The 2020 Juno nominations, by the numbers
A closer look reveals that Ontario artists and men still dominate
The 2020 Junos have been cancelled since this article was first published.
The 2020 Juno nominations were announced yesterday, and it can be a lot of information to digest. So we want to break it all down and analyze the numbers.
Below, we take a closer look at this year's Junos by calculating the gender and geography breakdown of the major categories, highlight some first-time nominees and see who was surprisingly missing from the list.
Most nominated
Pop star and this year's Juno Awards host, Alessia Cara, leads this year's nominations with six, but many other artists also scored multiple nominations.
Coming in at a close second was rapper Tory Lanez with five nominations, including two in R&B/soul recording of the year for his album Chixtape 5 as well as his collaboration with Jessie Reyez and Tainy, "Feel it Too."
Six artists earned three nods: Shawn Mendes, Bülow, Loud Luxury, Bryan Adams, Nav and first-time nominee, Montreal pianist Alexandra Stréliski.
And the following walked away with two nominations: Avril Lavigne, Lennon Stella, Jessie Reyez, Elijah Woods x Jamie Fine, Walk Off the Earth, Tenille Townes, Patrick Watson, Iskwē, 88Glam, Kent Nagano, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, bbno$, Ali Gatie, Hunter Brothers and Kevin Hearn.
Gender
For this, we looked at the following non-genre categories: Juno Fan Choice Award, single of the year, international album of the year, album of the year, artist of the year, group of the year, breakthrough artist of the year, breakthrough group of the year and songwriter of the year.
At 58 per cent, men still make up more than half of the top awards, with women making up 34 per cent and eight per cent going to groups made up of both men and women. Most notably, the Juno Fan Choice Award only included two women compared to eight men. Cara is the standout woman of this pack, with five nominations out of the nine categories.
If we look at all the categories though, there are six that are completely dominated by men: rock album of the year, jazz album of the year (solo), francophone album of the year, rap recording of the year, Jack Richardson producer of the year and recording engineer of the year.
Geography
Judging by the exact same categories as the gender breakdown, minus the one for international album of the year, it's clear that Ontario artists reigned with 75.6 per cent of the nominations.
Juno veterans like Justin Bieber and the Weeknd, and newcomers like Ali Gatie, Lennon Stella and the Blue Stones, contributed to Ontario's dominance. (German-born Bülow was counted as an Ontario artist because of her re-location to Toronto, and members of Las Vegas-based band Palaye Royale originated from Toronto.)
British Columbia and Quebec have the second-strongest showing thanks to nominated artists Alexandra Stréliski and Patrick Watson from Montreal, and Michael Bublé and bbno$ from B.C.
The following artists each became the sole representative for their provinces in the considered categories: Hunter Brothers (Saskatchewan), Neon Dreams (Nova Scotia), Tenille Townes (Alberta) and Tim Baker (Newfoundland and Labrador).
First-time nominees
In total, 71 artists earned their first nomination this year across all categories.
Stréliski is the most nominated first-timer. Others making their Junos debut include: Orville Peck, Les Louanges, Amaal, Ralph, Neon Dreams, Riit, Angela Schwarzkopf and Marina Thibeault.
This also marks a first nomination for Tim Baker, who has previously been nominated with his band Hey Rosetta!, and Barenaked Ladies member Kevin Hearn, whose solo release, Calm and Cents, is up for instrumental album of the year and album artwork of the year. Three-time Juno nominee Andy Shauf also earned a first nomination for alternative album of the year with his band, Foxwarren.
Notable artists missing from the nomination list
While it is unclear which artists submitted to the Juno Awards — for example, Drake and his OVO label have chosen to not submit in previous years and likely this year as well — there are a number of eligible artists, songs and albums that didn't make the cut.
Previously nominated acts like Carly Rae Jepsen, Tegan and Sara, Ruth B, Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Clairmont the Second and the Strumbellas all released albums during the Junos' eligibility window of Sept. 1, 2018, to Nov. 8, 2019.
And 2019's Polaris Music Prize winner, Haviah Mighty, was left off of the rap recording of the year category, breakthrough artist of the year and album of the year. (CBC Music has confirmed that Mighty was submitted in those three categories.) Polaris longlister Syndanie's album 999 was also eligible. That category is now one of six that don't include any women.
Other albums from this past year's Polaris Music Prize short list that didn't land a Juno nomination include the aforementioned Snotty Nose Rez Kids' Trapline, Elisapie's The Ballad of the Runaway Girl, Fet.Nat's Le Mal, Marie Davidson's Working Class Woman and Shad's A Short Story About a War. Dominique Fils-Aimé, Les Louanges and Pup were the only shortlisted acts who were acknowledged by the Junos.
