Beyoncé vs. Jay-Z and More Music Highlights From 2025 Primetime Emmy Nods

Beyoncé and her husband Jay-Z are going head-to-head in a marquee category for the 2025 Primetime Emmy Awards. The Netflix special Beyoncé Bowl is competing for outstanding variety special (live) with The Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show Starring Kendrick Lamar – which Jay-Z executive produced. Both programs received four nominations.

Beyoncé was also nominated for outstanding directing for a variety special, a nod she shares with Alex Rudzinksi. This brings her career nominations total to 10. Beyoncé, a 35-time Grammy winner, has yet to win an Emmy. Jay has won two Emmys – outstanding variety special live in 2022 as an executive producer of The Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show Starring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent and outstanding directing for a variety special the following year for The Apple Music Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show Starring Rihanna.

This year’s other nominees for outstanding variety special (live) are the 2025 Oscars (ABC) and a pair of specials saluting Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary — SNL50: The Anniversary Special (NBC) and SNL50: The Homecoming Concert (Peacock).

Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar were the top winners at the 2025 Grammys, where Beyoncé finally won album of the year for the first time, and Lamar swept all five awards for which he was nominated, including record and song of the year. Both stars elected not to perform on the Grammys, which was passed over for a nod for outstanding variety special (live).

Severance was this year’s most nominated program with 27 nods, but if you combine Saturday Night Live and the various 50th anniversary salutes to that legendary show, they collectively received even more nods with 31.

Questlove received three nominations for his work on three different programs — outstanding directing for a documentary/nonfiction program for Ladies & Gentlemen…50 Years of SNL Music (alongside Oz Rodriguez); outstanding music direction for SNL50: The Homecoming Concert (alongside James Poyser); and outstanding documentary or nonfiction special for Sly Lives! (Aka The Burden of Black Genius). These are Questlove’s first Emmy nods. He has won six Grammys and an Oscar.

Many other top music stars or programs were nominated in various categories.

Selena Gomez is nominated for outstanding comedy series as an executive producer of Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building. This is her fourth consecutive nomination in that category, which extends her Emmy record as the Latina producer with the most nods. She was passed over this year for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series, a category in which she was nominated last year.

Cynthia Erivo, who was nominated for an Oscar earlier this year for her lead performance in Wicked, is nominated for outstanding guest actress in a comedy series for Peacock’s Poker Face. This is her second Primetime Emmy nod.

I Am Celine Dion (Prime Video) is among the nominees for exceptional merit. Shawn Mendes: Red Rocks Live in VR is among the nominees for outstanding emerging media.

Julie Andrews received her 12th Primetime Emmy nod, this time for outstanding character voiceover performance for Bridgerton (Netflix). The legendary star landed her first Primetime Emmy nod in 1958 – actress, best single performance – lead or support – for her role in CBS’ broadcast of Cinderella. This is the longest span of nominations in Emmy history.

Conan O’Brien: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor is nominated for outstanding variety special (pre-recorded), where it is competing with five stand-up specials – by Adam Sandler, Ali Wong, Sarah Silverman and Nate Bargatze (all on Netflix) and Bill Burr (on Hulu). Bargatze is hosting this year’s Primetime Emmys.

Conan O’Brien, who hosted the Oscars in January and is set to host the 2026 Oscars, is also nominated for outstanding hosted nonfiction for Conan O’Brien Must Go (HBO Max). His competition includes My Next Guest Needs No Introduction (Netflix), hosted by fellow talk show legend (and former Oscar host) David Letterman.

In the reality competition category, NBC’s The Voice was shut out for the first time since 2011, when it was in its debut season. The nominees are The Traitors (Peacock), which won last year; CBS’s The Amazing Race, which has won 10 times in the category; RuPaul’s Drag Race (MTV), which has won five times; Top Chef (Bravo), which won in 2010); and CBS’s Survivor, which has yet to win in the category.

The Daily Show, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel Live! are the three nominees for outstanding talk series. The Daily Show has won it (or a predecessor category) 13 times. This would be the first win for this either of the other shows (though Colbert won twice for his previous series, The Colbert Report.) There are only three slots this year because there were only 13 submissions in the category. That was a bad break for Late Night With Seth Meyers, which was nominated the last three years. The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon was passed over in the category for the ninth consecutive year. That’s the longest The Tonight Show has ever gone without a nod in this category since the show went on the air in 1954.

Saturday Night Live (NBC) and Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (HBO Max) are the two nominees for outstanding scripted variety series. This is a real battle of the heavyweights: SNL won in this category six years in a row, until 2023, when Oliver’s program was moved into this category. His show won the last two years. Last Week Tonight has won nine Emmys in top series categories. SNL has won eight.

Hamish Hamilton has two nominations for outstanding directing for a variety special. He’s nominated for both the Oscars and the Kendrick Lamar half-time show.

Barack Obama is nominated for outstanding narrator for Our Oceans (Netflix). The former president has won twice in that category, for Our Great National Parks (2022) and Working: What We Do All Day (2023). If he wins, he’ll have more Emmys to his name than Grammys (two).

Ken Jennings, host of Jeopardy (ABC), is competing for outstanding game show host with, among others, Colin Jost, host of the new Prime Video spin-off, Pop Culture Jeopardy. The other nominees in the category are Elizabeth Banks (Press Your Luck), Steve Harvey (Celebrity Family Feud) and Jimmy Kimmel (Who Wants to Be a Millionaire).

Two Oscar-winning directors, Martin Scorsese and Ron Howard, are among those competing for outstanding guest actor in a comedy series, both for their roles on The Studio (Apple TV+). This is Howard’s first Emmy nomination for acting. He started out as an actor on The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days.

First-round voting runs from Aug. 18-27. The Creative Arts Emmys will be will be presented over two nights, Saturday, Sept. 6, and Sunday, Sept. 7, at the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live. Highlights from the two ceremonies will air Saturday, Sept. 13, at 8:00 PM PT on FXX.

The Primetime Emmys will be telecast live coast-to-coast on Sunday Sept. 14 from 8:00-11:00 PM ET/5:00-8:00 PM PT) on CBS and available to stream live and on demand on Paramount+.

Here’s a complete list of all programs that received two or more nominations: