Grammy Awards: 5 Things to Watch

The Recording Academy, the music organization that runs the show, has come under increasing pressure. Despite hip-hop’s cultural and commercial clout, the winners this decade of the most prestigious award, Album of the Year, have been white artists in other musical genres:

Taylor Swift,

Arcade Fire,

Adele,

Mumford & Sons, Daft Punk, Beck, Taylor Swift (again) and Adele (again). This year, four of the five Album of the Year nominees are nonwhite hip-hop and R&B artists.

As everyone gets ready for Sunday’s show, here are five things to keep an eye on:

The Showdown for Album of the Year

Kendrick Lamar

is considered the front-runner to win Album of the Year for “DAMN.” According to Nielsen Music, it generated 2.7 million consumption units last year, including physical sales, individual tracks and audio streams, making it 2017’s most popular hip-hop or R&B album.

The Los Angeles rapper’s previous albums “To Pimp a Butterfly” and “Good Kid, M.A.A.D City” were Album of the Year nominees in earlier years but didn’t win. He has also lost to other nominees for two other important awards, Song of the Year and Best New Artist.

In 2014, Mr. Lamar even lost Best Rap Album to Macklemore &

Ryan Lewis,

prompting a famous apology that Macklemore posted on Instagram. Many of Mr. Lamar’s fans feel that this is his year.

But competition for best album is fierce. He is up against New Zealand pop auteur Lorde, 21, whose intimate “Melodrama” captures female pop’s zeitgeist, and Jay-Z’s “4:44,” a mature work by a 48-year-old rap pioneer who—like the 30-year-old Mr. Lamar—has never won a major Grammy.

If Mr. Lamar and Jay-Z split the “rap” vote, Album of the Year could fall to Lorde, surprise contender Childish Gambino (the alter ego of “Atlanta” creator

Donald Glover

) or Super Bowl-size star

Bruno Mars.

Hip-Hop and R&B Make Inroads

It is fitting that this year’s Grammys are in New York City, the birthplace of hip-hop. The seven most-nominated artists—Jay-Z (8), Kendrick Lamar (7), Bruno Mars (6), Childish Gambino (5),

Khalid

(5), No I.D. (5) and SZA (5)—are hip-hop & R&B musicians.

Breakout rapper

Cardi B

and Atlanta trio Migos scored two nominations each. SZA, a 27-year-old R&B singer whose soul-baring “Ctrl” album was among 2017’s best-reviewed records, is a leading contender for Best New Artist, competing with 19-year-old R&B singer Khalid, Philadelphia rapper

Lil Uzi Vert,

down-to-earth Canadian singer

Alessia Cara,

and songwriter

Julia Michaels.

Historically, hip-hop and R&B haven’t gotten much recognition at the Grammys. Only 10 black artists have won Album of the Year in 59 years, and only two of them, Outkast and

Lauryn Hill,

were hip-hop musicians. Song and Record of the Year have never gone to a rapper’s tune.

Winning the big prizes matters: Of the 84 trophies, only a dozen or so are televised, and these widely watched TV moments can attract mainstream fans and drive sales and streams.

Star-Studded Performances and Special Tributes

What would the Grammys be without wacky collaborations and heartfelt toasts?

Performers this year include U2, Rihanna,

Lady Gaga,

Childish Gambino and

Chris Stapleton.

Country stars

Maren Morris,

Eric Church and Brothers Osborne, meanwhile, will honor the 58 people killed at the Route 91 Harvest festival in Las Vegas in October and other gun-violence victims.

This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award winners include

Neil Diamond,

Queen,

Tina Turner

and Americana matriarch Emmylou Harris.

Reckoning with #MeToo and #TimesUp

The Grammys are more diverse than they used to be, but recognition for female artists is still lagging behind. According to a University of Southern California report released this month, only 9% of the people nominated for a Grammy between 2013 and 2018 were women.

This imbalance is a sign of how male-dominated popular music is: Even now, the industry hasn’t been upended by allegations of sexual abuse the way Hollywood has, with some notable exceptions, including hip-hop mogul

Russell Simmons,

who has been accused of sexual misconduct but has denied the allegations.

While the Grammys aren’t expected to address the #MeToo movement to the degree that the Golden Globes earlier this month did, it is likely that stars are weighing how to use performances and speeches to highlight abuses against women.

Pop singer

Kesha

is expected to perform her song, “Praying,” about overcoming feeling wronged. Expect, also, to see stars wearing white roses to support #TimesUp, a Hollywood-driven anti-sexual-harassment initiative.

Where Have All the Country and Rock Nominees Gone?

Now that hip-hop is getting more of the spotlight, there are concerns that country, rock and even male pop stars are getting shafted.

For the first time in 14 years, country music hasn’t garnered a nomination in the top four categories (Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist).

Sam Hunt,

whose hit “Body Like a Back Road” was streamed over 434 million times last year, according to Nielsen Music, only received nominations this year for Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance.

There isn’t any rock among the big four awards nominees either, nor a white male artist. Testifying to Latin music and reggaeton’s growing influence, “Despacito,” the mostly Spanish-language smash by

Luis Fonsi

and Daddy Yankee featuring

Justin Bieber

that spent 16 weeks at No. 1—and was co-written by a woman, Erika Ender—is up for Record and Song of the Year.

Write to Neil Shah at neil.shah@wsj.com