (18th Grammy Awards in 1976)
• “I Write the Songs” – Bruce Johnston (19th Grammy Awards in 1977)
• “Evergreen” – Barbara Streisand, Paul Williams and “You Light Up My Life” – Joe Brooks (20th Grammy Awards in 1978)
• “Just the Way You Are” – Billie Joel (21st Grammy Awards in 1979)
• “What a Fool Believes” – Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald (22nd Grammy Awards in 1980)
• “Sailing” – Christopher Cross (23rd Grammy Awards in 1981)
• “Bette Davis Eyes” – Donna Weiss, Jackie DeShannon (24th Grammy Awards in 1982)
• “Always on My Mind” – Johnny Christopher, Mark James, Wayne Carson (25th Grammy Awards in 1983)
• “Every Breath You Take” – Sting (26th Grammy Awards in 1984)
• “What’s Love Got to Do with It” – Graham Lyle, Terry Britten (27th Grammy Awards in 1985)
• “We Are the World” – Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie (28th Grammy Awards in 1986)
• “That’s What Friends Are For” – Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager (29th Grammy Awards in 1987)
• “Somewhere Out There” – James Horner, Barry Mann, Cynthia Well (30th Grammy Awards in 1988)
• “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” – Bobby McFerrin (31st Grammy Awards in 1989)
• “Wind Beneath My Wings” – Larry Henley, Jeff Silbar (32nd Grammy Awards in 1990)
• “From a Distance” – Julie Gold (33rd Grammy Awards in 1991)
• “Unforgettable” – Irving Gordon (34th Grammy Awards in 1992)
• “Tears in Heaven” – Eric Clapton, Will Jennings (35th Grammy Awards in 1993)
• “A Whole New World” – Alan Menken, Tim Rice (36th Grammy Awards in 1994)
• “Streets of Philadelphia” – Bruce Springsteen (37th Grammy Awards in 1995)
• “Kiss from a Rose” – Seal (38th Grammy Awards in 1996)
• “Change the World” – Gordon Kennedy, Wayne Kirkpatrick, Tommy Sims (39th Grammy Awards in 1997)
• “Sunny Came Home” – Shawn Colvin, John Leventhal (40th Grammy Awards in 1998)
• “My Heart Will Go On” – James Horner, Will Jennings (41st Grammy Awards in 1999)
• “Smooth” – Itaal Shur, Rob Thomas (42nd Grammy Awards in 2000)
• “Beautiful Day” – Adam Clayton, The Edge, Larry Mullen Jr., Bono (43rd Grammy Awards in 2001)
• “Fallin'” – Alicia Keys (44th Grammy Awards in 2002)
• “Don’t Know Why” – Jesse Harris (45th Grammy Awards in 2003)
• “Dance with My Father” – Richard Marx, Luther Vandross (46th Grammy Awards in 2004)
• “Daughters” – John Mayer (47th Grammy Awards in 2005)
• “Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own” – Adam Clayton, The Edge, Larry Mullen Jr., Bono (48th Grammy Awards in 2006)
• “Not Ready to Make Nice” – Emily Robison, Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines, Dan Wilson (49th Grammy Awards in 2007)
• “Rehab” – Amy Winehouse (50th Grammy Awards in 2008)
• “Viva la Vida” – Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion, Chris Martin (51st Grammy Awards in 2009)
• “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” – Beyoncé, Thaddis Harrell, Terius Nash, Christopher Stewart (52nd Grammy Awards in 2010)
• “Need You Now” – Dave Haywood, Josh Kear, Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott (53rd Grammy Awards in 2011)
• “Rolling in the Deep” – Adele, Paul Epworth (54th Grammy Awards in 2012)”
• “We Are Young” – Nate Ruess, Jack Antonoff, Jeff Bhasker, Andrew Dost (55th Grammy Awards in 2013)
• “Royals” – Lorde, Joel Little (56th Grammy Awards in 2014)
• “Stay With Me” – Sam Smith, James Napier, William Philips (57th Grammy Awards in 2015)
• “Thinking Out Loud” – Ed Sheeran, Amy Wadge (58th Grammy Awards in 2016)
• “Hello” – Adele, Greg Kurstin (59th Grammy Awards in 2017)
• “That’s What I Like” – Bruno Mars, Christopher Brody Brown, James Fauntleroy, Philip Lawrence, Ray Charles McCullough II, Jeremy Reeves, Ray Romulus, Jonathan Yip (60th Grammy Awards in 2018)
• “This is America” – Donald Glover, Ludwig Göransson, Jeffery Lamar Williams (61st Grammy Awards in 2019)
• “Bad Guy” – Billie Eilish, Finneas (62nd Grammy Awards in 2020)
• “I Can’t Breathe” – H.E.R., Dernst Emile II, Tiara Thomas (63rd Grammy Awards in 2021)
• “Leave the Door Open” – Anderson .Paak, Bruno Mars, Christopher Brody Brown, Dernst Emile II (64th Grammy Awards in 2022)
• “Just Like That” – Bonnie Raitt (65th Grammy Awards in 2023)
• “What Was I Made For?” – Billie Eilish, Finneas (66th Grammy Awards in 2024)

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