Precursor: 59th Grammy Awards Nominations (2016)

Grammy rules set the eligibility period from October through September, meaning their list includes releases from 2015 and 2016. This particularly frustrates Oscar observers because the Grammys are one of the few music-industry awards that recognize scores and songs. As such, we look to what shows up on this list to give us an idea of what’s contending for Oscar even if typically three-fifths of the nominees aren’t even from the current Oscar eligibility period.

That said, we include all of the Grammy categories here that relate to film itself. Best Music Film won’t apply to Oscar at all and neither will Best Compilation Soundtrack. The two categories we look at are Best Score and Best Song. This year, the list is incredibly strange. The four films nominated in Best Score were 2015 releases, thus ineligible for Oscar this year. The fifth nominee is a television score, thus immaterial. The Best Song category, by contrast, is filled with 2016 releases only. I’m not sure if this exact split has ever occurred before.

From that list, I can only see “Can’t Stop the Feeling” carrying over to the Oscar nominations, but that’s because it’s the only one of the songs currently in conversation for a nomination. Others could appear. We’ll have to wait for the Oscar eligibility list because depending on when the Suicide Squad songs appear in the film, they may not be eligible for Oscar (as in not during the film itself or as the first musical cue of the credits.

Nominations Tallies

(3) Suicide Squad

The Nominations

Best Music Film

I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead
The Beatles: Eight Days a Week The Touring Years
Lemonade
The Music of Strangers
American Saturday Night: Live from the Grand Ole Opry

Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media

Amy
Miles Ahead
Straight Outta Compton
Suicide Squad (Collector’s Edition)
Vinyl: The Essentials Season 1

Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media

Bridge of Spies
The Hateful Eight
The Revenant
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Stranger Things Volume 1

Best Song Written for Visual Media

“Can’t Stop the Feeling” – Trolls
“Heathens” – Suicide Squad
“Just Like Fire” – Alice Through the Looking Glass
“Purple Lamborghini” – Suicide Squad
“Try Everything” – Zootopia
“The Veil” – Snowden