With final-round Grammy voting set to open on Thursday (Dec. 14), Jack Antonoff is vying for his third consecutive win as producer of the year, non-classical. Should he be declared the winner at the 66th annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 4, he would be only the second producer in history to win three years running. The first was Babyface, who clinched the award from 1996-98.
Final-round continues through Jan. 4. The awards will be presented at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
Antonoff is competing for producer of the year, non-classical with Dernst “D’Mile” Emile II, who is nominated for the second year in row; Hit-Boy, who is nominated for the second time in three years; and two first-time nominees: Metro Boomin and Daniel Nigro.
Antonoff and Nigro appear to be the front-runners. They are also nominated for album, record and song of the year. D’Mile is also nominated for record of the year.
Antonoff co-produced two of this year’s nominees for album of the year: Taylor Swift’s Midnights and Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd. He co-produced one nominee for record of the year, Swift’s “Anti-Hero.” And he co-wrote two song of the year nominees: Swift’s “Anti-Hero” and Del Rey’s “A&W.”
Nigro produced Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts, which is nominated for album of the year. He also produced and co-wrote her smash “Vampire,” which is nominated for both record and song of the year.
D’Mile is nominated for record of the year for co-producing Victoria Monét’s “On My Mama.”
While Babyface is the only producer who has won three years in a row (so far), these four producers came close.
Quincy Jones: The Chicago native won the award in 1982 and 1984 (in tandem with Michael Jackson that second time). He was nominated in the middle year, 1983, but lost to Toto, who were the second group to win (after the Bee Gees).
Jones lost three times in the category before he won. When he finally did hear his name called, he good-naturedly told the audience at the Shrine Auditorium, “Man, when I started waiting for this award I had long flowing hair and a thin waistline like James Ingram.”
David Foster: The Canadian studio savant won the award in 1992 and 1994, but he wasn’t nominated in the middle year, 1993.
Rick Rubin: The native New Yorker won the award in 2007 and 2009, but he wasn’t nominated in the middle year, 2008.
Greg Kurstin: The L.A. native won the award in 2017 and 2018, but wasn’t nominated in the year immediately before or after his win streak.
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