20 songs that should have won a Grammy

The ultimate embodiment of girl groups and Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound (which would become popular with acts like The Beatles, The Beach Boys, and The Byrds), and a serious contender for greatest pop single ever, was eventually inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999, but it was invisible to Grammy voters at the 1964 awards.

They would go on to win multiple Grammys, for “A Hard Day’s Night,” "Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band," and "Let it Be," but the Beatles whiffed on their first nomination, losing Record of the Year in 1965 to Astrud Gilberto and Stan Getz’s “The Girl from Ipanema.”

The Stones’ suggestive signature single was powered by Keith Richards’ caveman riffing and Mick Jagger’s charismatic performance, but it failed to win them a Grammy – or even a nomination.

One of Stewart’s most enduring songs, from one of his earliest solo albums, was his first No. 1 hit, but Grammy voters didn’t care. It would take another 34 years for Stewart to win his only Grammy, in 2005, for his third album of standards.

Al Green kicked off three years of R&B dominance and pop crossover success with his 1971 signature hit. Billy Paul won Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, and the Temptations got Best R&B Song — Green wasn’t nominated in either category.

Loretta Lynn’s homespun anthem of Appalachian self-reliance and resilience helped define her career and inspired a best-selling memoir and Oscar-winning biopic. But it never made it onto the radar of Grammy voters.

Prince wasn’t a career loser at the 1984 Grammys — he ended up with seven awards — but some of his finest moments were overlooked, like "Sign O’ the Times," “U Got the Look,” “When Doves Cry” and "1999." That album earned a nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance (it was up against "Thriller"), but of all its classic singles, only “International Lover” was nominated. (It lost Best Male R&B Vocal Performance to “Billie Jean.”)

The King of Pop racked up seven Grammys in 1984: three for the album "Thriller" and two each for “Beat It” and “Billie Jean." But the epic title track (and its blockbuster 14-minute video) missed out.

"1984" was a commercial breakthrough for Van Halen, and “Jump” was a big reason why. Eddie Van Halen’s insistent synth riff and the vaguely triumphant refrain defined early-’80s hard rock and transformed the band from FM radio heavyweights into world-beating MTV and Top 40 superstars.

The Boss won his first Grammy for “Dancing in the Dark,” from the "Born in the U.S.A." album. But the title track, a (widely misinterpreted) pop-cultural phenomenon that’s still part of the national soundtrack, lost Record of the Year to “We Are the World" at the 1986 Grammys.

One of his biggest solo singles, “Faith” established George Michael as a legitimate star outside of Wham! The album of the same name won Album of the Year in 1989, but none of its four No.1 hits was recognized.

It took until 1999 for Madonna to win a straight-up music Grammy; her first award, in 1992, was for the "Blonde Ambition World Tour Live" video album. Of all the songs from the first part of her career that didn’t win Grammys, “Like a Prayer” seems like the biggest miss — it was ambitious, unafraid, controversial, and ubiquitous.

Sinead O’Connor’s biggest hit, propelled by its arresting music video, was nominated for three Grammys, but she pulled her name from consideration to protest the music industry’s “false and destructive materialistic values.” She did win Best Alternative Music Performance for "I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got."

The timing was against Grammy voters — ballots had already been cast by the time Nirvana’s breakthrough single took over the charts and MTV in early 1992. But it’s unlikely that conservative Grammy voters would have recognized the alt-rock tsunami headed toward them anyway. 

There’s not an obvious Grammy contender anywhere in Green Day’s catalog, but you’d probably pick the staple prom theme song as the likeliest winner (or maybe “When I Come Around”). But it was “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” from 2004 rock opera "American Idiot!," that landed a Record of the Year award.

This was the song that introduced mainstream America to the sound of reggaeton, making it one of the most influential pop singles of the 21st century. It wasn’t nominated for a Grammy, but it was nominated for Record of the Year at the Latin Grammys, the first reggaeton song to do so.

If Lady Gaga’s second album didn’t quite reach the full commercial peak of her debut, "The Fame"  — well, few records could top 15 million in sales. But "Born This Way" was a stellar follow-up, confirming Gaga as a bona fide pop star with a fist-pumping title track and lead single affirming support for LGBTQ rights and accompanied by a stunning special effects extravaganza video. "Born this Way" was nominated for two Grammys but didn’t win; the title track earned no nominations.

Besides breaking a bunch of sales records, "Red" marked the last stage of Taylor Swift’s transition from country to pop. But Grammy voters who had loved Swift as a country ingenue were ambivalent about her as a pop star. "Red" received only three nominations and didn’t win any awards.

Carly Rae Jepsen’s biggest hit had the misfortune of going up against Adele and fun. in 2013 — nominated for Song of the Year and Best Solo Pop Performance, “Call Me Maybe” didn’t take home any awards. 

It’s hard to argue with the songs that ultimately beat out pop-rock-R&B polymath Bruno Mars’ “Locked Out of Heaven” for Record of the Year (“Get Lucky”) and Song of the Year (“Royals”) at the 2014 Grammys. Still, 0-2 feels like an unfair score for Mars’ crossover hit.