Grammys: This Is the Difference Between Record and Song of the Year

Sunday was a big night for Billie Eilish, who swept the biggest categories of the evening at the Grammy Awards. Aside from snagging the album of the year honour, the singer also took home the gold statue for the record of the year and song of the year categories (in addition to best new artist, natch). While these awards are the most coveted, many people still don’t know the difference between the record and song of the year categories.

No judgment here, as the distinction between the two can be a little tricky to figure out – but there’s a very subtle difference.

“The Record Of The Year category recognizes the artist’s performance as well as the overall contributions of the producer(s), recording engineer(s) and/or mixer(s) if other than the artist,” according to the Grammys site. “The Song Of The Year category recognizes the songwriter(s),”

For example, “Bad Guy” won record of the year. That means that in addition to Eilish, the engineers, producers, and mixers of the track are also listed as honorees. On the other hand, song of the year category, honours only the names of all the writers of the tune. It’s tricky, but think of it like this: the song of the year award honours only the musician and the songwriters of a song, while record of the year only recognises the musician and the technical contributions of all those who created a song.