It’s not like U2 needs any more recognition—the band has 22 Grammys in their decades together. The Irish rock band has racked up several major awards and is getting close to 50 nominations, but they haven’t appeared on the show as possible winners in a while. It might alter in a matter of months.
With “Atomic City,” the band’s huge smash in late 2023, they were able to return to the top of several Billboard rock charts. Just a few days after eligibility for the ceremony opened, the song was made available, and voters could choose to honor the cherished ensemble once more.
“Atomic City” might contribute to U2 receiving their first Grammy nomination—or nominations—in almost ten years. The group’s last opportunity to win more gold was in 2015. Their album Songs of Innocence was nominated for Best Rock Album that year, but Beck’s Morning Phase won. In an unexpected upset, that title also went on to win Album of the Year.
U2 has continued to release music since then, although none of it has received a nomination from the Recording Academy. Neither Songs of Experience nor Songs of Surrender, their two most recent albums, nor any of the songs from them, received any nominations.
U2’s greatest opportunity to be nominated for a Grammy in almost a decade is with “Atomic City.” The song, which was made public to support the band’s then-upcoming Las Vegas residency at the Sphere, was a huge hit and proved to everyone that the group still had what it took to make a great song. That information, along with the anticipation surrounding the launch of their brand-new, cutting-edge location, might be sufficient to propel them back to the nominations.
