The 2026 Grammy Award nominees are here, and who else but Kendrick Lamar leads this year’s crop with nine nods on the strength of 2024’s GNX?

It’s an exciting lineup but like every year, there were a few artists who made the coveted list on Nov 7 and a few who didn’t. Snubs and surprises are in no short supply in 2026.

The 2026 Grammy Awards will air Feb 1 live on CBS and Paramount+ from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

HIP-HOP HEAVYWEIGHTS GET RECOGNISED IN THE TOP PRIZE

It’s Lamar’s world but he’s sharing it. This year, for the first time, there are three releases nominated in both the rap album and album of the year categories. Those are GNX, Clipse, Pusha T & Malice’s Let God Sort Em Out and Tyler, the Creator’s Chromakopia.

In the past, the Grammys have been criticised over a lack of diversity – artists of colour and women left out of top prizes; rap and contemporary R&B stars ignored. Is this symbolic of a new shift?

THE BEST NEW ARTIST CATEGORY LEAVES OUT RAP AND COUNTRY

Despite the hip-hop attention in the album of the year category, rap’s missing in the list of best new artist nominees this year. The same is true of country. Don’t get it twisted – Katseye, Olivia Dean, The Marias, Addison Rae, sombr, Leon Thomas, Alex Warren and Lola Young make a great list – but what about Ella Langley? Megan Moroney?

BILLIE EILISH IS BACK

A favourite of the Recording Academy, Billie Eilish is up for two trophies this year: Song and record of the year, both for her track Wildflower. That may come as a surprise to some award show devotees: Only recordings commercially released in the US between Aug 31, 2024 through Aug 30, 2025 were eligible for nominations. Wildflower was released in May 2024, on her last album, the critically acclaimed Hit Me Hard and Soft. So, why is Eilish allowed to compete again in 2026?

There’s another rule that states “tracks from an album released during last year’s eligibility period are eligible in the current eligibility period, provided the same tracks were not entered the previous year and the album did not win a Grammy”.

There are a few exceptions. The rule excludes several categories, including all the classical ones. But because Wildflower was not previously entered – and it was entered as an album track – it is eligible. Will that ruin others’ opportunity to take home one of the top prizes? Only time will tell.

NEW COUNTRY CATEGORIES CONFUSE

There were a few changes to the Grammys this year, one of which was the creation of a best traditional country album category, while the existing best country album category has been renamed best contemporary country album. (Beyonce won best country album at the 2025 Grammy Awards for Cowboy Carter.) It was unclear how the two categories would differ from one another – and it is still unclear.

The traditional country category includes Charley Crockett’s Dollar A Day, Lukas Nelson’s American Romance, Willie Nelson’s Oh What A Beautiful World, Margo Price’s Hard Headed Woman and Zach Top’s Ain’t In It For My Health.

And in the contemporary country category is Kelsea Ballerini’s Patterns, Tyler Childers’ Snipe Hunter, Eric Church’s Evangeline Vs The Machine, Jelly Roll’s Beautifully Broken and Miranda Lambert’s Postcards from Texas.

Is it that the latter leans more “crossover” country? You decide. And let the record show Morgan Wallen didn’t submit his hit album, I’m The Problem, for consideration.

WHAT’S UP WITH THE WEEKND?

At the 2025 Grammy Awards, The Weeknd performed for the first time since 2017. As many may recall, back in 2020, he slammed the Grammys, calling them “corrupt” after he landed zero nominations despite a megahit album. “You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency,” he wrote on social media.

At the 2025 event, Grammys CEO Harvey Mason Jr introduced The Weeknd by stating that he understood the criticism and listed all the things the academy has done to fix it.

“We have completely remade our membership, adding more than 3,000 women voting members. The Grammy electorate is now younger, nearly 40 per cent people of coloUr, and 66 per cent of our members are new since we started our transformation,” he said. “Over the past few years, we have listened, we’ve acted and we’ve changed.”

However, in 2026, The Weeknd’s Hurry Up Tomorrow album was eligible and submitted for Grammy consideration in over a dozen categories, including album, song and record of the year. He does not appear on the 2026 nominations list.

MAKE WAY FOR K-POP

Last year, K-pop was absent from the 2026 Grammys major categories. It seemed odd, to fans of the genre, especially considering the prolific output from BTS members who released solo material: RM’s Right Place, Wrong Person, J-Hope’s Hope On The Street, Vol. 1, and Jimin’s Muse, among them. (As a boyband, BTS has received five nominations across its career.) This year, that changes somewhat.

Rose, perhaps best known as one-fourth of the juggernaut girl group Blackpink, is the first K-pop artist to ever receive a nomination in the record of the year field for APT, her megahit with Bruno Mars.

Song of the year – which is awarded to a track’s songwriters, which sometimes includes the performer but not always – also features Golden from the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack.

TIMOTHEE CHALAMET GETS FIRST GRAMMY NOMINATION

You read that correctly. The actor is up for best compilation soundtrack for visual media for A Complete Unknown, for his portrayal of the great Bob Dylan. But competition is stiff: He’ll have to beat out Wicked, KPop Demon Hunters, Sinners and F1 the Album.

He’s not the only shocking first-time nominee: Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and the Dalai Lama are up for audio book, narration and storytelling recording. Steven Spielberg is also nominated in the music film category for Music By John Williams.

IS THE GRAMMY’S FUTURE SPANISH?

Bad Bunny is a top nominee this year, making history with his critically acclaimed album Debí Tirar Mas Fotos. It is only the second all-Spanish language album to be nominated in the album of the year category. The first? Well, that was also Bad Bunny: In 2023, for Un Verano Sin Ti. Harry Styles’ Harry’s House won that year.

It brings up a few questions. Are the Grammys recognising more Spanish-language music, or is Bad Bunny an exception? Notably absent from the 2026 nominees list is Fuerza Regida’s 111XPANTIA, which this year, became the highest charting musica Mexicana album. And at one point, it was No. 2 on the Billboard 200 right underneath Bad Bunny, marking the first time two Spanish-language albums held both top positions. Instead, Fuerza Regida’s collaborative EP with Grupo Frontera, Mala Mía is nominated.

On Monday, it was announced that all Latin Grammy voting members were invited to join the Recording Academy as part of its 2025 new member class. It’ll take time to see the results, but perhaps an evolving, diversifying electorate could result in more openness to Latino performers in the future.

JACK ANTONOFF RETURNS

Last year, Antonoff did not receive a nomination in the producer of the year, non-classical category, and that unfortunate trend continues this year. It was unusual because previously, he took it home three years in a row. (Dan Nigro, known for his work with Chappell Roan and Olivia Rodrigo, took home the trophy in 2025.)

But it’s not all doom and gloom: This year, he’s tied for the second-most Grammy nominees, largely recognised for his work with Lamar and Sabrina Carpenter, with seven.