- Who
- John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Lionel Richie, Diane Warren, Billie Eilish, Finneas O'Connell, H.E.R.
- What
- 3 total number
- Where
- United States ()
- When
H.E.R. (Having Everything Revealed, aka Gabriella Wilson, USA) matched Billie Eilish (2020-22), Finneas O'Connell (2020-22), Diane Warren (1997-99), Lionel Richie (1984-86) and Lennon & McCartney (1965-67) with three consecutive Song of the Year nominations, in 2020-22. The R&B singer from Vallejo, California, was nominated for “Hard Place” (2020), “I Can’t Breathe” (2021) and “Fight for You” (2022), which took its place in the 10-track shortlist on 23 November 2021, ahead of the 64th Annual Grammy Awards on 3 April 2022.
“I Can’t Breathe”, written in response to the death of George Floyd in the presence of police officers in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on 25 May 2020, won Song of the Year at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards on 14 March 2021.
Songwriters Billie Eilish and her brother, Finneas O’Connell (both USA), have enjoyed back-to-back Song of the Year nominations across the same three years as H.E.R., taking home the award for “Bad Guy” in 2020 before their nominations for “Everything I Wanted” (2021) and “Happier than Ever” (2022). Prolific songwriter Diane Warren (USA) failed to win a Song of the Year award, but was nominated for Celine Dion’s “Because You Loved Me” (1997), both versions of “How Do I Live” (1998), by LeAnn Rimes and Trisha Yearwood, and Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” (1999). Lionel Richie (USA) bagged nominations in 1984-86 for “All Night Long (All Night)”, “Hello” and USA for Africa’s award-winning charity offering “We Are the World” (which he wrote with Michael Jackson), while the legendary Beatles duo John Lennon and Paul McCartney (both UK) scored a hat-trick with “A Hard Day’s Night (1965), Yesterday (1966) and “Michelle” (1967 – winner).
If H.E.R. wins Song of the Year at the Grammys on 3 April 2022, she will become the third female solo artist to win back-to-back awards, after Roberta Flack (1973-74, with “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and “Killing Me Softly with His Song”) and Bette Midler (1990-91, with “Wind Beneath My Wings” and “From a Distance”), and the first songwriter - male or female - to achieve the feat. Flack and Midler were the credited performing artists, but neither wrote the tracks in question.