As Grammy season creeps closer, let’s take a look at how the Recording Academy chooses its nominations every year. The first round of Grammy Voting will begin next Friday (Oct. 4), and officially kicks off Grammy season as voters will help determine the nominees for the 2025 awards.

When the 2024 Grammy nominations were announced last November, the Academy added a handful of new categories, including Best Pop Dance Recording, Best African Music Performance and Best Alternative Jazz Album. Last year’s actual awards included some big victories, too. Killer Mike nearly swept the rap categories, taking home Best Rap Album for Michael, as well as Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance for “Scientists and Engineers” featuring André 3000, Future and Eryn Allen Kane.

Lil Durk also won his first Grammy last year, taking home the Best Melodic Rap Performance trophy for his hit single “All My Life” featuring J. Cole. Last year had a bit of a snafu as well. Nicki Minaj was up for two awards for “Barbie World” with Ice Spice and was mistakenly announced as the winner of the Best Rap Song category on X, formerly known as Twitter, which was actually won by Killer Mike.

So, with the stakes being so high, and with so much great music to sift through from this past year, the question remains of what actually goes into voting and choosing who gets nominated.

The 2025 Grammy nominees will be announced in full on Nov. 8, 2024, on live.grammy.com. The 2025 awards will then take place on Feb. 2, 2025, in Los Angeles. Until then, here’s a step-by-step look at how the Recording Academy will choose its nominees this year, according to the Grammy Insider newsletter, below.