Grammys Will Have Fewer Country Categories Next Year

Miranda Lambert may go up against Blake Shelton. Keith Urban may vie with Carrie Underwood. And who will be the victor if Alan Jackson faces Reba McEntire? The 54th annual Grammy Awards in 2012 will have 31 fewer categories than the 2011 awards, mainly because gender-based categories in country, rock, pop and R&B will be eliminated.

"I think the positive side is we've taken a good, serious look at what we're doing," Recording Academy president/CEO Neil Portnow tells Billboard of the move from 109 to 78 awards. "We contemporized it, we organized it and we visioned it in a way that will suit us going into the future. In other words, if you just continue business as usual, at some point, typically, you're going to hit some sort of a pothole in the road."

What that means for country acts and their fans is, of course, fewer awards. Now instead of seven award categories, country will have four. The country award categories will now be Best Country Solo Performance, Best Country Duo/Group Performance, Best Country Song and Best Country Album.

In addition to changes in the R&B, pop and rock categories, roots music will have five categories instead of nine. The Best Americana Album and Best Bluegrass Album categories remain intact.

There are a few other across-the-board changes, too. One of the most significant requires that each category have at least 40 distinct artist entries, not the 25 previously allowed. If a category receives between 25-39 entries, only three recordings will be nominated. If fewer than 25 entries are submitted the category will go on "hiatus" and no award will be presented. If a category receives fewer than 25 entries for three consecutive years, the category will be discontinued.

Find out more information about the changes at the Grammy Awards website.