2025 Oscars: Record-Breaking Nominations and Milestones

When the 2025 Oscar nominations were unveiled last Thursday, Emilia Pérez, Wicked and Diane Warren were among the stars and films setting new records and making Oscar history.

Cynthia Erivo received a historic nomination by becoming the first Black British woman to receive two nods for acting — this year for Wicked and in 2020 for Harriet.

This year also marks the first time two musicals, in Wicked and Emilia Pérez, have been nominated for best picture since 1968. Meanwhile, animation films also made history with The Wild Robot director Chris Sanders now tying the record for most nominations for animated feature film and Flow becoming the third animated film to be nominated for international feature film.

On the music side, Diane Warren and sound mixer Andy Nelson continue their reigns as Warren has now been nominated for an original song Oscar 16 times while Nelson’s 25 nominations make him second only to John Williams (with 54) for the most nominations for a living person.

For this year’s Oscars, Grande, Sebastian Stan, Zoe Saldaña and more may be first-time nominees but this year the directors competing in the best director race are also all first-time nominees in the category.

The 97th Academy Awards, hosted by Conan O’Brien, will air live coast-to-coast on Sunday, March 2, from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood, starting at 4 p.m. PT / 7 p.m. ET on ABC and Hulu.

Below The Hollywood Reporter rounds up some of the records and fun facts about the 2025 Oscar nominations.

Cynthia Erivo Is Holding Space for Black British Women By Scoring Two Best Actress Nods 

By landing another Oscar nod in the best actress category, Erivos’s future has been changed — for good. The South London-born actress played the green-skinned witch in the long-awaited movie adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical Wicked. The film earned 10 nominations, including best picture. For Erivo’s part, she scored a nod as best actress, while her best friend in the movie, Glinda, played by Ariana Grande, landed a nod for best supporting actress. However, this accomplishment wasn’t the first time the Academy recognized Erivo. She was previously nominated for her performance as Harriet Tubman in 2019’s Harriet. In 2025, she is now the first Black British woman to hold two nods for acting. If Erivo wins the award, she will reach EGOT status.

Diane Warren: Could 16 Times Be the Charm?

Diane Warren has already been nominated for an original song Oscar 15 times for films such as Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, RBG and more. Her most recent nomination was last year for “The Fire Inside” from the Eva Longoria-directed film, Flamin’ Hot, which was performed by Becky G. However, despite being nominated for a variety of songs, the musician has never won the gold statuette in a competitive category, having picked up an honorary Academy Award in 2022. Warren will now have another opportunity after securing her 16th original song nomination for “The Journey” from The Six Triple Eight, performed by H.E.R. With the new nomination, Warren continues to hold a record for the most nominated best original song artist, with a tally of noms equaled or surpassed by only three other songwriters including Paul Francis Webster with 16, Johnny Mercer with 18 noms and Sammy Cahn with 26 noms. This also marks the songwriter’s eighth nomination in the category in a row over the past eight years. 

All Five Best Actress Nominees Are Also in Best Picture Contenders  

This year’s best actress nominees are in a close race, but what’s even closer is the best picture slot. Cynthia Erivo, Karla Sofía Gascón, Mikey Madison, Demi Moore and Fernanda Torres are all in the running for best actress. And Erivo’s Wicked, Gascón’s Emilia Pérez, Madison’s Anora, Moore’s The Substance and Torres’ I’m Still Here are all up for best picture. This accomplishment marks the first time in 47 years that all of the best actress nominees’ films are up for best picture. Emilia Pérez, directed by Jacques Audiard, is leading the race with a total of 13 nods, which set a new Oscar record for a non-English language movie.

A New Class of Best Director Nominees

For this year’s Oscars, Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez), Sean Baker (Anora), Brady Corbet (The Brutalist), Coralie Fargeat (The Substance) and James Mangold (A Complete Unknown) are all first-time nominees in the category. Fargeat’s nomination is the 10th directing nomination for a woman. The last time an entirely new class of nominees competed in the director race was in 1998 when James Cameron (Titanic), Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty), Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting), Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential), Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter), Terrence Malick (The Thin Red Line) and Peter Weir (The Truman Show) were honored. Cameron won the Oscar at the time.

Andy Nelson Extends Sound Oscars Nomination Run

Sound mixer Andy Nelson continues to be recognized as one of the Academy’s most honored individuals. The Wicked sound mixer, who also worked on The Batman and Elvis, became the second most Oscar-nominated living person with the 2025 Oscar nominations. He now has a total of 25 nominations, winning for Saving Private Ryan and Les Misérables and is second only to John Williams (with 54) for the most nominations for a living person.

Wicked and Emilia Pérez Sing and Dance to Oscar History

Wicked and Emilia Pérez‘s best picture nominations mark the first time two musicals have been nominated in the category since 1968. The last time more than one musical was nominated for the Oscars’ top prize, the nominees were Oliver! and Funny Girl. The 2025 Oscars also marks the second time that two musicals each received 10 or more nominations in the same year. Emilia Pérez received 13 nods while Wicked received 10. Meanwhile, the last time two musicals each received double-digit Oscar nods like Wicked and Emilia Pérez in the same ceremony was in 1965, when Mary Poppins was nominated for 13 statuettes, while My Fair Lady was nominated for 12.

Succession’s Roy Brothers Face Off as First-Time Nominees 

May the best Roy brother win. Kieran Culkin is nominated in the best supporting actor category for his work in A Real Pain, alongside his TV brother, Jeremy Strong, who is nominated for The Apprentice. In A Real Pain, Culkin plays Benji Kaplan, who travels to Poland to honor his late grandmother and learn more about his Jewish heritage. In The Apprentice, Strong plays political fixer Roy Cohn in the film that focuses on Cohn’s mentorship of a young Donald Trump. Both Culkin and Strong are first-time Oscar nominees. But they each picked up an Emmy for their work in the beloved HBO series Succession, so the question remains: Who will score the Oscar? 

Chris Sanders Ties an Animation Record

The Wild Robot director Chris Sanders now ties the record for most nominations for animated feature film. This is Sanders’ fourth nod in the same category, after 2012’s The Croods, 2010’s How to Train Your Dragon and 2002’s Lilo & Stitch. He is tied with Hayao Miyazaki and Pixar’s Pete Docter.

Emilia Pérez Continues to Impress

France’s Emilia Pérez takes France’s record number of nominations for best international feature to 39. Italy is in second place, with 30 nominations. Emilia Pérez was also this year’s most nominated film, with 13 nods, which also set a record for a non-English-language film. Among other categories, the film is up for best picture, best director and best actress. Spanish-born Karla Sofía Gascón is the first openly transgender actress to receive a nom.

Double Documentaries

Eric Nyari is now only the fifth individual to be nominated for both documentary feature film (Black Box Diaries) and documentary short film (Instruments of a Beating Heart) in the same year. The last person to accomplish this feat was Charles Guggenheim in 1994, for feature length D-Day Remembered and short subject A Time for Justice, winning for the latter.

Non-English Language Films Are Making Moves 

Emilia Pérez and I’m Still Here are only the 10th and 11th non-English language films to be nominated for both international feature film and best picture in the same year. Previous films nominated in both categories that ultimately won best international feature include Z (1969); Life Is Beautiful (1998); Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000); Amour (2012); Roma (2018); Parasite (2019); Drive My Car (2021); All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) and The Zone of Interest (2023). However, Parasite is the only non-English language film to also win best picture. In addition, three acting nominations are for non-English language performances, including Emilia Pérez stars Karla Sofía Gascón and Zoe Saldaña, and I’m Still Here actress Fernanda Torres. In eight of the last 10 years, at least one non-English language performance has been nominated in the acting categories.  

Emilia Pérez Filmmaker Makes History 

Jacques Audiard, who is nominated for both directing and original song for Emilia Pérez, is only the third person to earn a nod in both those categories and the first to do so in the same year and for the same film. He is credited for co-writing the lyrics to “El Mal.” Previously, Leo McCarey was nominated for directing in 1937, 1944 and 1945 and original song in 1957, in addition to Spike Jonze scoring a directing nom in 1999 and original score nod in 2013. 

Animation Makes Gains With Flow 

Flow, which follows a cat who finds refuge on a boat populated by various species after its home is devastated by a great flood and must team up with them despite their differences, becomes only the third animated film to be nominated for international feature film. Waltz With Bashir and Flee were previously nominated in 2008 and 2021, respectively. The animated movie, directed by Gints Zilbalodis, is also the second animated film to be nominated in both the animated feature film and international feature film categories, following 2021’s Flee.