The Grammy Awards return this Sunday, February 1, and will once again be hosted by Trevor Noah. It’s the comedian’s sixth—and, according to him, final—time leading the ceremony. Topping this year’s list of nominees is Kendrick Lamar, with nine nods, including appearances in three categories he won in 2025: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Rap Performance. For the second-most nominees, it’s a three-way tie between Lady Gaga, Jack Antonoff, and Mayhem producer Cirkut, who have seven apiece.

Whether any of these artists come home with a golden gramophone, though, remains to be seen. To find out, you’ll have to watch this year’s main ceremony, which will be broadcast live from Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena, beginning at 8 p.m. EST on CBS and Paramount+. In the meantime, check out our predictions for who should and will win in key categories at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards.

Grammy Nominations 2026: See the Full List Here

• Bad Bunny: “DTMF”
• Billie Eilish: “Wildflower”
• Chappell Roan: “The Subway”
• Doechii: “Anxiety”
• Kendrick Lamar & SZA: “Luther”
• Lady Gaga: “Abracadabra”
• Rosé & Bruno Mars: “Apt.”
• Sabrina Carpenter: “Manchild”

Should Win: Lady Gaga: “Abracadabra”

Will Win: ROSÉ, Bruno Mars: “APT.”

Come Grammys season, ubiquity usually trumps all else; the more beaten into the cultural short-term memory, the better. In those terms, the 2026 Record of the Year race appears tight. Promo for Chappell Roan’s latest loosie “The Subway” has been plastered across its namesake public transit system all year. Lady Gaga’s “Abracadabra” premiered during last year’s Grammys. Bad Bunny, one of the biggest artists in the world right now, will bring “DtMF” to the Super Bowl halftime show on February 8. And not only has Doechii’s single “Anxiety” been floating around for years, it’s all but pre-existing IP, lightly reworking a Gotye song that won this category in 2013.

But if there’s one contender that was completely inescapable in 2026, it’s “APT.” Even with Academy darlings like Kendrick Lamar, SZA, and Billie Eilish in the mix, “APT.” is the kind of “even Grandma’s getting into it” pick Grammy voters love to laud. Bruno Mars is also a frequent flier in the Record of the Year category and Rosé’s BLACKPINK beginnings fit the Grammys’ recently-peaked interest in Korea’s star-making machine. (If “APT.” takes the statuette, she’ll be the first K-pop artist to win the category.)

But if it’s top-to-bottom production and performance the Grammys are allegedly after, “Abracadabra” should win. The MAYHEM single doesn’t exactly warrant a Lifetime Achievement nod. But after a decade of the Academy pointedly rewarding Gaga’s more traditionalist work, seeing her clinch her first Record of the Year for a song sharing more DNA with “Swine” than “Shallow” would be extremely satisfying. —Hattie Lindert

• Bad Bunny: Debí Tirar Más Fotos
• Clipse, Pusha T & Malice: Let God Sort Em Out
• Justin Bieber: Swag
• Kendrick Lamar: GNX
• Lady Gaga: Mayhem
• Leon Thomas: Mutt
• Sabrina Carpenter: Man’s Best Friend
• Tyler, the Creator: Chromakopia

Should Win: Bad Bunny: Debí Tirar Más Fotos

Will Win: Lady Gaga: Mayhem

Is it just me or is this Album of the Year field padded out—even more than usual—with releases that have little to no chance of actually winning? Man’s Best Friend and Swag are both impressive feats of pop craftsmanship, but feel minor compared to their older siblings; the inclusion of Let God Sort Em Out says more about Pharrell’s cultural cachet than it does Grammy voters’ taste for coke rap; and if it seems like GNX and Chromakopia came out literal years ago, that’s because they did.

Leon Thomas’ Mutt is the only record on this list I haven’t heard, which, based on the last five years of winners, means he has a solid 20% chance of taking home the trophy, but really, this is a two-horse race. In one lane, Lady Gaga, who successfully married her classic theatrics with a newfound air of hard-won grace in the rollout around Mayhem. In the other, Bad Bunny—never quite a Grammys darling, but a perennial presence in the awards’ Música Urbana categories. Debí Tirar Más Fotos is Benito’s most musically audacious project and his most expressly political. As the Trump administration threatens to send ICE agents to his Super Bowl Halftime Show, the Recording Academy has the rare chance to throw its weight behind an artist at the exact moment when his work is as urgent, ambitious, and necessary as it’s ever been. —Walden Green

• Bad Bunny: “DTMF”
• Billie Eilish: “Wildflower”
• Doechii: “Anxiety”
• Huntr/x: “Golden”
• Kendrick Lamar & SZA: “Luther”
• Lady Gaga: “Abracadabra”
• Rosé & Bruno Mars “APT.”
• Sabrina Carpenter: “Manchild”

Should Win: Sabrina Carpenter: “Manchild”

Will Win: Kendrick Lamar & SZA: “Luther”

Blurb: Surprised the Record of the Year and Song of the Year categories are roughly indistinguishable? Welcome to the Grammys. Although the former category technically focuses on production while the latter highlights songwriting, every year the winners for each end up looking like a spot-the-difference game. Much like my high-school’s lacrosse coach, Grammy voters love to play favorites (how else does a buzzer-beater 2024 Billie Eilish single that received next to no FYC promotion end up in competition?) But that’s not much of a divining rod this year, with so many familiar faces (Eilish, Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga) against each other. Although the Academy invited the Latin Recording Academy to join their ranks this year, it’s unclear how many of these members will actually get a vote, which could put Bad Bunny’s well-deserving but all-Spanish “DtMF” at a disadvantage. And the surprise KPop Demon Hunters smash “Golden” might eke out a win, but it’s a surer thing elsewhere on the ballot.

My money is on Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “Luther.” It spent the most time atop the Hot 100, Jack Antonoff had a hand in it, and it’s far less incendiary than the track that rightfully cinched Lamar this category last year. But if we’re heading for another Antonoff-happy Grammys, he should be recognized for Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild,” the best distillation of the newly-minted superstar’s delightful shtick yet and certainly the tightest lyrical showing here. If the Grammys can shower noms on Antonoff’s less-impressive layups (looking at you, The Tortured Poets Department), they ought to recognize his slam dunks, too. —Hattie Lindert

• Addison Rae
• Alex Warren
• Katseye
• Leon Thomas
• Lola Young
• The Marías
• Olivia Dean
• sombr

Should Win: Addison Rae

Will Win: sombr

Infamously and inevitably, the Best New Artist category highlights artists who have been around for years and, oftentimes, already have multiple albums to their name. Even with that caveat, this year’s batch feels noteworthy for the fact that three artists—Alex Warren, Addison Rae, and sombr—released a debut album within the Academy’s designated eligibility window.

Turns out going viral is no longer the secret to fast-tracked financial wins, but also the path to Recording Academy recognition. Of course, it’s largely out of an artist’s hands: For Katseye, it barely took a year, during which the international girl group transcended K-pop corner stardom and entered crossover earworm success thanks to “Gnarly,” while it took a decade for the Marías’ seductive dream-pop and dual-language lyrics to catch fire on TikTok. Olivia Dean and Leon Thomas sit squarely in the middle with two albums that take different approaches to R&B: The former indulges in classic soft-rock flair; the latter cuts straight to the chase with stuttering hi-hats and deeper vocal runs.

All of which is to say the playing field is fairly even at this point, except for the ample weight in Rae and sombr’s corners. Addison is a breathy dose of aughts pop tricks cashing in on the unabashed influences of today, from Lorde to Arca and beyond. Not only does Rae have stamps of approval from Charli XCX and Lana Del Rey, but she’s still on the mind of girls and gays who refuse to leave the club—or, at the very least, take off their headphones. Don’t be surprised if voters are too planted on their couches to spot her influence. Instead, they’ve likely clocked how omnipresent sombr is, from his drab Saturday Night Live performance to his hit singles stuffing thick classic-rock basslines under gaudy disco vocals. It’s all just generic enough to earn a vote. —Nina Corcoran

Producer of the Year, Non-Classical

• Blake Mills
• Cirkut
• Dan Auerbach
• Dijon
• Sounwave

Should Win: Dijon

Will Win: Cirkut

In recent years, the formula for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical success has been no secret: Simply be Jack Antonoff, undisputed category daddy from 2022-24. If that is too big an ask, your best bet might be to hew to the Antonoff mold, as 2025 winner Dan Nigro did. By forming a songwriting partnership with a household name (in his case, Olivia Rodrigo), a producer can become synonymous with their success and save voters the trouble of asking tricky questions like what it means to be a great producer in a vacuum. This year’s award, then, is destined to break from custom. Though each nominee has a formidable résumé of A-list collaborators, none has an instant co-writing association with a single Academy darling.

Dan Auerbach nearly fits the bill, but his flagship project, Black Keys’ No Rain, No Flowers, picked up zero nominations outright, and his recent production for the likes of Miles Kane and Moonrisers barely moves the needle. Blake Mills, a third-time nominee in the category, has oodles of goodwill but a recent slate—Lucy Dacus, Perfume Genius, Japanese Breakfast—that has similarly failed to grab voter lapels. A win for Sounwave, solely based on his co-production of Kendrick Lamar’s GNX, would feel generous for the least characterful album of Lamar’s career. And while Dijon ought to clinch it on maverick factor alone—both for his own Baby songs and those he exported to Justin Bieber’s Swag—it feels like the year of Cirkut. With seven nominations overall, the Canadian superproducer’s résumé lands one banger after another: Lady Gaga’s “Disease” and “Abracadabra” have basic muscle memory on their side, and his productions for the Weeknd, Jade, and Ed Sheeran showcase his Academy-baiting ease in sliding between pop pizzazz and radio-friendly mush. —Jazz Monroe

Best Pop Vocal Album

• Justin Bieber: Swag
• Lady Gaga: Mayhem
• Miley Cyrus: Something Beautiful
• Sabrina Carpenter: Man’s Best Friend
• Teddy Swims: I’ve Tried Everything but Therapy (Part 2)

Should Win: Lady Gaga: Mayhem

Will Win: Lady Gaga: Mayhem

Now here’s one that Lady Gaga can and should run away with handily. Let’s break it down. “Pop”: She last won Best Pop Vocal Album in 2011 for The Fame Monster, which reshaped pop music in its image, and Mayhem is arguably her best full-length project since. “Vocal”: Nobody has pipes like Gaga, and a decade-and-a-half of training for the stage and screen has made her a more dynamic, expressive singer. “Album”: Sure, after 17 tracks, Mayhem limps to the finish line a bit, but show me a stronger run of pop singles (and could’ve-been singles) from this year’s eligibility period than “Disease” into “Abracadabra” into “Garden of Eden” into “Perfect Celebrity.” It’s hard to imagine even last year’s winner, Sabrina Carpenter, standing a chance against the grande dame herself. —Walden Green

Best Dance/Electronic Album

• FKA twigs: Eusexua
• Fred Again..: Ten Days
• PinkPantheress: Fancy That
• Rüfüs Du Sol: Inhale / Exhale
• Skrillex: F*ck U Skrillex You Think Ur Andy Warhol but Ur Not!! <3

Should Win: FKA twigs: Eusexua

Will Win: PinkPantheress: Fancy That

Best Dance/Electronic Album is geared to reward albums that shimmy right up to the border between marquee electronic music and widescreen pop. This is particularly true given how the dance categories are divided: While tracks are split into Best Dance Pop Recording and Best Dance/Electronic Recording, no Best Dance Pop Album award exists. Had that category been invented this year, you would imagine it was made for PinkPantheress. The UK producer-songwriter seamlessly integrates silky pop hooks into retro productions that would have slotted neatly into an HMV Dance rack in the late 1990s. Yet this now feels like the true zeitgeist, a pop record if ever there was one.

Fancy That might deserve to take this category, too, even if FKA Twigs’s dazzling return-to-form Eusexua feels like a more radical pick. Relative to the Recording Academy’s dire track record in recognizing innovation, it is mildly heartening to see that Skrillex remains in favor after veering into more adventurous sounds; his latest mashes together a furiously hectic, tour-de-brute-force of dance underworlds with a reinvention of his trademark EDM pugilism. Unsurprisingly, no such reinvention is forthcoming from festival-lineup autofills Rüfüs Du Sol or two-time Grammy winner Fred Again… Knowing the Grammys, however, Fred fatigue might just work in his favor: The populist producer has demonstrated an impressive ability to build dancefloors in the middle of the road without getting knocked down—just the sort of bravery the Academy tends to reward. —Jazz Monroe

Best Rock Performance

• Amyl and the Sniffers: “U Should Not Be Doing That”
• Hayley Williams: “Mirtazapine”
• Linkin Park: “The Emptiness Machine”
• Turnstile: “Never Enough”
• Yungblud, Nuno Bettencourt & Frank Bello: “Changes (Live From Villa Park / Back to the Beginning)” [ft. Adam Wakeman & II]

Should Win: Hayley Williams: “Mirtazapine”

Will Win: Turnstile: “Never Enough”

The best rock songs should make you acutely aware of the blood pumping through your veins. That might explain how Amyl and the Sniffers ended up with a well-deserved nomination this year thanks to “U Should Not Be Doing That.” No matter how palatable the fiery Australian punk band has become, watching singer Amy Taylor parade around in assless chaps and wag her tongue reminds you what unpredictability looks like.

Surprisingly, the rest of the nominations are even more memorable. The old guard nod goes to Linkin Park for “The Emptiness Machine,” a striking pick because of what’s missing—the late Chester Bennington’s iconic, belatedly revered vocals. Yungblud’s live rendition of the Black Sabbath classic “Changes” gets an emotional charge usually absent from his melodramatic shtick due not to the faithfulness with which he delivers it (though that’s appreciated for once), but the massive crowd wistfully singing along in Ozzy’s absence.

It’s funny that two of the best bandleaders in rock known for freeform dance moves and a comfortability howling on the mic, Hayley Williams and Brendan Yates, are facing off with their own tight-knit pop-rock songs. “Never Enough” is Turnstile’s grand return and a continuation of Glow On in sound. With a split vote, Turnstile could pull ahead through sheer radio airplay alone. It’s not a shame, per se, but it does make Hayley Williams’ single that much punchier by comparison. Williams sing-screams her way through “Mirtazapine,” an ode to the medication that helps us overcome depression, with enough vehemence and maniacal laughter to get you jumping along. —Nina Corcoran

• Bon Iver: SABLE, fABLE
• The Cure: Songs of a Lost World
• Hayley Williams: Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party
• Tyler, the Creator: Don’t Tap the Glass
• Wet Leg: Moisturizer

Should Win: Wet Leg: Moisturizer

Will Win: The Cure: Songs of a Lost World

All five artists up for Best Alternative Music Album have earned nominations in the past, two of whom—Bon Iver and Wet Leg—won in this exact category. There’s the personification of millennial indie-rock’s big breakthrough now settling into its yacht-rock groove with SABLE, fABLE, the punk-goes-pop star going solo on her own terms with Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party, and the shapeshifting rapper who intentionally counteracts hip-hop’s stylistic stereotypes with the ‘80s dance-indebted Don’t Tap the Glass. In fact, everyone here already has a Grammy except for the Cure, whose music has influenced generations—and likely their fellow nominees. Why wouldn’t their long-awaited, perpetually delayed, comeback album Songs of a Lost World win? At the bare minimum, it would eradicate the go-to ammo for damaging the Recording Academy’s credibility: You’re telling me the Cure never won a single award?

And yet, if we’re not looking at the past, Wet Leg should bring home the trophy. Even with the relentless accolades behind their previous album, they aren’t an easy shoo-in—most of all because Moisturizer is less immediate, slower-paced, and more nuanced than their self-titled debut. In allowing lead singer and guitarist Rhian Teasdale to get lost, Wet Leg found a stronger, more affecting side of themselves as a band. If the Alternative Music categories at the Grammys remain one of the few spots for younger artists to shine, then Wet Leg’s Moisturizer speaks to what’s popular in the present moment while demonstrating where the next generation of alternative artists might veer tomorrow. —Nina Corcoran

Best Rap Song

• Clipse: “The Birds Don’t Sing” [ft. John Legend, Voices of Fire]
• Doechii: “Anxiety”
• Glorilla: “TGIF”
• Kendrick Lamar: “TV Off” [ft. Lefty Gunplay]
• Tyler, the Creator: “Sticky” [ft. GloRilla, Sexyy Red & Lil Wayne]

Should Win: Tyler, the Creator: “Sticky” [ft. GloRilla, Sexyy Red & Lil Wayne]

Will Win: Clipse, John Legend, Voices of Fire, Pusha T & Malice: “The Birds Don’t Sing”

It’s an annual tradition to mock the mainstream jetsam you find in Grammy rap nominations, but 2026’s Best Song nods are far less embarrassing than years’ past, with some worthy contenders: Tyler, the Creator’s cross-generational posse cut, “Sticky”; Kendrick Lamar’s beat-flipping hyphy single, “TV Off”; and GloRilla’s rowdy hype anthem, “TGIF” (Glo actually appears twice in this category, thanks to her guest spot on “Sticky”).

While Tyler may deserve the gold—not only for smarty pairing himself with Glo, Sexyy Red, and Lil Wayne but for coaxing a far better verse out of Weezy than anything he did on Tha Carter VI—expect voters to play it safe, skipping Doechii’s überviral “Anxiety” for the most heartfelt song in Clipse’s catalog. The rap veterans’ “Birds Don’t Sing” is a middle-of-the-road tearjerker about their mother’s passing and includes a hook by 13-time Grammy winner John Legend. It’s as close to Grammy bait as you can get in a rap category.—Alex Suskind

Best Album Cover

• Bad Bunny: Debí Tirar Más Fotos
• Djo: The Crux
• Perfume Genius: Glory
• Tyler, the Creator: Chromakopia
• Wet Leg: Moisturizer

Should Win: Perfume Genius: Glory

Will Win: Bad Bunny: Debí Tirar Más Fotos

A new Grammys category is an exciting proposition because it lets today’s voters create their own value system without the burden of decades of precedent. Although based on the inaugural class of Best Album Cover nominees, I could not possibly tell you what those values are. Beige, maybe? That’s what the inclusion of Wet Leg’s Moisturizer (great album) and Djo’s The Crux (not-so-great album) would indicate. Meanwhile, Tyler, the Creator’s noir-indebted portraiture serves more as stand-in for the entire visual universe that the hip-hop auteur built around Chromakopia. (I’m also partial to the deluxe cover.) Eric Rojas’ photography for for Debí Tirar Más Fotos—a striking visual metaphor for the influx of U.S. tourism dollars into Puerto Rico during the 20th century—more than earns its nod here, but it’s the presence of Perfume Genius that’s most surprising, and makes me think he’s got a genuine shot at a win. From his striking early music videos to his scores for modern dance, Mike Hadreas would be a pacesetting standard-bearer for this category’s future. Also, that waist is just undeniable. —Walden Green