Ariana Grande's Wicked Oscar Nomination Full Story

Ariana Grande — Wicked & Oscars Highlights

Ariana Grande earned her first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Wicked (2024).
Wicked grossed $758.8 million worldwide — the highest-grossing Broadway musical adaptation ever.
She lost to Zoe Saldaña at the 97th Oscars but performed “Defying Gravity” live on stage.
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo are campaigning again for Wicked: For Good (2025) at the 98th Oscars.

97th Academy Awards · Best Supporting Actress nominee · First Oscar nomination · Universal Pictures

Ariana Grande received her first Academy Award nomination on January 23, 2025 Best Supporting Actress at the 97th Oscars for her performance as Glinda in Universal Pictures’ Wicked. Grande posted her reaction to Instagram within minutes of the announcement, writing through tears that she screamed at every family member nominated alongside her. She told Deadline the nomination felt like “the greatest gift of my life.”

The nomination was the centrepiece of one of the most decorated awards seasons any musical film has produced. Wicked collected 10 Oscar nominations in total tying with The Brutalist for the second-most of any 2024 film including Best Picture, Best Actress for Cynthia Erivo, Best Costume Design, and Best Production Design. Grande’s nomination placed her alongside Zoe Saldaña, Monica Barbaro, Felicity Jones, and Isabella Rossellini in the Supporting Actress category.

Ariana Grande as Glinda

Grande plays Glinda Upland, the social queen of Shiz University and Elphaba’s unlikely best friend. She refused a proposed hip-hop reimagining of “Popular” during production, telling director Jon M. Chu, “Absolutely not, don’t do it. I want to be Glinda, not Ariana Grande playing Glinda.” That discipline defined how critics received her work. Wicked carries an 88% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, with the site’s consensus noting the “magical pairing of Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.”

Grande first saw Wicked on Broadway at age 10 the original cast and told Deadline in November 2024 that she remembered her life in two chapters: before seeing Wicked and after. That personal connection shaped everything she brought to Glinda. Per her own request, she is credited in the film by her full legal name: Ariana Grande-Butera.

Wicked‘s Box Office

Wicked opened on November 22, 2024, to $112.5 million domestically and $162.9 million worldwide — the largest opening weekend for any Broadway adaptation in cinema history. The previous record holder, Les Misérables (2012), had opened to $103 million worldwide. Wicked cleared that mark on opening day.

By January 2025, the film had surpassed $700 million at the global box office, per Universal Pictures. That total reached $758.8 million worldwide by the end of its theatrical run. Wicked displaced Mamma Mia! as the all-time highest-grossing stage musical adaptation. It was the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2024 globally and Universal’s second-biggest release of the year.

The Awards Campaign

The 97th awards season ran from November 2024 through March 2025, and Grande appeared in nearly every major race. The Golden Globes nominated her for Best Supporting Actress the award went to Zoe Saldaña for Emilia Pérez. SAG, BAFTA, and Critics’ Choice each nominated her in the same category. She converted none of those to wins.

At the 97th Oscars ceremony on March 2, 2025, Zoe Saldaña claimed Best Supporting Actress. Grande and Erivo performed on the ceremony stage delivering a medley of “Defying Gravity,” “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” and “Home.” Wicked won two Oscars that night: Best Costume Design for Paul Tazewell, who became the first African American man to win the category, and Best Production Design for Nathan Crowley and Lee Sandales.

Ariana Grande and Wicked: For Good The Second Campaign

Wicked: For Good, directed by Jon M. Chu and written by Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox, opened on November 21, 2025 debuting to $147 million domestically and $223 million globally in its opening weekend, per The Hollywood Reporter. That opening marked the biggest debut ever for a Broadway musical adaptation, surpassing the first Wicked‘s $112.5 million. It also landed the third-best North American opening for any Universal title, behind only Jurassic World and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

Grande and Erivo are campaigning again for the 98th Academy Awards in the same categories: Erivo for Best Actress, Grande for Best Supporting Actress. Per Gold Derby, Grande entered late 2025 as the frontrunner for a second consecutive Oscar nomination. If both she and Erivo receive nominations, they would become the seventh and eighth performers in Academy Awards history to be nominated twice for the same role joining Al Pacino, Cate Blanchett, Sylvester Stallone, Peter O’Toole, Paul Newman, and Bing Crosby on that list.

Wicked: For Good is campaigning in 16 Oscar categories in total, per Gold Derby. That includes Best Original Song for Stephen Schwartz’s “The Girl in the Bubble,” which Grande performs in the film. A Best Original Song nomination would give Grande a second individual Oscar bid alongside her supporting actress campaign.

Ariana Grande’s Full Wicked Awards Record

Grande earned nominations for Wicked at every major 2024–2025 awards body: two Golden Globe nominations, two Critics’ Choice nominations, two Screen Actors Guild nominations, one BAFTA nomination, and one Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She also earned a Grammy nomination and win for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “Defying Gravity” from the Wicked soundtrack, per the Recording Academy. The soundtrack itself, released on Republic Records, debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200.

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo

Grande and Erivo negotiated their Wicked contracts collaboratively. They compared pay figures directly, demanded parity, and received confirmation from Universal publicly. Both stars carried the film’s promotional campaign across the “Journey Through Oz” press tour five cities, each transformed into a location from the film: Sydney as Munchkinland, Los Angeles as Shiz University, Mexico City as the Enchanted Forest, New York as the Ozdust Ballroom, and London as the Emerald City.

The promotional campaign generated $350 million in media value across 450 partners the most ever for a Hollywood theatrical release, per Universal. Grande’s cosmetics brand R.E.M. Beauty released a Wicked-inspired collaboration to coincide with the film’s November 2024 launch.

FAQ

Did Ariana Grande win the Oscar for Wicked?
No — Grande was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the 97th Academy Awards but the award went to Zoe Saldaña for Emilia Pérez.

What role did Ariana Grande play in Wicked?
Grande played Glinda Upland, the self-appointed social queen of Shiz University and Elphaba’s best friend, opposite Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba.

How much did Wicked make at the box office?
Wicked (2024) grossed $758.8 million worldwide the highest-grossing stage musical adaptation in cinema history, per Universal Pictures.

Is Ariana Grande nominated for an Oscar for Wicked: For Good?
Grande is campaigning for Best Supporting Actress at the 98th Academy Awards for Wicked: For Good (2025) and is a frontrunner for a nomination, per Gold Derby as of late 2025.

Did Ariana Grande perform at the 2025 Oscars?
Yes — Grande and Cynthia Erivo performed a live medley including “Defying Gravity,” “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” and “Home” on the 97th Oscar ceremony stage on March 2, 2025.