“The favoritism…it gets to a point”: Why Billie Eilish’s Song of the Year Grammys win confused and angered so many viewers

Billie Eilish won Song of the Year at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards for "Wildflower," but instead of celebration, the win was met with backlash online.

Why Billie Eilish's "Wildflower" was eligible for the 2026 Grammys

Last year, Eilish competed at the 2025 Grammys with Hit Me Hard and Soft. Although the 2024 album earned nominations for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album, it failed to win. Meanwhile, one single, "Birds of a Feather," picked up nominations for record, song, and pop solo performance.

On Sunday night for this year's awards, confusion followed when "Wildflower," a track from that same 2024 album, earned new nominations and went on to win Song of the Year.

Although "Wildflower" debuted with the album in 2024, it was not released as a single until February 2025. Because the Grammys eligibility window for the 68th awards ran from Aug 31, 2024, to Aug 30, 2025, the song qualified.

According to the Recording Academy’s guidelines, "A single is a song or instrumental recording that is released separately from an album, while a track is an individual song or instrumental recording released as part of an album."

Since the song was also released as a single at a later date, it was able to compete and entered the next cycle as a standalone single.

Backlash grows over Eilish's growing awards dominance

As one X user, @blackgrlfly, asked, "So you're telling me an artist can release an album, not win awards for the album then make a song from the album a single?"

@tayrianax_ posted, "exposing Billie Eilish for scamming her way into winning wildflower at the Grammys — a thread." They added in a second tweet, "This is completely unfair and disrespectful towards her peers in the music industry, as her peers worked hard in 2025 to create new music whereas Billie was able to submit 2-year old music as a nomination, and win."

Others focused on visibility, with many questioning how a song they couldn't even remember hearing could win Song of the Year.

@aidan7501 tweeted, "Like this tweet if you have no idea what this song sounds like i’m trying to see something." Similarly, @ANKLE_BITTENN wrote, "song of the year…… for a song that made no noise in 2025."

Some critics went further. @antiiheros noted, "billie eilish winning a 2026 award for a song that came out in 2024."

Meanwhile, @thatguyuptown complained she was the "most over-awarded artist on the planet."

@knjeIite joked, "they had to give her the pity award after she cried last year." Others stayed blunt, as @HuffleBoy said, "The Billie favoritism…it gets to a point."

In the end, frustration dominated the conversation. As @Rockyweird7 listed under the "Worst" moments of the Grammys, "Billie eilish winning SOTY with a 2 years old song heavily autoplayed" sat at the top of their list.