UPDATE 10/18/16: According to a report from Billboard, a source close to Frank Ocean claimed that Ocean's management was aware of the filing deadline and chose not to submit the albums for consideration.
See below for original story.
Frank Ocean’s sophomore album Blonde was one of the most talked-about and highly anticipated albums of the last few years. Following its summer release, it looked as though the project would be a strong contender for the 2017 Grammy Awards; however, we now know that isn’t going to happen.
According to Billboard, Blonde, as well as Ocean’s visual album Endless, have been disqualified from the Grammy race because neither of them were submitted by Ocean's labels or management. But it should be noted that Blonde and Endless dropped Aug. 20 and Aug. 21, respectively, which was well before the Grammy eligibility cutoff date on Sept. 30. A representative for the Grammys confirmed to Billboard the projects had not been submitted for consideration.
The news is disappointing, to say the least. Blonde not only received critical praise, it was also a commercial success. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with 276,000 equivalent album units earned, which was the third-largest debut of the year. It was is an impressive accomplishment for Ocean, especially when you consider the album was illegally downloaded over 750,000 times.
Judging by Blonde's reception, it's safe to say it would've earned at least several 2017 Grammy nominations; however, as pointed out by Billboard, Endless' eligibility isn't so clear. The visual album, which was Ocean's last project with Def Jam, was dropped exclusively on Apple Music. Thanks to a Grammys rule update in June, streaming-only projects are now eligible for nominations, but there's some question if Endless would have received a nomination due to its untraditional "visual album" status.
Ocean's team was not immediately available for comment.
