In the 65th Annual Grammy nominations, which were announced last week, Jay-Z is competing with himself for song of the year. He is nominated for co-writing his wife Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul” and also DJ Khaled’s “God Did,” on which he is one of the featured artists.
Two songwriters – Brandi Carlile and D’Mile – achieved double nominations for song of the year last year – when the Recording Academy expanded the number of nominations in this category to 10. The expansion obviously makes it easier to achieve double nominations. Still, at this point, the list of songwriters with two songs nominated for song of the year in the same year is fairly exclusive – just 12 individual songwriters or songwriting teams have accomplished the feat.
Three songwriting teams have done this – Burt Bacharach & Hal David, Dino Fekaris & Freddie Perren and Elton John & Tim Rice. John and Rice are also the only songwriters who were born outside of the U.S. who have done it.
Carlile is the only female songwriter who has done it.
Three songwriters — Jimmy Webb, Bobby Russell and Michael Jackson — have achieved the feat with a pair of songs they wrote entirely by themselves – a practice that has fallen out of fashion.
Webb is the youngest songwriter to achieve the feat. The prodigy was just 21 when he did it. The oldest? Johnny Mercer, who was 54.
We’ll find out if either of Jay-Z’s songs wins for song of the year on Feb. 5, 2023 when the 65th annual Grammy Awards are presented at Crypto.com Arena (formerly Staples Center) in Los Angeles.
Here’s a complete list of songwriters who have received two Grammy nominations for song of the year in the same year, working backwards:
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Jay-Z (Shawn Carter)
Year: 2022
Nominated songs: “Break My Soul,” “God Did”
Notes: Jay-Z co-wrote “Break My Soul” with Beyoncé, The-Dream and Christopher A. Stewart. He co-wrote “God Did” with DJ Khaled, as well as Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, John Legend and Fridayy, all of whom are featured artists on the record, plus Tarik Azzouz, E. Blackmon and Nicholas Warwar, who aren’t. Beyoncé’s recording of “Break My Soul,” which is also up for record of the year, topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks. “God Did” reached No. 17 on the chart.
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D’Mile (Dernst Emile II)
Year: 2021
Nominated songs: “Leave the Door Open,” “Fight for You”
Notes: D’Mile co-wrote “Leave the Door Open” with Silk Sonic (Anderson .Paak and Bruno Mars) and Christopher Brody Brown. He co-wrote “Fight for You” with H.E.R. and Tiara Thomas. “Leave the Door Open” won. Silk Sonic’s recording of the song, which also won record of the year, topped the Hot 100 for two weeks. H.E.R.’s “Fight for You,” which won an Oscar for best original song, didn’t reach the chart.
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Brandi Carlile
Year: 2021
Nominated songs: “Right on Time,” “A Beautiful Noise”
Notes: Carlile was the first (and is still the only) female songwriter with double song of the year nominations. She co-wrote “Right on Time” with Dave Cobb, Phil Hanseroth and Tim Hanseroth. She co-wrote “A Beautiful Noise” with Ruby Amanfu, Brandy Clark, Alicia Keys, Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna, Linda Perry and Hailey Whitters. Neither song won. As noted above, the award went to “Leave the Door Open.” Carlile’s recording of “Right on Time” was also nominated for record of the year. Keys and Carlile were the artists on “A Beautiful Noise.” Neither song cracked the Hot 100.
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Elton John & Tim Rice
Year: 1994
Nominated songs: “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” “Circle of Life”
Notes: John and Rice wrote both songs for the animated film The Lion King. Both songs appeared on the hit soundtrack, which topped the Billboard 200 for 10 nonconsecutive weeks. Neither song won: The award went to Bruce Springsteen for “Streets of Philadelphia.” But “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” won an Oscar for best original song, beating “Circle of Life.” Elton’s recording of “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” reached No. 4 on the Hot 100. His recording of “Circle of Life” hit No. 18.
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Michael Jackson
Year: 1983
Nominated songs: “Beat It,” “Billie Jean”
Notes: Both songs appeared on Jackson’s Thriller album, which topped the Billboard 200 for 37 nonconsecutive weeks – the longest run for an album by an individual artist in the chart’s history. Neither song won. The award went to Sting for writing The Police’s classic “Every Breath You Take.” “Beat It,” which won record of the year, topped the Hot 100 for three weeks; “Billie Jean” led it for seven weeks.
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Michael McDonald
Year: 1979
Nominated songs: “What a Fool Believes,” “Minute by Minute”
Notes: Both songs appeared on The Doobie Brothers’ album Minute by Minute, which topped the Billboard 200 for five nonconsecutive weeks. McDonald co-wrote “What a Fool Believes” with Kenny Loggins and “Minute by Minute” with musician Lester Abrams. “What a Fool Believes,” which won, led the Hot 100 for one week. “Minute by Minute” hit No. 14. “What a Fool Believes” also won record of the year.
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Dino Fekaris & Freddie Perren
Year: 1979
Nominated songs: “I Will Survive,” “Reunited”
Notes: Gaynor’s disco classic “I Will Survive” and Peaches & Herb’s soul ballad “Reunited” both topped the Hot 100 – for four and three weeks, respectively. Neither song won. As noted above, “What a Fool Believes” won the award in 1979. Gaynor’s recording of “I Will Survive” was also nominated for record of the year.
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Kris Kristofferson
Year: 1971
Nominated songs: “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” “Me and Bobby McGee”
Notes: Kristofferson wrote “Help Me Make It Through the Night” by himself and co-wrote “Me and Bobby McGee” with Fred Foster. Neither song won. The award went to Carole King for “You’ve Got a Friend.” Sammi Smith reached No. 8 on the Hot 100 with her nakedly intimate recording of “Help Me…” Janis Joplin had a posthumous No. 1 with “Me and Bobby McGee.”
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Burt Bacharach & Hal David
Year: 1969
Nominated songs: “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again”
Notes: The peerless team wrote “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” for the blockbuster film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again” for the hit Broadway musical Promises, Promises. Neither song won. The award went to Joe South for the more socially relevant “Games People Play.” But “Raindrops” won an Oscar for best original song and Bacharach and David were nominated for a Tony for best musical for writing the song score to Promises, Promises. B.J. Thomas’ jaunty recording of “Raindrops” topped the Hot 100 for four weeks. Dionne Warwick’s sprightly “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again” reached No. 6.
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Bobby Russell
Year: 1968
Nominated songs: “Honey,” “Little Green Apples”
Notes: The gently philosophical “Little Green Apples” won the award. Bobby Goldsboro’s recording of the tearjerker “Honey,” which was nominated for record of the year, topped the Hot 100 for five weeks. O.C. Smith and Roger Miller both had hit records with “Little Green Apples.” Smith’s rendition reached No. 2 on the Hot 100.
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Jimmy Webb
Year: 1967
Nominated songs: “Up-Up and Away,” “By the Time I Get to Phoenix”
Notes: “Up-Up and Away” won the award. The 5th Dimension’s buoyant recording of the song also won record of the year, beating Glen Campbell’s sublime recording of “By the Time I Get to Phoenix.” Both songs were hits – though they didn’t climb as high as you might expect, given their classic status. “Up-Up” hit No. 7 on the Hot 100. “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” reached No. 26. Webb’s mastery of both sunshine pop and heartbreaking balladry instantly established him as a writer of uncommon range and talent.
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Johnny Mercer
Year: 1963
Nominated songs: “Days of Wine and Roses,” “I Wanna Be Around”
Notes: The veteran songwriter co-wrote “Days of Wine and Roses” with Henry Mancini and “I Wanna Be Around” with Sadie Vimmerstedt. The melancholy “Days of Wine and Roses” won the award. It also won an Oscar for best original song. Mancini’s recording of “Days of Wine and Roses” also won record of the year, beating Tony Bennett’s recording of “I Wanna Be Around.” Mancini’s “Days of Wine and Roses” reached No. 33 on the Hot 100, but that wasn’t the biggest hit version of the song. Andy Williams’ recording, the B side of his No. 2 smash “Can’t Get Used to Losing You,” hit No. 26 in its own right. Bennett’s “I Wanna Be Around” hit No. 14.
Mercer died in 1976, so you can be forgiven if you’re not quite up to speed on how important he was. Here are three fast facts about Mercer to fill you in. He was one of three co-founders of Capitol Records. He is, to this day, one of just four songwriters to win the Oscar for best original song four times. And the Songwriters Hall of Fame named their most prestigious award, the Johnny Mercer Award, after him.
And who is Sadie Vimmerstedt, you ask? It’s a great story: Vimmerstedt was a grandmother and beautician in Youngstown, Ohio, who sent Mercer an idea for “I Wanna Be Around” in 1957. She even supplied the opening line (“I want to be around to pick up the pieces, when somebody breaks your heart”). Not knowing where to send her letter, Vimmerstedt simply addressed it to Johnny Mercer…Songwriter…New York, NY. The post office forwarded it to ASCAP, which in turn passed it along to Mercer. Mercer wrote the song and agreed to share one-third of the royalties and credits with Vimmerstedt. Moral of the story: Good ideas can come from anywhere.