The Beatles earned their first Grammy Awards nominations since 1997 on Friday (8).
The Fab Four received the song, competing in the “Record of the Year” category alongside contemporary artists such as Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish. The iconic rock group was also recognized in the Best Rock Performance category for the track.
This year’s nominations for “Now and Then” mark the Beatles’ first nominations since the late ’90s, when they won three Grammys in 1997.
Referred to by Paul McCartney as “the last Beatles song,” the track was written by the late John Lennon, who died in 1980, and features original vocals that Lennon recorded in 1970 and were preserved using artificial intelligence.
“Now and Then” features new instruments by McCartney and Ringo Starr, the only two surviving Beatles, as well as guitar recordings by the late George Harrison — who died in 2001 — from the 1990s.
The Beatles’ first award win came in 1965 at the 7th Annual Grammy Awards, when they won Best New Artist of 1964 and Best Vocal Performance by a Group for their hit “A Hard Day’s Night.”
In 1968, they won Album of the Year for their breakthrough album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” To date, the band has won seven Grammys in total.
However, the Beatles aren’t the only classic rockers from that era to appear on this year’s Grammy nominees list. The Rolling Stones earned a nomination on Friday in the Best Rock Album category for “Hackney Diamonds,” released in 2023.
Led by original members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood, the Stones have won three Grammys in their career, the most recent in 2018 for “Blue & Lonesome” in the Best Traditional Blues Album category.
They were first nominated in 1978 for “Some Girls,” which was recognized as Album of the Year at the time.
See also: Paul McCartney says John Lennon was responsible for the end of the Beatles
