Pakistani-American singer Arooj Aftab has once again been recognized by the Grammys, securing two nominations for the 2025 awards.
Her track Raat Ki Rani is nominated in the Best Global Music Performance category, while her album Night Reign is up for Best Alternative Jazz Album. Aftab made history in 2022 as the first Pakistani woman to win a Grammy, receiving the inaugural Best Global Music Performance award for her song Mohabbat. She was also nominated for Best New Artist that year but lost to Olivia Rodrigo. Notably, Aftab performed her Grammy-nominated track Usher Na with Anoushka Shankar at the 2022 ceremony.
Read more: India’s ‘Laapataa ladies’ and Pakistan’s ‘The Glassworker’ Nominated for Oscar’s 2025
Aftab, 37, has lived in New York for nearly 15 years, gaining international acclaim for blending Sufi music with folk, jazz, and minimalism.
Meanwhile, Beyoncé leads the 2025 Grammy nominations with 11 nods, bringing her career total to a record-breaking 99. Her country-inspired album Cowboy Carter is nominated for Album of the Year and Country Album of the Year. Her hit Texas Hold ’Em has received nominations for Record, Song, and Country Song of the Year, marking her debut in the country and Americana categories. If Beyoncé wins Album of the Year, she will be the first Black woman to do so in the 21st century, following Lauryn Hill’s 1999 win for The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
Post Malone, entering the country genre for the first time, also received several nominations for his album F-1 Trillion and his collaboration with Morgan Wallen, I Had Some Help. Wallen earned his first Grammy nods this year.
Behind Beyoncé, Post Malone, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, and Charli XCX each received seven nominations. Kendrick Lamar’s diss track Not Like Us garnered nominations in multiple categories, including Record of the Year and Best Rap Performance, where he achieved a personal milestone with two simultaneous entries.
Taylor Swift, along with first-time nominees Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan, secured six nominations each. Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department continues her historic run in the Album of the Year category, where she holds the record for the most nominations by a female artist.
This year’s Album of the Year nominees span a variety of genres, including André 3000’s New Blue Sun, Jacob Collier’s Djesse Vol. 4, Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft, and Charli XCX’s Falling Forward.
