2026 Grammy nominations

Megan Lander | Student Life Editor

November 15, 2025

Last week, the 2026 Grammy Nominations were revealed. The award show will be held on February 1, 2026 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. This year, the nominations reflect a vibrant variety of genres in music from this past year. 

One of the most anticipated awards of the event is Album of the Year. Last year, Beyoncé’s album, Cowboy Carter, won this award for the first time and made history as the first black woman to take home the golden gramophone for Best Country Album. Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Clipse, Pusha T & Malice, Leon Thomas, Bad Bunny, Justin Bieber, Sabrina Carpenter, and Tyler The Creator are all nominated for Album of the Year, what some would say is the award with the highest honor and recognition. Senior Kevin Zhang predicted “Sabrina Carpenter and her album Man’s Best Friend will win Album of the Year since it is a no-skip album.” 

This year’s categories of Song of the Year and Record of the Year contain many of the artists due to their sky-rocketing Spotify listens and their lengthy time on global billboard charts. Songs like “Abracadabra” by Lady Gaga, “DtMF” by Bad Bunny, “The Subway” by Chappel Roan, “luther” by Kendrick Lamar and SZA, “Wildflower” by Billie Eilish, and “Manchild” by Sabrina Carpenter are just a few of the nominees in both of these categories. Last year, Kendrick Lamar swept both of these awards, along with Best Rap Song, Best Rap Performance, and Best Music Video with his song “Not Like Us.” There is a thorough selection this year with genres of pop, latin rap/pop, R&B, and electropop with both peak song writing, music production, and charting numbers. 

The award for Best New Artist is given to the artist that the public and recording academy believe quickly ascended to stardom after their debut and will continue to leave an imprint on the music industry. Last year, Chappell Roan won this Grammy award after her career boom from releasing her song “Good Luck Babe,” opening for Olivia Rodrigo, and headlining festivals. Now she is an influential and prominent artist in the industry. The 2026 nominees for this award went to Olivia Dean, KATSEYE, The Marias, Addison Rae, Sombr, Leon Thomas, Alex Warren, and Lola Young. Senior Caroline Keckler commented on Lola Young and said she has “only heard two of her new songs but [she likes] her style and [thinks] that it’s something that the pop industry needs. It’s refreshing.” 

The Grammys are also introducing two brand new categories this year for Best Traditional Country Album and Best Album Cover. The award for Best Country Album is being renamed to Best Contemporary Country Album after last year’s controversy when Beyoncé won Best Country Album against dominant country artists. 

Some key takeaways from this year’s Grammy nominations would be that hip-hop seems well-liked by the Grammys, there is an abundance of global music like Latin and K-pop making new records in the categories, and there will be expansions and minor tweaks to categories.

The 2026 Grammys will be one to look forward to with huge artists like Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gage, and Sabrina Carpenter nominated for a handful of awards. It will also be exciting to see the red carpet outfits and which artists will be honored to have the privilege to perform in front of Hollywood. Hopefully, there will be no major snubs, and the artists will win what they deserve. Even if there are complaints, it is important to note that the winners are not decided by the general public and instead by other artists and Grammy members. Like senior Luke Mudge said, “the Grammys are sometimes a scam.”