class of nominees<\/a>, led by Kendrick Lamar with nine. It\u2019s also full of potential for the kind of tomfoolery that has inspired people to avoid the voting process or ceremony over the years. The complaint that the Grammys are disrespectfully stingy with which awards get shown during the main event \u2014 this was the sticking point in a hip-hop artist boycott in 1989 \u2014 will probably hold true of achievements in dozens of genres tucked away in the pre-show. And some of the cooler nominations still feel ornamental to what often turns into a celebration of massive mainstream impact in music. This stings less thanks to the healthy variety of all-timers currently in the field.<\/p>\nRecord of the Year<\/strong>
\u201cDtMF,\u201d Bad Bunny
\u201cManchild,\u201d Sabrina Carpenter
\u201cAnxiety,\u201d Doechii
\u201cWildflower,\u201d Billie Eilish
\u201cAbracadabra,\u201d Lady Gaga
\u201cLuther,\u201d Kendrick Lamar featuring SZA
\u201cThe Subway,\u201d Chappell Roan
\u201cAPT.,\u201d Ros\u00e9 featuring Bruno Mars<\/p>\nKendrick Lamar and SZA\u2019s \u201cLuther\u201d built on the massive success of \u201cNot Like Us,\u201d upending a couple of the Drake diss\u2019s hip-hop chart feats by pivoting to radio-ready romanticism and a tandem stadium tour. It exudes a self-assured lightness, a function of time spent refining a craft. \u201cLuther\u201d will mow through the competition here. Sabrina Carpenter\u2019s song about guys being goofy and Bad Bunny\u2019s single about wishing to be more present in fleeting moments might\u2019ve been more pertinent to a rough last year animated by masculine aggression. But Record of the Year is not a pertinence or a lyric award. It salutes the auditory components of a track, and \u201cLuther\u201d boils over with fluttering keys, strings, vocals, and samples in addition to being a 14-week No. 1 hit on the \u201cBillboard Hot 100.\u201d<\/p>\n
Will Win:<\/strong> \u201cLuther\u201d
Should Win:<\/strong> \u201cLuther\u201d<\/p>\nAlbum of theYear<\/strong>
Deb\u00ed Tirar M\u00e1s Fotos,\u00a0Bad Bunny
Swag, Justin Bieber
Man\u2019s Best Friend, Sabrina Carpenter
Let God Sort Em Out, Clipse
Mayhem, Lady Gaga
GNX, Kendrick Lamar
Mutt, Leon Thomas
Chromakopia, Tyler, the Creator<\/p>\nBad Bunny\u2019s DeB\u00cd TiRAR M\u00e1S FOToS is the Herbie Hancock\u2019s River: The Joni Letters or the Ray Charles\u2019s Genius Loves Company of the 2026 pack. It works toward the same goals as those studio albums infused with lessons in history and musicology that used to devour top honors prior to a deluge of pop-star wins in the 21st century. FOToS squeezes a great deal of Puerto Rican culture and politics into the format of an event album that is aching to get children and grandparents on the same page. But there are seven other high-water marks in wildly different careers to contend with, like Sabrina Carpenter\u2019s Republican-reviled Man\u2019s Best Friend, Lady Gaga\u2019s self-mythologizing Mayhem, and Tyler, the Creator\u2019s versatile Chromakopia. One reality that\u2019s clear from this selection is that hip-hop is no longer an Album of the Year outlier: Half this crop raps. Kendrick Lamar\u2019s commercial juggernaut GNX is going to stomp through here after last year\u2019s quintuple \u201cNot Like Us\u201d win, looking to pick up where he left off. It would be his first AOTY win after five nominations \u2014 for each of his Interscope studio albums and the Black Panther soundtrack \u2014 in this category.<\/p>\n
Will Win: <\/strong>GNX
Should Win<\/strong>: Deb\u00ed Tirar M\u00e1s Fotos<\/p>\nSong of the Year<\/strong>
\u201cAbracadabra,\u201d Lady Gaga
\u201cAnxiety,\u201d Doechii
\u201cAPT.,\u201d Ros\u00e9 featuring Bruno Mars
\u201cDtMF,\u201d Bad Bunny
\u201cGolden [From KPop Demon Hunters],\u201d HUNTR\/X: EJAE, Audrey Nuna, Rei Ami
\u201cLuther,\u201d Kendrick Lamar featuring SZA
\u201cManchild,\u201d Sabrina Carpenter
\u201cWildflower,\u201d Billie Eilish<\/p>\nFourteen of Bruno Mars\u2019s last 15 nominations resulted in a win. He\u2019s going home with something. But he seems likely to lose the same award that also eluded him last year, when he was nominated with Lady Gaga. Song of the Year is a writer\u2019s category and his and Blackpink star Ros\u00e9\u2019s rework of Tony Basil\u2019s \u201cMickey\u201d isn\u2019t that interested in its lyrics. It\u2019s a tougher sell arguing for it here than in Record of the Year, a more producer-centric reward. That\u2019s where the soul of this locomotive collaboration lies. But in both categories Mars sits alongside tentpole singles from the biggest albums of the year. The Doechii and Kendrick singles deserve spots for a showily manicured verboseness that doesn\u2019t tug too far away from the structure of a classic hit record. Sabrina Carpenter drove trolls insane across the political spectrum with \u201cManchild,\u201d but the Billie Eilish single, which touts a renewed interest in bubbly pure pop music after years of pointed introversion, is probably our champion. A more fun outcome would be a win for the title track from the Bad Bunny album, a wistful snapshot of the relatable ache of grief bumrushing a party.<\/p>\n
Will Win<\/strong>: \u201cWildflower\u201d
Should Win:<\/strong> \u201cDtMF\u201d<\/p>\nBest New Artist<\/strong>
Olivia Dean
Katseye
The Marias
Addison Rae
Sombr
Leon Thomas
Alex Warren
Lola Young<\/p>\nFiguring out the logic of any Best New Artist class will blow your mind, as people who\u2019ve been around for ten years end up rubbing elbows with debut-album and press-cycle newcomers. This group is a blast, though it also reflects a nagging run on frowny male adult contemporary kinda-rock. Katseye, the Dream Academy graduate sextet currently zooming through the stages of global girl group domination, should win, as should TikTok success story Addison Rae, and so should the Marias if the indie-pop band could manage to get in having been active since the fitfully droll Sombr was 10 years old. But the calculatingly chipper Alex Warren is present, and his triple-platinum \u201cOrdinary\u201d dominated enough of 2025 that we began to speak of \u201cdethroning\u201d him like errant royalty.<\/p>\n
This category has straightened out considerably over the last few years after ages of choices that could prove instantly hilarious (Fun. over Frank Ocean) or boldly left-field (the brilliant Esperanza Spalding over the reigning Justin Bieber). So it\u2019s possible that this goes to Britain\u2019s newest star Olivia Dean, whose hard work touring the hushed and smoldering The Art of Loving and defending fans against predatory sky-high ticket resale prices is paying off in the global ascent of the lilting \u201cMan I Need.\u201d But the only parties being recognized in other categories this year are Katseye, the plucky U.K. singer Lola Young, and 32-year-old actor and R&B sensation Leon Thomas, a six-time nominee this year whose sophomore effort Mutt stews in the Album of the Year pot. Previous Best New Artist nominees in a similar top honors windfall include Chappell Roan and Olivia Rodrigo, who didn\u2019t nab AOTY but did hit here.<\/p>\n
Will Win<\/strong>: Leon Thomas
Should Win:<\/strong> Katseye<\/p>\nProducer of the Year, Non-classical<\/strong>
Dan Auerbach
Cirkut
Dijon
Blake Mills
Sounwave<\/p>\nCanadian auteur Cirkut being nominated here raises the question of whether a Gaga sweep is in the cards; he worked on Mayhem. This category is a log jam for the widely influential acoustic and electric R&B approach of Dijon Duenas, who\u2019s here for his work on Justin Bieber\u2019s immense Swag and for his exemplary solo album Baby. Blake Mills, a routine engineer for plush indie-rock and folk albums, and the Black Keys\u2019 Dan Auerbach, who is turning out to be a more prolific producer than recording artist, will all need to make room for Compton\u2019s Sounwave. The Kendrick collaborator might win on the duo\u2019s sixth trip to Album of the Year and cascade across the other general and genre categories where the album is represented.<\/p>\n
Will Win<\/strong>: Sounwave
Should Win<\/strong>: Dijon<\/p>\nSongwriter of the Year, Non-classical<\/strong>
Amy Allen
Edgar Barrera
Jessie Jo Dillon
Tobias Jesso Jr.
Laura Veltz<\/p>\nTobias Jesso Jr.\u2019s nomination in a songwriter category (with Dijon in a producer space) makes you wonder whether Justin Bieber\u2019s Swag will be the belle of the ball this year. The co-writer for Bieber, Haim, Olivia Dean, Bon Iver, Miley Cyrus, and FKA twigs is resurgent, even releasing his first solo album in a decade last fall. But this award, which was inaugurated in 2023 with a Jesso win, circles the same handful of writers, and country scribes like Jessie Jo Dillon, pop bards like Amy Allen, and reggaeton men-at-arms like Edgar Barrera are just as up next. Allen worked on the last two Sabrina Carpenter albums and won last year for 2024\u2019s Short n\u2019 Sweet \u2014 2025\u2019s successful Man\u2019s Best Friend will likely produce a similar outcome.<\/p>\n
Will Win:<\/strong> Amy Allen
Should Win<\/strong>: Tobias Jesso Jr.<\/p>\nBest Pop Solo Performance<\/strong>
\u201cDaisies,\u201d Justin Bieber
\u201cManchild,\u201d Sabrina Carpenter
\u201cDisease,\u201d Lady Gaga
\u201cThe Subway,\u201d Chappell Roan
\u201cMessy,\u201d Lola Young<\/p>\n\u201cDaisies\u201d typifies the childlike simplicity that the best Justin Bieber songs angle for, while Lola Young\u2019s \u201cMessy\u201d bristles with stress beyond its years. But this category\u2019s for singing ass singers, which is why the shoutier but inferior Gaga single \u201cDisease\u201d is here. This award probably goes to Sabrina Carpenter, whose smirking, cooing, crooning \u201cManchild\u201d performance swerves coolly through a few other contenders\u2019 lanes. There\u2019s no way Carpenter \u2014 a singer who is conversant in the folk and rock traditions that the Bieber and Chappell Roan singles explore but also the self-effacing, lived-in grit of a Lola\u00a0 \u2014 gets shut out this year, right?<\/p>\n
Will Win:<\/strong> \u201cManchild\u201d
Should Win<\/strong>: \u201cDaisies\u201d<\/p>\nBest Pop Duo\/Group Performance<\/strong>
\u201cDefying Gravity,\u201d Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande
\u201cGolden [From KPop Demon Hunters],\u201d HUNTR\/X: EJAE, Audrey Nuna, Rei Ami
\u201cGabriela,\u201d Katseye
\u201cAPT.,\u201d Ros\u00e9, Bruno Mars
\u201c30 for 30,\u201d SZA With Kendrick Lamar<\/p>\nIt makes the most sense for someone with the sky-high Grammy success ratio of a Bruno Mars and a smash collab like \u201cAPT.\u201d to succeed in a category like this one, which Mars previously won for \u201cUptown Funk\u201d and \u201cDie With a Smile.\u201d But the cartoon K-pop group Huntr\/x was nothing to play with last year. And SZA has accrued enough of these to make you wonder why more hip-hop and R&B songs aren\u2019t talking shit like her and Kendrick Lamar\u2019s \u201cThrow Some D\u2019s\u201d interpolation \u201c30 for 30.\u201d<\/p>\n
Will Win: <\/strong>\u201cAPT.\u201d
Should Win: <\/strong>\u201c30 for 30\u201d<\/p>\nBest Pop Vocal Album<\/strong>
Swag, Justin Bieber
Man\u2019s Best Friend, Sabrina Carpenter
Something Beautiful, Miley Cyrus
Mayhem, Lady Gaga
I\u2019ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 2), Teddy Swims<\/p>\nTeddy Swims did so well on the Billboard Hot 100 that the chart reworked its rules to prevent situations like the years-long reign of 2023\u2019s somehow still sort of omnipresent \u201cLose Control.\u201d He\u2019s nominated here for the sequel to the album that spawned his diamond-certified single, which was never nominated; it\u2019s probably not enough to box with the more established heavy hitters who\u2019ve avoided other genre categories to campaign for this award. Gaga\u2019s Mayhem was likely a lock for the dance album category but it has a tougher fight here alongside Miley Cyrus and Sabrina Carpenter records whose quality hinged on their colorful vocal delivery; Bieber\u2019s intensive R&B exploration Swag skips that field entirely to joust with this lot. Competition is steep but Sabrina\u2019s album made the biggest splash of the group, and here in Taylor Swift and Adele territory that\u2019s prime currency.<\/p>\n
Will Win:<\/strong> <\/strong>Man\u2019s Best Friend
Should Win<\/strong>: Man\u2019s Best Friend<\/p>\nBest Dance\/Electronic Recording<\/strong>
\u201cNo Cap,\u201d Disclosure & Anderson .Paak
\u201cVictory Lap,\u201d Fred Again.., Skepta, & PlaqueBoyMax
\u201cSpace Invader,\u201d Kaytranada
\u201cVoltage,\u201d Skrillex
\u201cEnd of Summer,\u201d Tame Impala<\/p>\nDance-pop singles getting funneled into a separate category (coincidentally the year after Beyonc\u00e9 won this award, a running theme with this ceremony in the 2020s) ought to have been license for this one to skew very heady. This pack is more interested in electronic grooves as a means of exploration than pop hits that use the beat to rocket us to a chorus, but the pool remains rather mainstream nevertheless. The lost 2010s Skrillex single \u201cVoltage\u201d takes the cake for not giving a shit about any of these dichotomies.<\/p>\n
Will Win:<\/strong> \u201cVoltage\u201d
Should Win<\/strong>: \u201cVoltage\u201d<\/p>\nBest Dance Pop Recording<\/strong>
\u201cBluest Flame,\u201d Selena Gomez & Benny Blanco
\u201cAbracadabra,\u201d Lady Gaga
\u201cMidnight Sun,\u201d Zara Larsson
\u201cJust Keep Watching (From F1 the Movie),\u201d Tate McRae
\u201cIllegal,\u201d PinkPantheress<\/p>\nU.K. singer-producer PinkPantheress\u2019s bubbly \u201cIllegal\u201d felt inescapable last year but Lady Gaga\u2019s thumping return to form \u201cAbracadabra\u201d is the kind of single this relatively new addition to the Grammy repertoire \u2014 which has so far awarded Kylie Minogue\u2019s \u201cPadam Padam\u201d and Charli xcx\u2019s \u201cVon Dutch\u201d \u2014 got peeled off from the main Best Dance\/Electronic Recording running to celebrate.<\/p>\n
Will Win:<\/strong> \u201cAbracadabra\u201d
Should Win<\/strong>: \u201cIllegal\u201d<\/p>\nBest Dance\/Electronic Album<\/strong>
Eusexua, FKA Twigs
Ten Days, Fred Again.
Fancy That, PinkPantheress
Inhale \/ Exhale, R\u00fcf\u00fcs Du Sol
F*** U Skrillex You Think Ur Andy Warhol But Ur Not!! <3, Skrillex<\/p>\nThis category, which was born in the mid-aughts, has been admirably resistant to heterodox big-ticket choices in the 2020s. And with Gaga eschewing it on a cycle of relatively unanimous acclaim, it gets to be a showdown between very different concepts of the electronic album: FKA Twigs\u2019s museum pieces, PinkPantheress\u2019s nostalgic club food, and Skrillex\u2019s self-effacing mixtape high jinks all have a shot at glory. But Pantheress hits a few different points: mass recognition, production smarts, two singles (\u201cIllegal,\u201d \u201cStateside\u201d) making waves in the U.S. and U.K., and a knack for making the music ponder its own history \u2014 like Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s Renaissance, the 2023 winner.<\/p>\n
Will Win:<\/strong> Fancy That
Should Win: <\/strong>Fancy That<\/p>\nBest Remixed Recording<\/strong>
\u201cAbracadabra (Gesaffelstein Remix),\u201d Gesaffelstein, remixer (Lady Gaga, Gesaffelstein)
\u201cDon\u2019t Forget About Us,\u201d Kaytranada, remixer (Mariah Carey & Kaytranada)
\u201cDreams a Dream (Ron Trent Remix),\u201d Ron Trent, remixer (Soul II Soul)
\u201cGalvanize,\u201d Chris Lake, remixer (The Chemical Brothers & Chris Lake)
\u201cGolden (David Guetta REM\/X),\u201d David Guetta, remixer (HUNTR\/X: EJAE, Audrey Nuna, Rei Ami)<\/p>\nThe David Guetta REM\/X of HUNTR\/X\u2019s KPop Demon Hunters calling card \u201cGolden\u201d frustratingly makes the soaring track some 10 percent more appealing by pushing brasher synths over the drum pattern, which was kinda tilting toward Rihanna\u2019s \u201cS.O.S.\u201d But reworks of archival jams by Mariah Carey and UK dance music collective Soul II Soul from Montreal maestro Kaytranada and Chicago house vet Ron Trent here simmer.<\/p>\n
Will Win<\/strong>: \u201cGolden (David Guetta REM\/X)\u201d
Should Win<\/strong>: \u201cDreams a Dream (Ron Trent Remix)\u201d<\/p>\nBest Rock Performance<\/strong>
\u201cU Should Not Be Doing That,\u201d Amyl and the Sniffers
\u201cThe Emptiness Machine,\u201d Linkin Park
\u201cNever Enough,\u201d Turnstile
\u201cMirtazapine,\u201d Hayley Williams
\u201cChanges (Live From Villa Park) Back to the Beginning,\u201d Yungblud<\/p>\nThe Linkin Park revival stopped at nothing to reconnect the band with its calling of filling outdoor arenas with anguished shrieks and record scratches. Lead single \u201cThe Emptiness Machine\u201d was a legitimate from-relatively-nowhere rock-chart smash, the size and immediacy of which was reminiscent of the aughts. A Linkin Park win \u2014 a safe choice when you could go with the gruff post-Pretenders groove of the Sniffers song \u2014 is technically a tangy development for this category whose capacity for noise doesn\u2019t skew harsher than Foo Fighters. It\u2019s tight that Baltimore hardcore act Turnstile also graduated to appearing in these categories; they deserve to take something home. But they left empty-handed after multiple nominations in 2023. The Grammys love the cred of gesturing to more interesting music than what ultimately flies.<\/p>\n
Will Win<\/strong>: \u201cThe Emptiness Machine\u201d
Should Win:<\/strong> \u201cU Should Not Be Doing That\u201d<\/p>\nBest Metal Performance<\/strong>
\u201cNight Terror,\u201d Dream Theater
\u201cLachryma,\u201d Ghost
\u201cEmergence,\u201d Sleep Token
\u201cSoft Spine,\u201d Spiritbox
\u201cBirds,\u201d Turnstile<\/p>\nThe Spiritbox and Dream Theater songs deserve gold stars in this list of nominees, which only begins to scratch the surface of last year\u2019s compelling metal performances and contains one reasonably misfiled hardcore jam. Masked London butt-metal quartet Sleep Token even being listed for their suitably drippy \u201cEmergence\u201d should put you on notice that the logic guiding this decision might rankle extreme music fans. Turnstile\u2019s \u201cBirds\u201d being wedged here next to it is an argument for even one trophy that specifically acknowledges punk rock.<\/p>\n
Will Win:<\/strong> \u201cEmergence\u201d
Should Win<\/strong>: \u201cSoft Spine\u201d<\/p>\nBest Rock Song<\/strong>
\u201cAs Alive As You Need Me to Be,\u201d Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, songwriters (Nine Inch Nails)
\u201cCaramel,\u201d Vessel1 & Vessel2, songwriters (Sleep Token)
\u201cGlum,\u201d Daniel James & Hayley Williams, songwriters (Hayley Williams)
\u201cNever Enough,\u201d Daniel Fang, Franz Lyons, Pat McCrory, Meg Mills & Brendan Yates, songwriters (Turnstile)
\u201cZombie,\u201d Dominic Harrison & Matt Schwartz, songwriters (Yungblud)<\/p>\nNo matter how cool the list of nominees for Best Rock Song gets, the award goes somewhere buttoned up and stately. Ozzy Osbourne and Queens of the Stone Age have been seen in here, but nothing that hard ever takes the gold. It\u2019s great to see Trent Reznor recognized for offering the world a reason to care about Jared Leto\u2019s Tron: Ares and to see Turnstile\u2019s work pay off handsomely. But Best Rock Song history suggests the gold\u2019s going to Hayley Williams \u2014 who, to be fair, has put in the work \u2014 if we don\u2019t get a Sting-beating-Metallica\u2019s-Enter-Sandman level moment of mayhem with Yungblud.<\/p>\n
Will Win<\/strong>: \u201cGlum\u201d
Should Win:<\/strong> \u201cAs Alive As You Need Me to Be\u201d<\/p>\nBest Rock Album<\/strong>
<\/strong>Private Music, Deftones
I Quit, Haim
From Zero, Linkin Park
Never Enough, Turnstile
Idols, Yungblud<\/p>\nThere is no better argument that we need more heavy music categories than \u201990s and aughts metal tour vets Linkin Park and Deftones vying for the same accolade as the bleating Yungblud and pop-rock sister act Haim. This could get strange, with punk, metal, pop, and rock factions tugging in multiple directions. Deftones deserve to win for a great album and multimedia resurgence. But Yungblud has collected co-signs from elders like Aerosmith\u2019s Steven Tyler and the late Ozzy Osbourne, and this category has delivered Greta Van Fleet a Grammy, so maybe brace for something like that as well.<\/p>\n
Will Win<\/strong>: Private Music
Should Win:<\/strong> Private Music<\/p>\nBest Alternative Music Performance<\/strong>
\u201cEverything Is Peaceful Love,\u201d Bon Iver
\u201cAlone,\u201d The Cure
\u201cSeein\u2019 Stars,\u201d Turnstile
\u201cMangetout,\u201d Wet Leg
\u201cParachute,\u201dHayley Williams<\/p>\nThe majestic opener from the Cure\u2019s Songs of a Lost World is practically bursting with hooks and feelings and offered the first signal that the band was gunning for the glory of the \u201980s last year. But the meaning of \u201calternative\u201d has shifted a few times since 1989\u2019s Disintegration, and unfortunately you can\u2019t count on a goth overlord\u2019s glistening return to form ruling this space anymore. Bon Iver\u2019s lovefest might edge out the downcast new wave king.<\/p>\n
Will Win:<\/strong> \u201cEverything Is Peaceful Love\u201d
Should Win:<\/strong> \u201cAlone\u201d<\/p>\nBest Alternative Music Album<\/strong>
Sable, Fable, Bon Iver
Songs of a Lost World, The Cure
Don\u2019t Tap the Glass, Tyler, the Creator
Moisturizer, Wet Leg
Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party, Hayley Williams<\/p>\nThe only two rap entities ever to contend for this award \u2014 which has gone to Nirvana, Radiohead, and the White Stripes \u2014 prior to Tyler, the Creator\u2019s nomination are Gnarls Barkley and the Beastie Boys, whose St. Elsewhere and Hello Nasty took it home in their respective years. But wins skew toward festival indie acts now and that likely spells trouble for Tyler\u2019s experimental Don\u2019t Tap the Glass, which could have also been submitted in the electronic and R&B categories. The Cure smokes everything here, but the soulful Bon Iver dad-rock album is the sound that fits this category\u2019s current concept of its genre.<\/p>\n
Will Win<\/strong>: Sable, Fable
Should Win<\/strong>: Songs of a Lost World<\/p>\nBest R&B Performance<\/strong>
\u201cYukon,\u201d Justin Bieber
\u201cIt Depends,\u201d Chris Brown Featuring Bryson Tiller
\u201cFolded,\u201d Kehlani
\u201cMutt (Live From NPR\u2019s Tiny Desk),\u201d Leon Thomas
\u201cHeart of a Woman,\u201d Summer Walker<\/p>\nSince its revival in 2012, this category has tried to spotlight gobstopping vocals outside of the A-list sphere. Singers\u2019 singers like Jazmine Sullivan, Muni Long, and Coco Jones have beat Justin Bieber, SZA, and Chris Brown here. Leon Thomas is not a household name, but everyone who hears \u201cMutt\u201d recognizes the spirit of the genre in it. In a space where it doesn\u2019t necessarily curry favor for Kehlani and Chris Brown that they had two of 2025\u2019s biggest R&B songs in \u201cFolded\u201d and \u201cIt Depends,\u201d Thomas could tiptoe past the two to victory. (But it is intriguing that the former child actor wouldn\u2019t include his ubiquitous Chris Brown \u201cMutt\u201d remix.)<\/p>\n
Will Win:<\/strong> \u201cMutt (Live From NPR\u2019s Tiny Desk)\u201d
Should Win: <\/strong>\u201cFolded\u201d<\/p>\nBest Traditional R&B Performance<\/strong>
<\/strong>\u201cHere We Are,\u201d Durand Bernarr
\u201cUptown, \u201dLalah Hathaway
\u201cLove You Too,\u201d Ledisi
\u201cCrybaby,\u201d SZA
\u201cVibes Don\u2019t Lie,\u201d Leon Thomas<\/p>\nIt\u2019s beyond time for the Grammys to deliver a second award to incomparable 16-time nominee Ledisi, but that\u2019s unfortunately unlikely to happen here. For her many appearances in general fields, SZA\u2019s wins are mainly situated in R&B genre categories. Lana\u2019s \u201cCrybaby\u201d skated exquisitely around her register in tribute to early Motown breakup ballads, so, barring the wild Leon Thomas sweep, SZA is the force to be reckoned with here.<\/p>\n
Will Win<\/strong>: \u201cCrybaby\u201d
Should Win<\/strong>: \u201cCrybaby\u201d<\/p>\nBest R&B Song<\/strong>
<\/strong>\u201cFolded,\u201d Kehlani
\u201cIt Depends,\u201d Chris Brown ft. Bryson Tiller
\u201cHeart of a Woman,\u201d Summer Walker
\u201cOverqualified,\u201d Durand Bernarr
\u201cYes It Is,\u201d Leon Thomas<\/p>\nFree from any qualifiers suggesting a subgenre, this category is often anyone\u2019s guess, just as likely to go to a grown-and-sexy music giant like Maxwell as to gauzy SZA singles and sedate Robert Glasper jams. The two top 40 meteors in contention were inescapable last summer and fall; if \u201cFolded,\u201d a big enough hit to generate Brandy and Toni Braxton remixes, doesn\u2019t break the Kehlani Grammy drought, will anything?<\/p>\n
Will Win:<\/strong> \u201cFolded\u201d
Should Win:<\/strong> \u201cFolded\u201d<\/p>\nBest Progressive R&B Album<\/strong>
<\/strong>Bloom, Durand Bernarr
Adjust Brightness, Bilal
Love On Digital, Destin Conrad
Access All Areas, FLO
Come As You Are, Terrace Martin & Kenyon Dixon<\/p>\nThe dazzling, psychedelic return of Soulquarian luminary Bilal deserves more than just a nod for Best Progressive R&B Album. But the win here tends to go to artists on major labels, last year\u2019s historic NxWorries and AverySunshine indie-artist tie notwithstanding. The great and often nominated Terrace Martin and the talented, Erykah Badu\u2013approved Durand Bernarr might take a back seat to the sleek retrofuturist dance-floor and bedroom jams of UK trio FLO.<\/p>\n
Will Win:<\/strong> Access All Areas
Should Win<\/strong>: Adjust Brightness\u00a0<\/p>\nBest R&B Album<\/strong>
<\/strong>Beloved,\u00a0 Giveon
Why Not More?, Coco Jones
The Crown, Ledisi
Escape Room, Teyana Taylor
Mutt, Leon Thomas<\/p>\nA win for Teyana Taylor\u2019s illuminating-if-skit-overloaded divorce chronicle Escape Room would inch us ever closer to a Harlem EGOT. But this was a breakout year for Victorious\u2019s Leon Thomas, who nudged a song or two into department store rotation after moonlighting in music for ages.<\/p>\n
Will Win:<\/strong> Mutt
Should Win:<\/strong> Escape Room<\/p>\nBest Rap Performance<\/strong>
<\/strong>\u201cOutside,\u201d Cardi B
\u201cChains & Whips,\u201d Clipse, Pusha T & Malice featuring Kendrick Lamar & Pharrell Williams
\u201cAnxiety,\u201d Doechii
\u201cTV Off,\u201d Kendrick Lamar featuring Lefty Gunplay
\u201cDarling, I,\u201d Tyler, the Creator featuring Teezo Touchdown<\/p>\nThere isn\u2019t a performance here that isn\u2019t incredible; Cardi B\u2019s brusque \u201cOutside\u201d sitting next to Doechii\u2019s breathtakingly technical and personal \u201cAnxiety\u201d indicates mainstream rap isn\u2019t in as bad of a place as some like to groan that it is. But Kendrick\u2019s \u201cTV Off\u201d is a clinic that fostered weeks of shouted catchphrases and memes \u2014 \u201cIt\u2019s not enough!,\u201d \u201cMUSTAAARD!\u201d \u2014 and took on a life the others didn\u2019t quite enjoy. He probably collects his third Best Rap Performance win in four years here.<\/p>\n
Will Win<\/strong>: \u201cTV Off\u201d
Should Win:<\/strong> \u201cAnxiety\u201d<\/p>\nBest Melodic Rap Performance<\/strong>
<\/strong>\u201cProud of Me,\u201d Fridayy Featuring Meek Mill
\u201cWholeheartedly,\u201d JID Featuring Ty Dolla $ign & 6Lack
\u201cLuther,\u201d Kendrick Lamar With SZA
\u201cWeMaj,\u201d Terrace Martin & Kenyon Dixon Featuring Rapsody
\u201cSomebody Loves Me,\u201d Partynextdoor & Drake<\/p>\nKendrick and SZA\u2019s single beat Taylor Swift and Alex Warren smashes for the longest-running \u201cHot 100\u201d No. 1 of 2025, and will likely cruise comfortably past frenemies Meek Mill and Drake to victory here (although North Carolina\u2019s cool, consistent Rapsody won this award last year over hits from Beyonc\u00e9, Future, and the Weeknd). Kendrick\u2019s track record is loud: Anytime his song or album has faced one of Rapsody\u2019s at the Grammys \u2014 like last year in Best Rap Song or in Best Rap Song and Album in 2018 \u2014 he has gone home with the gold.<\/p>\n
Will Win:<\/strong> \u201cLuther\u201d
Should Win:<\/strong> \u201cLuther\u201d<\/p>\nBest Rap Song<\/strong>
\u201cAnxiety,\u201d Doechii
\u201cThe Birds Don\u2019t Sing,\u201d Clipse, Pusha T & Malice featuring John Legend & Voices of Fire
\u201cSticky,\u201d Tyler, the Creator
\u201cTGIF,\u201d GloRilla
\u201cTV Off,\u201d Kendrick Lamar<\/p>\nPusha T and Malice\u2019s gutting ode to their late parents opened a new chapter for the duo, with a song from the coke-rap kings that\u2019s clean and soulful enough to feasibly be played near the new American pope. But Doechii\u2019s performance is positively arresting, as is Kendrick\u2019s \u201cTV Off,\u201d and \u201cSticky,\u201d a showcase for Tyler, the Creator\u2019s interdenominational skills and interests. GloRilla\u2019s club banger \u201cTGIF\u201d deserves more attention, too. But these categories devour a strong showing from elder statesmen.<\/p>\n
Will Win:<\/strong> \u201cThe Birds Don\u2019t Sing\u201d
Should Win:<\/strong> \u201cThe Birds Don\u2019t Sing\u201d<\/p>\nBest Rap Album<\/strong>
<\/strong>Let God Sort Em Out, Clipse
Glorious, GloRilla
God Does Like Ugly, JID
GNX, Kendrick Lamar
Chromakopia, Tyler, the Creator<\/p>\nIt would be wonderful for the edifying comeback story of Virginia brother duo Clipse to include a Best Rap Album win, but this category is crowded. The better and more ambitious of the two Tyler, the Creator albums is here; the man who swept any rap category that had \u201cNot Like Us\u201d in it last year is back. Fan and critical consensus touted Kendrick Lamar\u2019s triumphant-if-too-breezy GNX as one of 2024\u2019s best and most successful rap albums. And this category has not strayed far from that perspective since catching hell for the only time it neglected to award Lamar, back when Macklemore apologized for edging out good kid m.A.A.d. City. It would seem unlikely that anything particularly zesty happens here.<\/p>\n
Will Win<\/strong>: GNX
Should Win: <\/strong>Chromakopia<\/p>\nBest Country Solo Performance<\/strong>
\u201cNose on the Grindstone,\u201d Tyler Childers
\u201cGood News,\u201d Shaboozey
\u201cBad As I Used to Be\u201d (from F1 the Movie), Chris Stapleton
\u201cI Never Lie,\u201d Zach Top
\u201cSomewhere Over Laredo,\u201d\u00a0Lainey Wilson<\/p>\n\u201cGrindstone,\u201d an Appalachian miner\u2019s lament, is an instant classic, as is the wistful, Wizard of Oz saluting \u201cLaredo.\u201d Kentucky country-rocker Tyler Childers has never won a Grammy and Chris Stapleton has lost this particular category only once thus far, for five wins. But the Brad Pitt car flick tie-in jam is not one of his classics, and didn\u2019t notch impact on par with \u201cLaredo,\u201d Louisiana live wire Lainey Wilson\u2019s airplane reminiscence and Billboard Country Airplay chart topper that also got \u201cHot 100\u201d traction.<\/p>\n
Will Win:<\/strong> \u201cSomewhere Over Laredo\u201d
Should Win: <\/strong>\u201cNose on the Grindstone\u201d<\/p>\nBest Country Duo\/Group Performance<\/strong>
<\/strong>\u201cA Song to Sing,\u201d Miranda Lambert And Chris Stapleton
\u201cTrailblazer,\u201d Reba McEntire, Miranda Lambert, Lainey Wilson
\u201cLove Me Like You Used to Do,\u201d Margo Price & Tyler Childers
\u201cAmen, \u201dShaboozey & Jelly Roll
\u201cHonky Tonk Hall of Fame,\u201d George Strait, Chris Stapleton<\/p>\nUnlike performance-based categories in rap, metal, and pop, this country version isn\u2019t always inclined to go to a person who belted it out the hardest or displayed the greatest technical depth. It is the rare country Grammy Chris Stapleton has never won. This trophy\u2019s friendly to a hit, and Shaboozey and Jelly Roll had one.<\/p>\n
Will Win:<\/strong> \u201cAmen\u201d
Should Win<\/strong>: \u201cA Song to Sing\u201d<\/p>\nBest Country Song<\/strong>
<\/strong>\u201cBitin\u2019 List,\u201d Tyler Childers
\u201cGood News,\u201d Shaboozey
\u201cI Never Lie,\u201d Zach Top
\u201cSomewhere Over Laredo,\u201d Lainey Wilson
\u201cA Song to Sing,\u201d Miranda Lambert and Chris Stapleton<\/p>\nThere are better songs onTyler Childers\u2019s molting, yearning Snipe Hunter to put up than the righteously cantankerous \u201cBitin\u2019 List.\u201d But it\u2019s nice to see that here alongside Lainey Wilson\u2019s brilliant \u201cSomewhere Over Laredo\u201d and Shaboozey\u2019s rousing \u201cGood News\u201d in the group of songs trying to brook the tidal wave of 31-time nominee and somehow only three-time winner Miranda Lambert. She\u2019s back with a boost from (the unsurprisingly considerably more Grammy-winning) Chris Stapleton.<\/p>\n
Will Win:<\/strong> \u201cA Song to Sing\u201d
Should Win:<\/strong> \u201cSomewhere Over Laredo\u201d<\/p>\nBest Contemporary Country Album<\/strong>
<\/strong>Patterns, Kelsea Ballerini
Snipe Hunter, Tyler Childers
Evangeline vs. the Machine, Eric Church
Beautifully Broken, Jelly Roll
Postcards From Texas, Miranda Lambert<\/p>\nFor 2026, Best Contemporary Country Album no longer has authority over traditional artists thanks to a dedicated spinoff category just for them. It\u2019s a significant change because this category, which Taylor Swift has lost more than won, has largely succeeded in freezing out aggressive pop plays since the era of Shania Twain, Faith Hill, and the Chicks. Then last year, Post Malone got nominated, and Beyonc\u00e9 won, and suddenly a separate space manifests to honor the purity of the form. This year, the practice probably weeds out people who might have gotten the nod over Jelly Roll, who has enjoyed the kind of commercial gravitas these awards pretend they ignore.<\/p>\n
Will Win:<\/strong> Beautifully Broken
Should Win<\/strong>: Snipe Hunter<\/p>\nBest Traditional Country Album<\/strong>
<\/strong>Dollar a Day, Charley Crockett
American Romance, Lukas Nelson
Oh What a Beautiful World, Willie Nelson
Hard Headed Woman, Margo Price
Ain\u2019t in It for My Health, Zach Top<\/p>\nThe ever-recording and\/or on-tour Nelson family is so prolific that Willie successfully pitched two albums to two categories, including this new one where he competes against his son Lukas. They\u2019re joined in the running for the first-ever Best Traditional Country Album by a fierce lineup: 28-year-old neo-trad crooner Zach Top pulses with time-displaced Alan Jackson energy; the Margo Price album is a highlight in the Illinois troubadour\u2019s stellar catalog. A perfect world recognizes Charley Crockett has a voice and pen for the ages. But the Recording Academy is probably itching to hand this statement category\u2019s first statue to a patriarch of the genre.<\/p>\n
Will Win:<\/strong> Oh What a Beautiful World
Should Win:<\/strong> Dollar a Day<\/p>\nBest Americana Album<\/strong>
<\/strong>Big Money, Jon Batiste
Bloom, Larkin Poe
Last Leaf on the Tree, Willie Nelson
So Long Little Miss Sunshine, Molly Tuttle
Middle, Jesse Welles<\/p>\nPrying folk off the Americana category in the early 2010s served the purpose of giving shine to acoustic solo performances that might\u2019ve gotten steamrolled in this space, one that is often full of artists themselves under threat of being overshadowed by the commercial juggernauts in the contemporary country airspace. (Is Willie Nelson\u2019s fiddle friendly cover of Neil Young\u2019s \u201cAre You Ready for the Country\u201d not exemplifying the genre in its title?) The crunchy Larkin Poe album embodies the musical slipperiness of Americana as an ideal, a carefree cruise through country, blues, rock, and soul; the Molly Tuttle album brims with the rustic zest of early Sheryl Crow. Both of them \u2014 as well as the alternating Bob Dylan and Tom Petty cosplay of Ozark crooner Jesse Welles\u2019s Middle \u2014 must contend with a 92-year-old national treasure\u2019s musing on mortality.<\/p>\n
Will Win<\/strong>: Last Leaf on the Tree
Should Win<\/strong>: Bloom<\/p>\nBest Folk Album<\/strong>
What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow, Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson
Crown of Roses, Patty Griffin
Wild and Clear and Blue, I\u2019m With Her
Foxes in the Snow, Jason Isbell
Under the Powerlines (April 24 \u2013 September 24), Jesse Welles<\/p>\nAlabama guitarist and crooner Jason Isbell rarely loses a roots-related Grammy, but supergroup I\u2019m with Her is three shoe-ins (Texas singer-songwriter and picker Sarah Jarosz with Sara Watkins and Aoife O\u2019Donovan, formerly of Nickel Creek and Crooked Still, respectively) for the price of one. You can\u2019t count folk vet Patti Griffin out in these situations just as you should slide a few chips onto the chaos option of an upset by the viral, mewling Welles. But Isbell runs the race on a stark and formidable solo album and a batting average of six wins for eight nods (prior to this year\u2019s three more). That being said, what if we let the just-as-great but more-nominated and less-awarded Rhiannon Giddens have one for her tireless commitment to timeless folk songs and forms?<\/p>\n
Will Win:<\/strong> Foxes in the Snow
Should Win<\/strong>: What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow<\/p>\nBest Latin Pop Album<\/strong>
Cosa Nuestra, Rauw Alejandro
Bogot\u00e1 (Deluxe), Andr\u00e9s Cepeda
Tropicoqueta, Karol G
Cancionera, Natalia Lafourcade
\u00bfY ahora qu\u00e9?, Alejandro Sanz<\/p>\nThis catchall category could stand to get cleaved in two. Jazzy folk (Mexican singer-guitarist Natasha Lafourcade\u2019s Cancionera), stately pop-rock (former Poligamia frontman Andr\u00e9s Cepeda\u2019s Bogot\u00e1), and sonically restless romantic fare (Latin Grammy fixture Alejandro Sanz) are competing against crossover stars who, to be fair, do not tend to rule the space. Rauw, a 33-year-old San Jaun romantic, had a breakthrough after a breakup, skipping coolly across genres and balancing electronic and acoustic arrangements following a split with Rosalia; even in polar vortex hell, Karol G\u2019s Tropicoqueta goes over like a glass of concentrated essence of summer. But Sanz is a titan in here, where a fifth win would nudge him past the legendary Jose Feliciano as most awarded.<\/p>\n
Will Win:<\/strong> \u00bfY ahora qu\u00e9?
Should Win: <\/strong>Tropicoqueta<\/p>\nBest M\u00fasica Urbana Album<\/strong>
<\/strong>DeB\u00cd TiRAR M\u00e1S FOToS, Bad Bunny
Mixteip, J Balvin
FERXXO VOL X: Sagrado, Feid
NAIKI, Nicki Nicole
EUB DELUXE, Trueno
SINF\u00d3NICO (En Vivo), Yandel<\/p>\nSinf\u00f3nico (En Vivo), the orchestral live album from seminal reggaetonero Yandel, is a sprawling, beefy headphone record. But the releases from Trueno and Nicki Nicole, rapper\/singer-songwriters from Argentina, excel at sizzling brevity. In the middle of this spectrum, a trio of mid-career stylistic chameleons and sometime collaborators \u2014 Feid, J Balvin, and Bad Bunny \u2014 carefully map out intersecting tastes. But FOToS took up the most oxygen last year; its author, a two-time winner here, certainly will earn his third.<\/p>\n
Will Win:<\/strong> DeB\u00cd TiRAR M\u00e1S FOToS
Should Win:<\/strong> DeB\u00cd TiRAR M\u00e1S FOToS<\/p>\nBest Global Music Performance<\/strong>
<\/strong>\u201cEoO,\u201d Bad Bunny
\u201cCantando en el Camino,\u201d Ciro Hurtado
\u201cJERUSALEMA,\u201d Ang\u00e9lique Kidjo
\u201cInmigrante Y Que?,\u201d Yeisy Rojas
\u201cShrini\u2019s Dream (Live),\u201d Shakti
\u201cDaybreak,\u201d Anoushka Shankar Featuring Alam Khan & Sarathy Korwar<\/p>\nHaving a Bad Bunny single with bleating synths hold court with an intergenerational convention of stringed-instrument specialists goes to show how disjointed and squished together this 2022 addition to the ceremony tends to be. And that\u2019s even after the creation in 2024 of a separate award for the African artists who were consistently upstaged in this category. Benito has name recognition and representation in general field categories going for him, but it\u2019s been too long since Beninese singer and activist Ang\u00e9lique Kidjo, a five-time winner in 16 nominations so far, collected a fresh Grammy. But this is a performance category that skews heavily toward tactile players, and Indian sitar vet Anoushka Shanka is currently 0-14 here. It\u2019s her night, right?<\/p>\n
Will Win:<\/strong> \u201cDaybreak\u201d
Should Win:<\/strong> \u201cJERUSALEMA\u201d<\/p>\nBest African Music Performance<\/strong>
<\/strong>\u201cLove,\u201d Burna Boy
\u201cWith You,\u201d Davido Featuring Omah Lay
\u201cHope & Love,\u201d Eddy Kenzo & Mehran Matin
\u201cGimme Dat,\u201d Ayra Starr Featuring Wizkid
\u201cPush 2 Start,\u201d Tyla<\/p>\nSouth African singer Tyla\u2019s wispy but commanding single was gorgeous enough to lure dancehall legend Sean Paul away from a by turns delightfully and head-scratchingly odd spate of recent collaborations: Sting, Gwen Stefani, Will Smith. And the Ayra Starr and Wizkid team-up is in alluring conversation with its source material about diasporic guitar music, as an afrobeats love song teased out of a lick from a 2000s Wyclef Jean and Mary J. Blige duet. But it\u2019s time to hand 11-time nominee Burna Boy a second statue.<\/p>\n
Will Win:<\/strong> \u201cLove\u201d
Should Win:<\/strong> \u201cLove\u201d<\/p>\nBest Global Music Album<\/strong>
Sounds of Kumbha, Siddhant Bhatia
No Sign of Weakness, Burna Boy
Eclairer le monde, Light the World, Youssou N\u2019Dour
Mind Explosion (50th Anniversary Tour Live), Shakti
Chapter III: We Return to Light, Anoushka Shankar Featuring Alam Khan & Sarathy Korwar
Caetano e Beth\u00e2nia Ao Vivo, Caetano Veloso and Maria Beth\u00e2nia<\/p>\nThis award \u2014 adapted in 2020 from the tackily named \u201cworld music\u201d \u2014 strains to cover everyone from African-pop fixtures to jazz-rock staples like guitarist John McLaughlin or Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart, its inaugural winner in 1992. Repeat nominee and 2021 winner Burna Boy seems a no-brainer here, but No Sign of Weakness didn\u2019t match the impact of 2021\u2019s Twice As Tall. A win for Brazilian singer-songwriter siblings Maria Beth\u00e2nia and Caetano Veloso, the latter of whom has circled this trophy a few times since 2001, would be nice, and sitar vet Anoushka Shankar has yet to win a Grammy for over a dozen nominations. But McLaughlin\u2019s revived fusion act Shakti took the trophy in 2024 and lost no steam on their majestic live album.<\/p>\n
Will Win:<\/strong> Mind Explosion (50th Anniversary Tour Live)
Should Win<\/strong>: Chapter III: We Return to Light<\/p>\n Related<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Will Kendrick Lamar finally win Album of the Year? Does Leon Thomas have the advantage in Best New…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":554918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[175962,243019,243022,243021,171,31347,975,243020,67,132,68,1147],"class_list":{"0":"post-554917","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-2026-grammy-awards","9":"tag-2026-grammys","10":"tag-album-of-the-year","11":"tag-best-new-artist","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-kendrick-lamar","14":"tag-music","15":"tag-the-grammys","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-vulture-homepage-lede"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115986519034202528","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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