Grammy Nominations 2026 Full List: Complete 68th Grammys

Grammy nominations 2026 full list — Grammy nominations 2026 — the complete shortlist for the 68th Annual Grammy Awards, announced in November 2025 and settled at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday, February 1, 2026. The Recording Academy named nominees across 95 categories honoring music released during the eligibility window, with Kendrick Lamar leading all artists at nine nominations and Bad Bunny, Lady Gaga, Cirkut, and Jack Antonoff following at seven each. Whether you missed the live nomination reveal or want every Big Four name in one scrollable reference, this guide lists the Grammy nominations 2026 Album, Record, and Song of the Year fields, the Best New Artist ballot, leading nominee counts, notable snubs and surprises from the nomination round, first-time honorees, and a brief explainer on how Recording Academy voting produces the shortlist — with winners noted inline per our settled Grammy winners 2026 complete list canon.

The Grammy nominations 2026 full list reflected one of the most competitive and culturally significant Grammy seasons in recent memory. Kendrick Lamar entered ceremony night with nine nominations — the most of any artist — and went on to repeat his Record of the Year victory with SZA on “luther” while sweeping rap categories with GNX. Billie Eilish claimed Song of the Year for “Wildflower.” Olivia Dean won Best New Artist in a stacked field. Bad Bunny’s DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, nominated for Album of the Year alongside seven other projects, broke the language barrier when it won the top prize — a result documented in our who won album of the year Grammys 2026 guide. Below, we organize verified Grammy nominations 2026 by the categories readers search most, explain the storylines behind the Big Four shortlists, and document milestones future USA Celebs coverage references as site canon.

Grammy Nominations 2026: How the Shortlist Was Announced

Before diving into the Grammy nominations 2026 category-by-category breakdown, here is the announcement framework. The Recording Academy traditionally reveals nominees during a livestreamed press event in early November, roughly three months before the CBS telecast. For the 68th Annual Grammy Awards cycle, nomination morning landed in November 2025 — setting the awards-season narrative that would carry through the February 1, 2026 ceremony at Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles.

Presenters read names across the Big Four and major genre categories while social feeds exploded with reaction clips within minutes. Trade outlets including Billboard, Variety, and NPR published category-by-category breakdowns alongside Grammy.com’s official roster. The Grammy nominations 2026 reveal established Kendrick Lamar as the field leader at nine nods, with Lady Gaga, Bad Bunny, producer Cirkut, and Jack Antonoff tied at seven each — counts consistent with our post-ceremony Grammy winners 2026 complete list reporting. By the time envelopes opened on Music’s Biggest Night, several nomination-round storylines — historic AOTY diversity, Clipse’s comeback, Leon Thomas crossing general and genre lanes — had already shaped voter and fan conversation for months.

Grammy Nominations 2026: Leading Nominee Counts

Total nomination volume tells you which creators dominated the Recording Academy’s attention before a single trophy was handed out. The Grammy nominations 2026 leaderboard anchored every pre-show odds conversation and explains why Kendrick Lamar’s ceremony-night trophy haul — he reportedly won the most awards of any artist — felt both expected and insufficient when Bad Bunny claimed Album of the Year.

• Kendrick Lamar — 9 nominations: Led all artists on the Grammy nominations 2026 roster, anchored by GNX in Album of the Year and multiple rap categories plus Record of the Year for “luther” with SZA.
• Lady Gaga — 7 nominations: MAYHEM drove Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album attention; “Abracadabra” competed in Record and Song of the Year.
• Bad Bunny — 7 nominations: DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS earned Album of the Year recognition; “DtMF” and “EoO” spread across general and Latin categories — Bad Bunny went on to win Album of the Year.
• Cirkut — 7 nominations: The producer’s nomination count reflected blockbuster production credits across pop and rap; he won Producer of the Year, Non-Classical on ceremony night.
• Jack Antonoff — 7 nominations: Among the most-nominated creators behind the boards, consistent with his streak of Album of the Year-contending production work.

Those five names — Kendrick, Gaga, Bad Bunny, Cirkut, and Antonoff — defined the Grammy nominations 2026 headline tier. Deeper genre ballots added hundreds of additional honorees across rap, rock, country, R&B, Latin, global, and craft categories, but the nine-and-seven counts drove mainstream coverage from nomination morning through the February telecast.

Grammy Nominations 2026 Big Four: Album of the Year

Album of the Year recognizes an entire album and its credited producers, engineers, and mixers. The Grammy nominations 2026 Album of the Year field included eight projects — per our settled canon in the who won album of the year Grammys 2026 guide and Grammy winners 2026 complete list:

• Justin Bieber — SWAG
• Sabrina Carpenter — Man’s Best Friend
• Clipse, Pusha T & Malice — Let God Sort Em Out
• Lady Gaga — MAYHEM
• Kendrick Lamar — GNX
• Leon Thomas — MUTT
• Tyler, The Creator — CHROMAKOPIA
• Bad Bunny — DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS (winner)

Bad Bunny’s nomination alone carried historic weight — Spanish-language projects had appeared on Album of the Year ballots before, but a primarily Spanish-language album winning the category remained uncharted until ceremony night. Kendrick Lamar’s GNX carried the most critical momentum in the nomination round; critics noted the Album of the Year race would likely come down to global pop dominance versus rap consensus. Leon Thomas’s simultaneous Album of the Year and Best New Artist presence made him one of the Grammy nominations 2026 cycle’s most versatile shortlist stories — he went on to win Best R&B Album for MUTT.

Grammy Nominations 2026 Big Four: Record of the Year

Record of the Year honors a specific recording and its production team — distinct from Song of the Year, which rewards songwriting craft. Grammy nominations 2026 Record of the Year nominees included:

• Bad Bunny — “DtMF”
• Sabrina Carpenter — “Manchild”
• Doechii — “Anxiety”
• Billie Eilish — “WILDFLOWER”
• Lady Gaga — “Abracadabra”
• Chappell Roan — “The Subway”
• ROSÉ & Bruno Mars — “APT.”
• Kendrick Lamar with SZA — “luther” (winner)

The depth of the Record of the Year ballot illustrated why the Grammy nominations 2026 telecast ran long on competitive marquee races. Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “luther” — which went on to win the category, with Cher making a surprise presentation on ceremony night — competed against Billie Eilish’s “WILDFLOWER,” Lady Gaga’s “Abracadabra,” and breakout pop entries from Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan. Doechii’s “Anxiety” crossing into the general field from rap signaled the nomination round’s appetite for genre-blurring hits. Kendrick’s win marked his second consecutive Record of the Year victory after “Not Like Us” in 2025.

Grammy Nominations 2026 Big Four: Song of the Year

Song of the Year honors songwriters rather than performers or producers alone. The Grammy nominations 2026 Song of the Year shortlist included:

• Lady Gaga — “Abracadabra”
• Doechii — “Anxiety”
• Bad Bunny — “DtMF”
• HUNTR/X — “Golden”
• Kendrick Lamar with SZA — “luther”
• Sabrina Carpenter — “Manchild”
• Billie Eilish — “Wildflower” (winner; Billie Eilish O’Connell & Finneas O’Connell, songwriters)

Billie Eilish’s Song of the Year win for “Wildflower” — with Finneas sharing songwriter credit — kept her among the defining Grammy nominations 2026 names in the general field even without an Album of the Year victory. The overlap between Record and Song of the Year ballots (Bad Bunny, Doechii, Kendrick and SZA, Sabrina Carpenter, Gaga, and Eilish all appeared on both) reflected how the Recording Academy’s general-field voters clustered around the same streaming-era smashes.

Grammy Nominations 2026 Big Four: Best New Artist

Best New Artist is not strictly reserved for debut acts — eligibility rules focus on breakthrough recognition during the eligibility window — but the Grammy nominations 2026 field felt especially deep. Nominees included:

• KATSEYE
• The Marias
• Addison Rae
• sombr
• Leon Thomas
• Alex Warren
• Lola Young
• Olivia Dean (winner)

Olivia Dean’s victory over seven fellow nominees registered as one of the Grammy nominations 2026 cycle’s emotional telecast peaks — and connected directly to our Grammy Best New Artist winners list hub and Best New Artist Grammy curse explained guide, which tracks how the category’s history shapes every new honoree’s career arc. Leon Thomas’s simultaneous Album of the Year nod for MUTT made his Best New Artist placement a rarity: a creator competing in both the general album field and the newcomer trophy in the same year.

Grammy Nominations 2026 Snubs and Surprises

Snub discourse begins the moment nomination envelopes open — and the Grammy nominations 2026 reveal produced no shortage of debate. USA Celebs attributes the following narratives to critics and industry analysts rather than presenting them as settled fact, but each shaped how audiences remembered the shortlist before ceremony night.

Surprises critics noted: Clipse’s reunion album Let God Sort Em Out earning an Album of the Year nomination registered as a comeback story decades in the making. Bad Bunny’s AOTY nod — and eventual win — validated Latin music’s chart dominance with the Recording Academy’s top album trophy. Doechii’s “Anxiety” landing in multiple general-field categories signaled voter willingness to elevate rap-crossover smashes. Addison Rae’s Best New Artist nomination surprised pundits who questioned whether social-media-native pop would translate to peer-voted recognition — she lost to Olivia Dean on ceremony night.

Snubs critics noted: Despite Kendrick Lamar leading the Grammy nominations 2026 count at nine, his GNX losing Album of the Year to Bad Bunny became the cycle’s defining post-ceremony snub conversation — a creator who reportedly won the most trophies yet missed the top prize. Sabrina Carpenter’s multi-category presence without a general-field win fueled “always the bridesmaid” narratives across pop coverage. Chappell Roan’s Record of the Year nomination for “The Subway” did not convert to a trophy. Industry watchers also noted perennial chart giants who missed Album of the Year despite commercial dominance — a recurring Grammy nominations pattern rather than a 2026 anomaly.

Grammy Nominations 2026: Notable First-Time Nominees

First-time Grammy nominations carry career-defining weight even when they do not convert to wins. The Grammy nominations 2026 cycle elevated several creators into Recording Academy visibility for the first time — or for the first time in marquee categories.

• Olivia Dean — First-time Best New Artist nominee who went on to win the category, launching a new awards-cycle arc documented in our Best New Artist guides.
• KATSEYE — First-time nominee in Best New Artist, representing the global girl-group pipeline into peer-voted recognition.
• Doechii — Breakthrough general-field nominations for “Anxiety” across Record and Song of the Year marked a first-time crossover beyond genre rap ballots for many voters.
• Leon Thomas — First-time nominee in both Album of the Year and Best New Artist while competing in R&B categories he would win on ceremony night.
• HUNTR/X — “Golden” earned a Song of the Year nomination, introducing K-pop collaborative production to the general-field songwriter ballot.

First-time Grammy nominations 2026 honorees often return in subsequent cycles — the Recording Academy’s membership tends to remember breakthrough shortlists when voting on future projects. Olivia Dean’s win positioned her as the cycle’s clearest first-time nominee success story.

How Grammy Nominations Are Decided

Understanding how Grammy nominations 2026 were chosen clarifies why surprise upsets and consensus sweeps coexist in the same season. The Recording Academy comprises voting members — musicians, producers, engineers, and industry professionals — who must qualify through credits on recorded music. During the nomination round, members submit ballots ranking choices within their fields of expertise; all voting members may participate in the four general-field categories that produce the Grammy nominations 2026 Big Four.

Independent accountants tabulate nomination ballots in secrecy before the November reveal. Final-round voting — a separate ballot — determines winners in each category. Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist require broader consensus across the entire voting body — which explains how Bad Bunny’s cultural Album of the Year milestone could coexist with Kendrick Lamar dominating rap categories and total trophy count on ceremony night. Craft categories like Producer of the Year (Cirkut won after seven nominations) reflect specialist peer judgment rather than mass telecast name recognition.

From Grammy Nominations 2026 to Ceremony Night

After the November 2025 reveal, the industry entered a three-month sprint to the February 1, 2026 telecast. Nominees attended promotional events, participated in Q&A screenings, and navigated renewed press scrutiny. Studios refreshed “For Your Consideration” campaigns. Betting markets updated odds using the Grammy nominations 2026 shortlists as baselines. Fashion and red-carpet conversation remained separate from this results-focused guide — for outfit analysis from the same ceremony, see our Grammy awards celebrity outfits 2026 coverage.

When envelopes opened at Crypto.com Arena, the Grammy nominations 2026 list gave way to verified winners: Bad Bunny (Album of the Year), Kendrick Lamar with SZA (“luther” — Record of the Year), Billie Eilish (“Wildflower” — Song of the Year), and Olivia Dean (Best New Artist). Every other category result — rap sweeps, rock doubles for Turnstile, The Cure’s alternative win, Leon Thomas in R&B — is organized in our Grammy winners 2026 complete list. This nominations reference remains the pre-ceremony companion; that winners guide is the post-ceremony canon.

How to Verify the Grammy Nominations 2026 Full List

The authoritative Grammy nominations 2026 roster lives on Grammy.com’s 2026 nominees and winners page, which the Recording Academy updated through ceremony night on February 1, 2026. NPR, Billboard, and major outlets published category-by-category nomination breakdowns within minutes of the November 2025 reveal.

USA Celebs organizes the Grammy nominations 2026 full list for readers who want Big Four context, leading nominee counts, snub narratives, first-time honoree notes, and voting mechanics in one guide — anchored to Crypto.com Arena on February 1, 2026, consistent with our existing 68th Grammy Awards coverage. We treat winner names as settled canon per our winners and Album of the Year guides until the Recording Academy publishes corrections.

Explore More

• Read the Grammy winners 2026 complete list for every category result from ceremony night.
• See who won album of the year Grammys 2026 for Bad Bunny’s historic victory breakdown.
• Browse the Grammy Best New Artist winners list for every honoree from 1960 through 2026.
• Understand the Best New Artist Grammy curse — myths, victims, and reality behind the category’s reputation.
• See Grammy awards celebrity outfits 2026 for red-carpet style analysis from the same ceremony.
• Browse our Awards archive for ceremony history, records, and ranked guides.