Beyoncé Gets Another Shot At Thus Far Elusive Win

Beyoncé may be the most-awarded artist in Grammy history but thus far the Emmy has eluded the artist, who’s currently touring her eighth studio album, Cowboy Carter.

She gets another crack at the television honor this year. Her Netflix NFL halftime show Beyoncé Bowl was nominated for a 2025 Emmy for outstanding variety special (live), placing it in contention with two Saturday Night Live specials, SNL50: The Anniversary Special and SNL 50: The Homecoming Concert, and The Oscars, hosted this year by Conan O’Brien. The Oscars was hosted in 2024 by Jimmy Kimmel and took home the award last year.

The outstanding variety special (live) category also pits her against her husband Jay-Z, who’s nominated with Kendrick Lamar, Free and others for the Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show, which starred Lamar.

Beyoncé co-directed her 13-minute NFL holiday halftime special with Alex Rudzinski, and was also nominated for a statuette for outstanding directing for a variety special. Her current Emmy nominations, announced July 15, bring her total to 10.

She previously was nominated for her Homecoming documentary in the outstanding variety special (pre-recorded) in 2019, and Homecoming also picked up nominations for outstanding music direction and outstanding writing for a variety special. Other nominations include her Lemonade special (2016), which lost out to The Late Late Show Carpool Karaoke Prime Time Special in the outstanding variety, music or comedy special category and was also nominated that year for outstanding directing for a variety special; her On The Run Tour special (2015) for outstanding special class program; her Super Bowl halftime show (2013), in the outstanding short-format live-action entertainment program.

Other music artists who picked up nominations include Kamasi Washington, Caroline Shaw, Hamilton Leithauser, Mark Ronson, Hans Zimmer, Devo co-founder Mark Mothersbaugh, and the Roots’ Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson.

Composer Shaw, who has several Grammys and a Pulitzer Prize under her belt, is seeking her first Emmy, for her score for Ken Burns’ Leonardo da Vinci, where she faces off against Hans Zimmer (The Americas) among others.

Questlove is up for outstanding directing for a documentary/nonfiction program for Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music; outstanding music direction for SNL50: The Homecoming Concert, and outstanding documentary or nonfiction special for Sly Lives!