Grammy Awards cut 31 categories in big overhaul

Taylor Swift drops one of her four Grammys at the 52nd annual Grammys Award, January 31, 2010. (Reuters photo)

(Reuters) In a major Grammys overhaul designed to reduce the bloated structure of the music industry’s top awards, organizers said on Wednesday they would slash the number of categories to 78 from 109 for next year’s ceremony.

Many existing categories will be merged, while some will be dropped outright with contenders from different musical genres required to compete in new, all-purpose categories.

The top awards — album, record and song of the