Earning nine nods including record, song and album of the year, rapper Kendrick Lamar has topped the nominations for the 2026 Grammy Awards.
Kendrick Lamar has topped the nominations for the 2026 Grammy Awards, earning nine nods including record, song and album of the year.
It means the 38-year-old rapper’s latest album, GNX, is continuing his run of success, becoming his fifth consecutive studio album to receive an album of the year nomination – a record unmatched by any other artist.
The Recording Academy announced the nominations on Friday (07.11.25), revealing a star-studded list that also included Sabrina Carpenter, Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga, Addison Rae and Justin Bieber.
The 68th Annual Grammy Awards will air on 1 February 2026.
Kendrick was also nominated in the pop duo/group performance, melodic rap performance, rap song and rap album categories, and twice in rap performance.
If GNX wins album of the year, it would mark his first victory in that category and only the third rap album ever to win the top prize, following Speakerboxxx/The Love Below by Outkast in 2004 and The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in 1999.
Lady Gaga, record producer Jack Antonoff and Canadian producer Cirkut follow closely in the nods with seven nominations each.
Gaga received her first-ever simultaneous nominations for song, record and album of the year, and is also recognised in pop solo performance, pop vocal album, dance pop recording and traditional pop vocal album.
Jack Antonoff is nominated in record, album and song of the year categories for his work with Lamar and Carpenter.
He and Cirkut will compete for producer of the year (non-classical.)
Cirkut’s work earned nominations for both record and song of the year twice – for Lady Gaga’s Abracadabra and Rosé and Bruno Mars’s APT – as well as album of the year and best dance pop recording.
The album of the year nominees are Lamar’s GNX, Gaga’s Mayhem, Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend, Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos, Bieber’s Swag, Clipse, Pusha T and Malice’s Let God Sort Em Out, Leon Thomas’s Mutt and Tyler, the Creator’s Chromakopia.
Bad Bunny’s nomination marks only the second time an all-Spanish-language album has competed for album of the year, following his own Un Verano Sin Ti in 2023.
Other leading nominees include Sabrina Carpenter, Bad Bunny, Thomas and Serban Ghenea, each with six nominations, and Andrew Watt, Clipse, Doechii, Sounwave, SZA, Turnstile and Tyler, the Creator, who earned five each.
In the best new artist category, the nominees are Katseye, Olivia Dean, The Marias, Addison Rae, sombr, Leon Thomas, Alex Warren and Lola Young.
The record of the year contenders are Bad Bunny’s DtMF, Carpenter’s Manchild, Doechii’s Anxiety, Eilish’s Wildflower, Lady Gaga’s Abracadabra, Lamar and SZA’s luther, Chappell Roan’s The Subway and Rosé and Bruno Mars’s APT.
Rosé, a member of BLACKPINK, became the first K-pop artist to be nominated in the category.
Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. said: “The Grammy Awards are our opportunity to honour the people who make this community so vibrant, and this year’s nominees remind us of the incredible talent driving music forward.”
Taylor Swift did not receive nominations this year as her album The Life of a Showgirl, released in October, fell outside the eligibility window.
Her previous album, The Tortured Poets Department, was released in April 2024.
The 68th Grammys will introduce two new categories – Best Traditional Country Album and Best Album Cover – with the Latin Grammys scheduled for 13 November.
2026 Grammy nominations in full
Record of the year
‘DtMF’ Bad Bunny
‘Manchild’ Sabrina Carpenter
‘Anxiety’ Doechii
‘WILDFLOWER’ Billie Eilish
‘Abracadabra’ Lady Gaga
‘luther’ Kendrick Lamar With SZA
‘The Subway’ Chappell Roan
‘APT.’ ROSÉ, Bruno Mars
Song of the year (goes to songwriter)
‘Abracadabra’ Lady Gaga. Written by Henry Walter, Lady Gaga Andrew Watt
‘Anxiety’ Doechii. Written by Jaylah Hickmon
‘APT.’ ROSÉ, Bruno Mars. Amy Allen, Christopher Brody Brown, Rogét Chahayed, Henry Walter, Omer Fedi, Philip Lawrence, Bruno Mars, Chae Young Park Theron Thomas
‘DtMF’ Bad Bunny. Written by Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, Scott Dittrich, Benjamin Falik, Roberto José Rosado Torres, Marco Daniel Borrero, Hugo René Sención Sanabria Tyler Thomas Spry
‘Golden (From ‘KPop Demon Hunters’)’ HUNTR/X: EJAE, Audrey Nuna, REI AMI. Written by EJAE Mark Sonnenblick
‘luther’ Kendrick Lamar With SZA. Written by Jack Antonoff, Roshwita Larisha Bacha, Matthew Bernard, Ink, Scott Bridgeway, Sam Dew, Kendrick Lamar, Mark Anthony Spears, Solána Rowe Kamasi Washington
‘Manchild’ Sabrina Carpenter. Written by Amy Allen, Jack Antonoff Sabrina Carpenter
‘WILDFLOWER’ Billie Eilish. Written by Billie Eilish O’Connell Finneas O’Connell
Best pop solo performance
‘DAISIES’ Justin Bieber
‘Manchild’ Sabrina Carpenter
‘Disease’ Lady Gaga
‘The Subway’ Chappell Roan
‘Messy’ Lola Young
Best new artist
Olivia Dean
KATSEYE
The Marias
Addison Rae
sombr
Leon Thomas
Alex Warren
Lola Young
Best pop vocal album
‘SWAG’ Justin Bieber
‘Man’s Best Friend’ Sabrina Carpenter
‘Something Beautiful’ Miley Cyrus
‘MAYHEM’ Lady Gaga
‘I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 2)’ Teddy Swims
Best rock album
‘private music’ Deftones
‘I quit’ HAIM
‘From Zero’ Linkin Park
‘NEVER ENOUGH’ Turnstile
‘Idols’ YUNGBLUD
Best song written for visual media
‘As Alive As You Need Me To Be (from ‘TRON: Ares’)’ Nine Inch Nails. Written by Trent Reznor Atticus Ross
‘Golden (From ‘KPop Demon Hunters’)’ HUNTR/X: EJAE, Audrey Nuna, REI AMI. Written by EJAE Mark Sonnenblick
‘I Lied to You (From ‘Sinners’)’ Miles Caton. Written by Ludwig Göransson Raphael Saadiq
‘Never Too Late (From ‘Elton John: Never Too Late’)’ Elton John, Brandi Carlile. Written by Brandi Carlile, Elton John, Bernie Taupin Andrew Watt
‘Pale, Pale Moon (From ‘Sinners’)’ Jayme Lawson. Written by Ludwig Göransson Brittany Howard
‘Sinners (From ‘Sinners’)’ Rod Wave. Written by Leonard Denisenko, Rodarius Green, Travis Harrington, Tarkan Kozluklu, Kyris Mingo Darius Povilinus
Best música urbana album
‘DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS’ Bad Bunny
‘Mixteip’ J Balvin
‘FERXXO VOL X: Sagrado’ Feid
‘NAIKI’ Nicki Nicole
‘EUB DELUXE’ Trueno
‘SINFÓNICO (En Vivo)’ Yandel
Best contemporary country album
‘Patterns’ Kelsea Ballerini
‘Snipe Hunter’ Tyler Childers
‘Evangeline Vs. The Machine’ Eric Church
‘Beautifully Broken’ Jelly Roll
‘Postcards From Texas’ Miranda Lambert
Best traditional country album
‘Dollar A Day’ Charley Crockett
‘American Romance’ Lukas Nelson
‘Oh What A Beautiful World’ Willie Nelson
‘Hard Headed Woman’ Margo Price
‘Ain’t In It For My Health’ Zach Top
Best musical theater album
‘Buena Vista Social Club’
‘Death Becomes Her’
‘Gypsy’
‘Just In Time’
‘Maybe Happy Ending’
Best rap album
‘Let God Sort Em Out’ Clipse, Pusha T Malice
‘GLORIOUS’ GloRilla
‘God Does Like Ugly’ JID
‘GNX’ Kendrick Lamar
‘CHROMAKOPIA’ Tyler, The Creator
Producer of the year, non-classical
Dan Auerbach
Cirkut
Dijon
Blake Mills
Sounwave
Songwriter of the year, non-classical
Amy Allen
Edgar Barrera
Jessie Jo Dillon
Tobias Jesso Jr.
Laura Veltz
Kendrick Lamar tops nominations for 2026 Grammy Awards
