diff --git a/plugins/lyrics.go b/plugins/lyrics.go
index 09a29df..f40a9f7 100644
--- a/plugins/lyrics.go
+++ b/plugins/lyrics.go
@@ -31,14 +31,18 @@ type Lyrics struct {
 
 type geniusSearchResponse struct {
 	Response struct {
-		Hits []struct {
-			Result geniusSong `json:"result"`
-		} `json:"hits"`
+		Hits []geniusSearchHit `json:"hits"`
 	} `json:"response"`
 }
 
+type geniusSearchHit struct {
+	// Genius returns the hit type beside the nested result object. Keep this
+	// at the hit level so song results are not mistaken for empty results.
+	Type   string     `json:"type"`
+	Result geniusSong `json:"result"`
+}
+
 type geniusSong struct {
-	Type          string `json:"type"`
 	Title         string `json:"title"`
 	FullTitle     string `json:"full_title"`
 	ArtistNames   string `json:"artist_names"`
@@ -230,7 +234,7 @@ func lookupGeniusSong(ctx context.Context, query, token string) (geniusSong, err
 		return geniusSong{}, err
 	}
 	for _, hit := range payload.Response.Hits {
-		if !strings.EqualFold(strings.TrimSpace(hit.Result.Type), "song") {
+		if !strings.EqualFold(strings.TrimSpace(hit.Type), "song") {
 			continue
 		}
 		if !validGeniusSongURL(hit.Result.URL) {
diff --git a/plugins/lyrics_test.go b/plugins/lyrics_test.go
index 6cc5e1f..a2057c8 100644
--- a/plugins/lyrics_test.go
+++ b/plugins/lyrics_test.go
@@ -68,8 +68,8 @@ func TestLookupGeniusSongUsesTokenAndSelectsSong(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Fatalf("Authorization = %q", got)
 		}
 		return newPluginResponse(http.StatusOK, `{"response":{"hits":[
-			{"result":{"type":"artist","title":"Artist","url":"https://genius.com/artists/artist"}},
-			{"result":{"type":"song","title":"Song","artist_names":"Artist","url":"https://genius.com/Artist-song-lyrics"}}
+			{"type":"artist","result":{"title":"Artist","url":"https://genius.com/artists/artist"}},
+			{"type":"song","result":{"title":"Song","artist_names":"Artist","url":"https://genius.com/Artist-song-lyrics"}}
 		]}}`), nil
 	})}
 
@@ -87,8 +87,8 @@ func TestLookupGeniusSongRejectsInvalidResults(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Cleanup(func() { apiHTTPClient = old })
 	apiHTTPClient = &http.Client{Transport: newPluginRoundTripper(func(*http.Request) (*http.Response, error) {
 		return newPluginResponse(http.StatusOK, `{"response":{"hits":[
-			{"result":{"type":"artist","title":"Artist","url":"https://genius.com/artists/artist"}},
-			{"result":{"type":"song","title":"Bad host","url":"https://evil.example/song"}}
+			{"type":"artist","result":{"title":"Artist","url":"https://genius.com/artists/artist"}},
+			{"type":"song","result":{"title":"Bad host","url":"https://evil.example/song"}}
 		]}}`), nil
 	})}
 	if _, err := lookupGeniusSong(t.Context(), "song", "token"); !errors.Is(err, errGeniusNotFound) {
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ func TestLyricsHandleReturnsOneBoundedLine(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Cleanup(func() { apiHTTPClient = old })
 	t.Setenv("BOT_GENIUS_ACCESS_TOKEN", "test-token")
 	apiHTTPClient = &http.Client{Transport: newPluginRoundTripper(func(*http.Request) (*http.Response, error) {
-		return newPluginResponse(http.StatusOK, `{"response":{"hits":[{"result":{"type":"song","title":"Song\ufe0f","artist_names":"Artist\u200d","url":"https://genius.com/Artist-song-lyrics"}}]}}`), nil
+		return newPluginResponse(http.StatusOK, `{"response":{"hits":[{"type":"song","result":{"title":"Song\ufe0f","artist_names":"Artist\u200d","url":"https://genius.com/Artist-song-lyrics"}}]}}`), nil
 	})}
 
 	sent := make(chan bot.Outgoing, 2)