2026 Grammys: Nominations for the big three categories (and why no Taylor Swift)

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The nominations for the 2026 Grammy Awards have been announced. While some artists aren’t focused on winning awards – they prioritize creating great music – recognition is still appreciated. Of course, strong record sales are a success in themselves.

It’s a fantastic time for Bad Bunny! He’s been chosen to perform at the Super Bowl LVI halftime show in February, and he’s also received six Grammy nominations. He’s up for the three biggest awards – Song of the Year, Album of the Year, and Record of the Year – which are listed below.

If you’re a Taylor Swift fan, you might notice her newest album, The Life of a Showgirl, isn’t being considered for nominations right now. There’s a simple reason for this: nominations are based on albums released between August 31st and August 30th of each year. Since Swift’s album came out on October 3rd, it will be eligible for consideration next year.

Nominees for big three categories (and rock categories) for the 2026 Grammy Awards (and why no Taylor Swift)

Here’s a look at the nominees for the major awards – including Rock – this year. Notably, the Rock nominees include artists of all ages, which is a refreshing change. It’s great to see younger musicians recognized alongside established artists, proving that talent isn’t limited by age.

Record Of The Year

This award is given to the artist, and also to the people who produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered the work, if those roles weren’t filled by the artist themselves.

The song “DtMF” by Bad Bunny was produced by Scotty Dittrich, Hydra Hitz, La Paciencia, JULiA LEWiS, MAG, and Tyler Spry. Antonio Caraballo, Josh Gudwin, Roberto Rosado, and Tyler Spry handled the engineering and mixing, while Colin Leonard mastered the track.

Manchild by Sabrina Carpenter was produced by Jack Antonoff and Sabrina Carpenter. The audio was engineered and mixed by Jack Antonoff, Bryce Bordone, Jozef Caldwell, Serban Ghenea, Sean Hutchinson, Oli Jacobs, Michael Riddleberger, and Laura Sisk. Ruairi O’Flaherty mastered the track.

Anxiety
Doechii
Doechii, producer; Jayda Love, engineer/mixer; Nicolas De Porcel, mastering engineer

Wildflower by Billie Eilish. Produced by FINNEAS, with engineering and mixing by Jon Castelli, FINNEAS, and Aron Forbes. Mastering was done by Dale Becker.

Abracadabra, performed by Lady Gaga, was produced by Cirkut, Lady Gaga, and Andrew Watt. Bryce Bordone, Serban Ghenea, and Paul LaMalfa handled the engineering and mixing, while Randy Merrill mastered the track.

Luther, a collaboration between Kendrick Lamar and SZA, was produced by Jack Antonoff, Bridgeway, M-Tech, Roselilah, Sounwave, and Kamasi Washington. The recording and mixing engineers were Jack Antonoff, Ray Charles Brown Jr., Hector Castro, Oli Jacobs, Jack Manning, Sean Matsukawa, Dani Perez, Tony Shepperd, Laura Sisk, and Johnathan Turner. Ruairi O’Flaherty handled the mastering.

The Subway by Chappell Roan was produced by Daniel Nigro, with engineering and mixing handled by Chris Kaysch, Mitch McCarthy, and Daniel Nigro. Randy Merrill mastered the track.

APT.
ROSÉ, Bruno Mars
Rogét Chahayed, Cirkut, Omer Fedi & Bruno Mars, producers; Serban Ghenea

Album Of The Year

This award recognizes the artists, featured artists, songwriters, producers, recording engineers, mixers, and mastering engineers who contributed significantly to an album – specifically, those with at least 20% of the album’s total playing time.

More Photos by Bad Bunny was produced by Big Jay, La Paciencia, MAG & Tainy, with engineering and mixing by Antonio Caraballo, Josh Gudwin, Luis Amed Irizarry, and Roberto José Rosado Torres. The song was written by Benito Antonio Ocasio Martinez, Roberto José Rosado Torres, Marco Daniel Borrero, Jay Anthony Nuñez, and Marcos Efrain Masis. Colin Leonard handled mastering.

The song ‘SWAG’ features Justin Bieber. Eddie Benjamin, Justin Bieber, Daniel Chetrit, Dijon, Carter Lang, and Dylan Wiggins produced the track, with Felix Byrne and Josh Gudwin handling the engineering and mixing. The song was written by Eddie Benjamin, Justin Bieber, Daniel Chetrit, Dijon Duenas, Tobias Jesso Jr., Carter Lang, Jackson Lee Morgan, and Dylan Wiggins. Dale Becker mastered the song.

The song “Man’s Best Friend” by Sabrina Carpenter was produced by Jack Antonoff, Sabrina Carpenter, and John Ryan. Engineering and mixing were handled by Zem Adu, Jack Antonoff, Bryce Bordone, Jozef Caldwell, Serban Ghenea, Jeff Gunnell, David Hart, Mikey Freedom Hart, Sean Hutchinson, Oli Jacobs, Jack Manning, Joey Miller, Michael Riddleberger, John Ryan, Laura Sisk, and Evan Smith. Amy Allen, Jack Antonoff, Sabrina Carpenter, and John Ryan wrote the song, and Nathan Dantzler and Ruairi O’Flaherty mastered it.

The song ‘Let God Sort Em Out’ is performed by Clipse, featuring Pusha T & Malice. Pharrell Williams contributed as a featured artist and also produced the track, with engineering and mixing handled by Pharrell Williams, Mike Larson, Manny Marroquin, and Rob Ulsh. Gene Elliott Thornton Jr., Terrence Thornton, and Pharrell Williams wrote the song, and Zach Pereyra mastered it.

The song “Mayhem” by Lady Gaga was produced by Cirkut, Gesaffelstein, Lady Gaga, and Andrew Watt. Bryce Bordone, Serban Ghenea, and Paul LaMalfa handled the engineering and mixing. Henry Walter, Mike Lévy, Lady Gaga, Michael Polansky, and Andrew Watt wrote the song, and Randy Merrill mastered it.

GNX by Kendrick Lamar features production by Jack Antonoff and Sounwave. The audio was engineered and mixed by Jack Antonoff, Ray Charles Brown Jr., Jozef Caldwell, Oli Jacobs, Jack Manning, Dani Perez, Laura Sisk, and Johnathan Turner. Songwriting credits include Jack Antonoff, Ink, Scott Bridgeway, Sam Dew, Kendrick Lamar, Matthew Bernard, and Mark Anthony Spears. Ruairi O’Flaherty handled the mastering.

The song ‘MUTT’ by Leon Thomas was produced by Freaky Rob, Peter Lee Johnson, D. Phelps, and Leon Thomas. Jean-Marie Horvat handled engineering and mixing, while Lazaro Andres Camejo, Freaky Rob, Peter Lee Johnson, D. Phelps, and Leon Thomas wrote the song. Dave Kutch mastered the track.

ChromaKopia by Tyler, The Creator. Produced by Tyler, The Creator, with engineering and mixing by NealHPogue, Tyler Okonma, and Vic Wainstein. Songwriting by Tyler Okonma, and mastering by Mike Bozzi.

Song Of The Year

The Songwriter Award recognizes songs first released or that gained significant attention during the award year. Only singles or individual tracks are considered, and the songwriter(s) will be recognized (artist names are shown in parentheses).

Abracadabra
Lady Gaga, Henry Walter & Andrew Watt, songwriters (Lady Gaga)

Anxiety
Jaylah Hickmon, songwriter (Doechii)

The song was written by Amy Allen, Christopher Brody Brown, Rogét Chahayed, Omer Fedi, Philip Lawrence, Bruno Mars, Chae Young Park, Theron Thomas, and Henry Walter. It also features ROSÉ and Bruno Mars.

The song “DtMF” was written by Marco Daniel Borrero, Scott Dittrich, Benjamin Falik, Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio (Bad Bunny), Hugo René Sención Sanabria, Tyler Thomas Spry, and Roberto José Rosado Torres.

Golden is a song written by EJAE and Mark Sonnenblick, known for their work with artists like HUNTR, X:EJAE, Audrey Nuna, and REI AMI.

The song “luther” was written by Jack Antonoff, Roshwita Larisha Bacha, Matthew Bernard, Scott Bridgeway, Sam Dew, Ink, Kendrick Lamar, SZA (Solána Rowe), Mark Anthony Spears, and Kamasi Washington. It is performed by Kendrick Lamar featuring SZA.

Manchild
Amy Allen, Jack Antonoff & Sabrina Carpenter, songwriters (Sabrina Carpenter)

WILDFLOWER
Billie Eilish O’Connell & Finneas O’Connell, songwriters (Billie Eilish)

Best Rock Performance

For new vocal or instrumental solo, duo/group or collaborative rock recordings.

Here’s a list of songs:

“U Should Not Be Doing That” – Amyl and The Sniffers
“The Emptiness Machine” – Linkin Park
“NEVER ENOUGH” – Turnstile
“Mirtazapine” – Hayley Williams
“Changes (Live From Villa Park) Back To The Beginning” – YUNGBLUD featuring Nuno Bettencourt, Frank Bello, Adam Wakeman, II

Best Metal Performance

For new vocal or instrumental solo, duo/group or collaborative metal recordings.

Okay, so I’ve been completely obsessed with these tracks lately! Dream Theater’s “Night Terror” is just mind-blowing, as usual. Then there’s Ghost’s “Lachryma” – seriously haunting and beautiful. Sleep Token’s “Emergence” has this incredible atmosphere, it just pulls you in. Spiritbox’s “Soft Spine” is heavy but so melodic, and Turnstile’s “Birds”? Pure energy! I can’t stop listening to any of them.

Best Rock Song

The Songwriter(s) Award recognizes excellence in Rock, Hard Rock, and Metal songs. To be considered, a song must have been initially released or gained significant recognition during the award year. This award is for singles or individual tracks only, and artist names will be shown in parentheses.

Here’s a list of songs and their songwriters: “As Alive As You Need Me To Be” was written by Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross (Nine Inch Nails). “Caramel” was written by Vessel1 & Vessel2 (Sleep Token). Daniel James and Hayley Williams wrote “Glum” (Hayley Williams). The song “NEVER ENOUGH” was a collaboration between Daniel Fang, Franz Lyons, Pat McCrory, Meg Mills & Brendan Yates (Turnstile). Finally, “Zombie” was written by Dominic Harrison & Matt Schwartz (YUNGBLUD).

Best Rock Album

For albums containing greater than 75% playing time of new rock, hard rock or metal recordings.

private music – Deftones
i quit – HAIM
From Zero – Linkin Park
NEVER ENOUGH – Turnstile
Idols – YUNGBLUD

You can find the complete list of Grammy nominations on the official Grammy website. Be prepared – it’s quite extensive!

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2025-11-07 23:01