The 2026 Grammy nominations were announced Friday, November 7th, via the Recording Academy live stream. The four main categories at the Grammys are record of the year, song of the year, album of the year, and best new artist.
This year Kendrick Lamar leads with the most nominations, with nine nominations. This gives him a total of 66 career nominations, including 22 wins. Following right behind is Lady Gaga with her new album Mayhem, gaining a total of seven nominations. The two artists scored nominations in three of the major categories including song, album, and record of the year.
Several up and coming artists were nominated for best new artist, including Leon Thomas, former Nickelodeon TV star scoring six nominations, including a nomination for song of the year for his chart-topping hit ‘MUTT’ that gained attraction on Tiktok earlier this year.
Other best new artists include Olivia Dean, KATSEYE, The Marías, Addison Rae, Sombr, Alex Warren, and Lola Young.
Girl group KATSEYE shared a video of previous Best New Artist winner Chappell Roan, who announced their nomination on the Grammy live stream. On the group’s Instagram Stories, they wrote, “so honored to be nominated and in this company.” Overall, all of these artists have had major breakthrough moments this year, and the fight for the award will be tough.
One nomination for song of the year sparked some conversations between music fans with “Golden” from the hit Netflix show K-Pop Demon Hunters being nominated in four categories, including song of the year. Golden stormed the charts, reaching number one on the Billboard charts for multiple consecutive weeks.
However, this just further proves that any song that has gained global recognition will always be a strong contender for the Recording Academy. The group, EJAE, Nuna, and Ami spoke with Variety on Friday morning shortly after the nominations were revealed. In the interview, EJAE emotionally states: “I’m not able to digest this time. I’m still in shock…It feels out of this world.”
To see the winners of these competitive categories, tune into CBS or Paramount+ on February 1st, 8 pm EST.
