Beyonce made headlines when she switched up to a country sound on her latest album “Cowboy Carter,” but she may not be the only artist who takes her genre crossover to the Grammys. An artist featured on “Cowboy Carter,” Shaboozey, might even steal her thunder. His single “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” has achieved unprecedented success, and his album “Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going” has shown impressive stability in the upper reaches of the charts.
What makes “A Bar Song” such a strong Grammy contender in particular is its crossover appeal. It has spent multiple weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100, it has been the number-one song on the Hot Country Songs chart, and as Billboard reported, it’s the first single ever to reach the top 10 on country radio, pop radio, adult pop radio and rhythmic radio. So it’s arguably a bigger hit with broader appeal than Beyonce’s own chart-topper “Texas Hold ‘Em,” which spent two weeks at number-one earlier this year. “A Bar Song” has also topped the streaming chart, so if it appeals to as many recording academy members as it has to music listeners at large, it could be a stealth front-runner for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
But his success hasn’t been limited to “A Bar Song.” Its parent album is also a hit. “Where I’ve Been” debuted at number-five on the Billboard 200, but in the weeks since it has remained stable in the top 15. So a case could be made for Shaboozey as an Album of the Year contender too. And if he scores all three of those noms, he just might become the front-runner for Best New Artist. Only 13 recording artists have been nominated across all of the big four categories in a single night, and 11 of them won Best New Artist. So Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter need to watch out. But if Shaboozey does prevail, I presume drinks are on him.
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