Record of the Year

Girl Crush – Little Big Town
Uptown Funk – Mark Ronson Featuring Bruno Mars
Blank Space – Taylor Swift
Can’t Feel My Face – The Weeknd
See You Again – Wiz Khalifa Featuring Charlie Puth

Alternatives:  Thinking Out Loud – Ed Sheeran, , Take Your Time – Sam Hunt, Where Are U Now – Skrillex & Diplo Featuring Justin Bieber

Of course there’s some crossover with the Song of the Year category, I can’t think of a year when most of the songs haven’t been in both categories. The 3 crossover songs here are the ones I’m most confident about, specifically Uptown Funk, Can’t Feel My Face and Girl Crush. All three are vastly different, but excel in their own genre in just about every way.

Little Big Town are probably the outsiders here, especially as some would predict Sam Hunt to make the cut here instead. When songs like Need You Now and Use Somebody have succeeded here though it would be silly to rule them out of a nomination. Whether there’s any country voters that still hold Taylor Swift allegiances or not, I’d say Blank Space will make the cut too. She has made it into the Record of the Year category 3 times before, and the chances are high for a 4th nomination.

The final space on that list above is one I’ve had trouble deciding on. Part of me kind of hopes that Ed Sheeran might sneak in there, or even Skrillex & Diplo, the best choice if they were to opt for one of the 2015 Bieber hits. As it stands though, See You Again was so massive that it has to get the 5th spot here. A few years ago, most wouldn’t have thought Wiz Khalifa could have come close to this category, but he has his best chance in 2016.

As far as a winner goes it’s between the same two songs as Song of the Year albeit the opposite way round to that category. Can’t Feel My Face is a great pop song from an unlikely source and is sure to find some love this year. Uptown Funk though, that’s a ‘record’. I swear I could write 600 words of hyperbole on just how perfect Uptown Funk is, it’s a song of a generation that so many artists will attempt to recreate for the next decade. There’s magic in that song, and much like when Get Lucky picked up this prize two years ago I can’t imagine anyone but Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars taking the trophy next year.