Grammys 2023: chronicling the wins and losses of Beyoncé and Adele

The Grammy Awards are once again ready to honor music superstars Beyoncé and Adele, the beloved pop queens who have repeatedly competed in the same categories for more than a decade.

The 65th Grammys, which will be broadcast live from Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena on Sunday, will bring together the singers who rank among the top nominees in the top categories.

Ahead of this year’s awards show, Beyoncé is the front runner, leading the nominations with nine nominations tied to her dance-heavy Renaissance album and Oscar-nominated Be Alive (from the King Richard soundtrack). Adele had seven, taken from her post-divorce album 30.

Beyoncé and her husband Jay-Z also made history in November as Recording Academy’s most-nominated artists of all time, with a total of 88 nominations apiece. (Jay Z has been nominated as a producer five times this year for his work on “Renaissance” and three of its nominated tracks.)

Despite being able to win big, Beyoncé and Adele still face stiff competition from other big artists loved by the Academy, particularly in the general categories, including work by Taylor Swift, Lizzo, Mary J Blige, Harry Styles, Kendrick Lamar, Bad Bunny, ABBA and Coldplay.

Bey has won a whopping 28 Grammys in total and Adele has earned 15. “So Incredible”, “Crazy in Love” and “Dangerously in Love”.

Beyoncé poses backstage at the 2017 Grammy Awards.

(Allen J. Cockroaches / Los Angeles Times)

Adele burst onto the music scene not long after the death of contemporary Amy Winehouse, who won Best New Artist in 2008, a year ahead of Adele. While the British ballad singer behind 25 famously said she owes “90% of my career” to Winehouse, she’s more recently garnered attention for her Grammy nominations for Beyoncé.

The “Hello” singer gave Bey’s groundbreaking visual album Lemonade a special scrutiny by name during her 2017 album of the year speech – basically not accepting that she somehow prevailed over her idol, who dubbed her the “artist of my life.” .

“I can’t possibly accept this award, and I’m very humbled and very grateful and kind, but my life is Beyoncé, and the album ‘Lemonade’, Beyoncé, was so monumental to me and so well thought out,” Adele said. “And so beautiful and soulful and we all saw a different side of you that you don’t always let us show and we appreciate that.

“And all us artists adore you. you are our light And the way you make me and my friends feel, the way you make my black friends feel, it’s empowering and you make them stand up for themselves,” she added. “And I love you. I always have. And I always will. I appreciate it.”

Adele on stage after winning Album of the Year for “25” at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

Beyoncé accepted the loss with grace and offered Adele a “thank you.” The speech attracted comparisons Kanye West’s infamous interruption of Swift’s VMAs speech, but others, including “I May Destroy You” star Michaela Coel, championed Adele’s admission of privilege and how it highlighted the academy’s history of sidelining black artists.

Apparently, however, the love between Bey and Adele is mutual. In a 2020 interview with Rolling Stone, Adele said Beyoncé once told her when she listened to Adele’s music, “I feel like I’m listening to God.”

The “Easy on Me” crooner revealed in a 2021 Vogue cover story that she still disagreed with the academy’s decision and was steadfast in her determination that “Beyoncé definitely should have won” 2017’s album of the year. The Entertainer added that she also had an emotional meetup in Beyoncé’s dressing room after the ceremony.

“I was just telling her how the Grammys work and the people who control it at the very, very top – they don’t know what a visual album is. They don’t want to support the way she’s pushing things with her publications and the things she’s talking about,” she told Vogue.

So on Sunday, all eyes will be on these two iconic artists — and whether Beyoncé will finally win the Album of the Year award. Until then, a look back at all the times the musicians have been nominated side by side at the Grammys.

2009

Adele holds her Grammy Awards during the 51st Annual Grammy Awards held at the Staples Center on February 8, 2009 in Los Angeles.

(Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images)

During her debut at the 51st Grammy Awards, Adele won the trophies for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Her “Chasing Pavements” was nominated for Album and Song of the Year, while Bey had a single nomination for “Me, Myself and I” in the Female R&B Vocal Performance category.

2010

Beyoncé accepting her award at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards on January 31, 2010.

(Cliff Lipson/CBS via Getty Images))

Beyoncé roared back at the 52nd Grammy Awards the following year with six wins, including song of the year for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)” and other accolades for her album “I Am…Sasha Fierce” and its singles. Adele had a nomination that year with “Hometown Glory,” which was recognized for her female pop vocal performance.

2012

Adele performing at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles in 2012.

(Matt Sayles/Associated Press)

The 54th Grammys proved another win for Adele, who picked up six awards for sales giant 21, including album of the year and his hits “Someone Like You” and “Rolling in the Deep,” with the latter song taking the lead Brought record and Song of the Year titles. Beyoncé was nominated for her work on the rap/sung collaboration Party and the long-form music video I Am… World Tour.

2013-2015

Each artist won with the only nomination they received at the 55th Grammy Awards. Adele won the award for pop solo with “Set Fire to the Rain (Live)”, and Beyoncé’s “Love on Top” achieved a win for traditional R&B performance.

In 2014, Adele’s 007 anthem “Skyfall” won the award for best song written for visual media, and Beyoncé won best rap/sung collaboration with “Part II (On the Run)”.

Her seminal, self-titled album earned Beyoncé three more Grammys at the 57th awards, including two for “Drunk in Love.”

2017

Beyoncé accepting the award for Best Urban Contemporary Album for “Lemonade” at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards on February 12, 2017.

(Matt Sayles/Invision/Associated Press)

At the 59th Grammy Awards, the year Adele confessed her love for Beyoncé, Adele acknowledged trophies for Record and Song of the Year and Pop Solo Performance (“Hello”), Album of the Year and Pop – Vocal album (“25”) from. However, Beyoncé didn’t go home empty-handed. She won two of the nine awards for which “Lemonade” was nominated, including an urban contemporary album and a music video (“Formation”).

2019-2021

Beyoncé at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on March 14, 2021.

(Chris Pizzello / Invision / Associated Press)

While Adele was on an unofficial hiatus, Bey was still cranking out new projects and music, picking up wins at the 61st Grammys for Everything Is Love and her Coachella performance musical film Homecoming. “Brown Skin Girl” made her daughter Blue Ivy the first Grammy winner, and Beyoncé also won trophies for “Savage” and “Black Parade” at the 63rd annual awards.

2023

Which brings us to this year, where the two are nominated in three of the same categories, including record and song of the year (“Easy on Me” and “Break My Soul”), album of the year (“30” and “Renaissance” ) in the general area. Artists are otherwise segregated by genre, with Adele in pop and Bey in her usual R&B category, and this year in dance/electronic.

Regardless of whether she surpasses Adele in the general field, Beyoncé only needs to win four of the nine Grammys she’s nominated for this year to become the most Grammy-winning artist of all time.

Times contributor Mikael Wood contributed to this report.