Carrie Underwood

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP):

Even if you only occasionally listen to radio, you've probably heard Carrie Underwood's revenge anthem Before He Cheats ... and heard it, and heard it, and heard it.

The tune is on Underwood's 2005 debut album, Some Hearts, and it first hit the charts back in February 2006. So why now, two years later, is Before He Cheats up for song of the year at the Grammy Awards tomorrow?

Because the Grammy rules allow it.

Indeed, Underwood's megahit isn't the only song of the year nominee that could, at least to fans, feel stale. Hey There Delilah by the Plain White T's was on the group's 2005 album, All That We Needed, though it didn't become a hit until two years later. Like a Star by Corinne Bailey Rae was released as a single in 2005 then re-released the following year.

Eligibility year

For most nominees, the music must be released in the eligibility year, which in this case is October 1, 2006, through September 30, 2007. But there are exceptions, and two of them are Song of the Year (awarded to the songwriter) and Record of the Year (awarded to the performer and production team).

In those categories, a single is still eligible if it was released in the preceding eligibility year but "achieved prominence" in the current one.

"A record is not like a movie," explained Greg Bechtloff, a project manager for the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which presents the awards. "A movie comes out and it's out. It either sinks or swims. But a record can grow."

Late bloomer

Even so, the rules have made for some interesting Grammy moments, like in 2006 when Billy Joe Armstrong of Green Day, while accepting Record of the Year for Boulevard of Broken Dreams, mused that it had come out "something like two years ago".

The win also seemed a case of déjà vu because only the year before Green Day had won best rock album for American Idiot, which included Boulevard of Broken Dreams.

"It confused a lot of people and made us look weird," Bechtloff said.

Ditto for U2. The band cleaned up with their album How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, including Best Rock Song for City of Blinding Lights and Best Rock Performance for Sometimes You Can't Make it on Your Own, in 2006. But they won the same two categories in 2005 for Vertigo from the same album.

This year, Beyoncé Knowles could have her own Green Day moment. While her album B'Day won Best Contemporary R&B Album last year, she's nominated for Record of the Year for the single Irreplaceable, which, coincidentally, peaked back in December 2006.