J. Cole’s “The Fall-Off” Reportedly Absent From 2027 Grammy Race

J. Cole reportedly submitted no music for the 2027 Grammys, leaving his chart-topping album The Fall-Off out of the race as voting began.

Variety’s October 12 awards report identified Cole and Drake as artists with no submissions, but it didn’t explain Cole’s absence or say who handled entries on his behalf.

The Fall-Off came out February 6. That put it within the Grammy release window, which ran from August 31, 2025, through August 28, 2026. Academy members and registered media companies had until August 21 to enter music for the awards.

The album also had a strong commercial start. It became Cole’s seventh No. 1 on the Billboard 200, with 280,000 equivalent album units in its first week. That total included 113,000 album sales, alongside streaming and track-sale activity.

Cole had already spoken about why a Grammy no longer carried the weight it once did for him.

In a 2023 interview with Bob Myers, he recalled wanting the award early in his career, then losing that attachment before his first win arrived. He once kept a picture of the trophy on his computer screen. By the time he won, he said, years of waiting had changed what the prize meant to him.

“I’m not in love with this thing anymore,” he said.

He also noted that his first win came as a guest on another artist’s song.

He drew a different kind of pride from making 2014 Forest Hills Drive, releasing it and taking it on tour. In his view, that whole experience felt like a championship run, whether or not voters gave the album a trophy.

“A Grammy didn’t increase my enjoyment or decrease my enjoyment,” Cole said.

Cole’s work remained part of the Grammy field after that interview. He later won Best Melodic Rap Performance with Lil Durk for “All My Life” in 2024, and Might Delete Later received a Best Rap Album nomination in 2025.

His first win came in 2020 for 21 Savage’s “a lot.” His Recording Academy record lists two wins from 18 nominations.

First-round voting runs through October 22. The Recording Academy will announce nominations November 16, ahead of the February 7, 2027, ceremony.