The Recording Academy has decided to restructure the Grammy Awards categories and Rap and R&B are among the genres affected.

From now on, there will only be 78 categories in the ceremony as opposed to 109. Many of the fields that were traditionally separated by sex, have been merged into one. For example, starting at next year’s ceremony, the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance category will no longer exist, just the Best Pop Solo Performance.

The Rap genre was specifically affected by losing one possible trophy. The fields remaining are Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, Best Rap Song and Best Rap Album. The Best Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group were merged to simply Best Rap Performance.

The R&B genre lost six categories—both Best Female and Male R&B Vocal Performance, Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group, Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance, Best Urban Alternative Performance and Best Contemporary R&B album. Now there will only be four categories: Best R&B Performance, Best Traditional R&B Performance, Best R&B Song, Best R&B Album.

"Every year, we diligently examine our awards structure to develop an overall guiding vision and ensure that it remains a balanced and viable process," said President/CEO Neil Portnow Portnow. "After careful and extensive review and analysis of all Categories and Fields, it was objectively determined that our Grammy categories be restructured to the continued competition and prestige of the highest and only peer-recognized award in music. Our Board of Trustees continues to demonstrate its dedication to keeping The Recording Academy a pertinent and responsive organization in our dynamic music community."

Other changes have been made regarding to the rules. From now on each category must have at least 40 different artist entries as opposed to 25. If it only receives 25-39, there will only be three nominations for that year. If there are less than 25 votes for that category for three consecutive years, the category will be dropped entirely.

For a complete breakdown of the new changes visit www.grammy.com/announcement. —Elan Mancini

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