Welcome back for another year! Here are my no context predictions for the 2026 GRAMMY Awards (excluding limited categories):
Record of the Year:
“Abracadabra” – Lady Gaga
Album of the Year:
“Chromakopia” – Tyler, The Creator
Song of the Year:
“APT” – Rosé, Bruno Mars
Best New Artist:
Leon Thomas
Producer of the Year (Non-Classical):
Cirkut
Songwriter of the Year (Non-classical):
Amy Allen
Best Pop Solo Performance:
Manchild – Sabrina Carpenter
Best Pop/Group Performance:
“Defying Gravity” – Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande
Best Pop Vocal Album:
Mayhem – Lady Gaga
Best Dance/Electronic Recording:
“Space Invader” – KAYTRANADA
Best Dance Pop Recording:
“Illegal” – PinkPantheress
Best Dance/Electronic Album:
“Ten Days” – Fred Again..
Best Remixed Recording:
“Don’t Forget About Us” – KAYTRANADA, remixer (Mariah Carey & KAYTRANADA)
Best Rock Recording:
“The Emptiness Machine” – Linkin Park
Best Metal Performance:
“Birds” – Turnstile
Best Rock Song:
“NEVER ENOUGH” – Daniel Fang, Franz Lyons, Pat McCrory, Meg Mills & Brendan Yates, songwriters (Turnstile)
Best Rock Album:
Idols – Yungblud
Best Alternative Music Performance:
“Parachute” – Hayley Williams
Best Alternative Music Album:
Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party – Hayley Williams
Best R&B Performance:
“MUTT” – Leon Thomas
Best Traditional R&B Performance:
“Crybaby” – SZA
Best R&B Song:
“Folded” – Darius Dixson, Andre Harris, Donovan Knight, Don Mills, Kehlani Parrish, Khris Riddick-Tynes & Dawit Kamal Wilson, songwriters (Kehlani)
Best Progressive R&B Album:
Come As You Are – Terrace Martin & Kenyon Dixon
Best R&B Album:
MUTT – Leon Thomas
Best Rap Performance:
“Anxiety” – Doechii
Best Melodic Rap Performance:
“Luther” – Kendrick Lamar With SZA
Best Rap Song:
“Sticky” – Aaron Bolton, Dwayne Carter, Jr., Dudley Alexander Duverne, Tyler Okonma, Janae Wherry, Gloria Woods & Rex Zamor, songwriters (Tyler, The Creator Featuring GloRilla, Sexyy Red & Lil Wayne)
Best Rap Album:
CHROMAKOPIA – Tyler, The Creator
Best Jazz Performance:
“Windows – Live” – Chick Corea, Christian McBride & Brian Blade
Best Jazz Vocal Album:
Fly – Michael Mayo
Best Jazz Instrumental Album:
Spirit Fall – John Patitucci Featuring Chris Potter & Brian Blade
Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album:
Lumen – Danilo Pérez & Bohuslän Big Band
Best Latin Jazz Album:
Vanguardia Subterránea: Live at The Village Vanguard – Miguel Zenón Quartet
Best Alternative Jazz Album:
honey from a winter stone – Ambrose Akinmusire
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album:
A Matter Of Time – Laufey
Best Contemporary Instrumental Album:
BEATrio – Béla Fleck, Edmar Castañeda, Antonio Sánchez
Best Musical Theater Album:
Just In Time – Emily Bergl, Jonathan Groff, Erika Henningsen, Gracie Lawrence & Michele Pawk, principal vocalists; Tom Kirdahy, Derik Lee, Andrew Resnick, Bill Sherman & Alex Timbers, producers (Bobby Darin, composer & lyricist) (Original Broadway Cast)
Best Country Solo Performance:
“Nose On The Grindstone” – Tyler Childers
Best Country Duo/Group Performance:
“A Song To Sing” – Miranda Lambert And Chris Stapleton
Best Country Song:
“Bitin’ List” – Tyler Childers
Best Traditional Country Album:
Oh What A Beautiful World – Willie Nelson
Best Contemporary Country Album:
Patterns – Kelsea Ballerini
Best American Roots Performance:
LONELY AVENUE – Jon Batiste Featuring Randy Newman
Best Americana Performance:
Poison In My Well – Maggie Rose & Grace Potter
Best American Roots Song:
BIG MONEY – Jon Batiste, Mike Elizondo & Steve McEwan
Best Americana Album:
Bloom – Larkin Poe
Best Bluegrass Album:
Highway Prayers – Billy Strings
Best Traditional Blues Album:
Ain’t Done With The Blues – Buddy Guy
Best Contemporary Blues Album:
Breakthrough – Joe Bonamassa
Best Folk Album:
What Did The Blackbird Say To The Crow – Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson
Best Regional Roots Music Album:
Second Line Sunday – Trombone Shorty And New Breed Brass Band
Best Latin Pop Album:
Tropicoqueta – KAROL G
Best Música Urbana Album:
DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS – Bad Bunny
Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album:
ASTROPICAL – Bomba Estéreo, Rawayana, ASTROPICAL
Best Música Mexicana Album (Including Tejano):
Palabra De To’s – Seca – Carín León
Best Tropical Latin Album:
Raíces – Gloria Estefan
Best Global Music Performance:
“EoO” – Bad Bunny
Best African Music Performance:
“Push 2 Start” – Tyla
Best Global Music Album:
No Sign of Weakness – Burna Boy
Best Reggae Album:
From Within – Mortimer
Best Comedy Album:
Drop Dead Years – Bill Burr
Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording:
Into The Uncut Grass – Trevor Noah
Best Compilation Soundtrack For Visual Media:
KPop Demon Hunters – (Various Artists) Spring Aspers & Dana Sano, compilation producers; Ian Eisendrath, music supervisor
Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media (Includes Film And Television):
Wicked – John Powell & Stephen Schwartz, composers
Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media:
Helldivers 2 – Wilbert Roget, II, composer
Best Song Written For Visual Media:
I Lied to You — From Sinners – Ludwig Göransson & Raphael Saadiq, songwriters (Miles Caton)
Best Music Video:
“Love” – OK Go – Aaron Duffy, Miguel Espada & Damian Kulash Jr., video directors; Petra Ahmann & Andrew Geller, video producer
Best Music Film:
Live At The Royal Albert Hall, Raye – Paul Dugdale, video director; Stefan Demetriou & Amy James, video producers
Best Recording Package:
Balloonerism – Bráulio Amado & Alim Smith, art directors (Mac Miller)
Best Album Cover:
Glory – Cody Critcheloe, Mike Hadreas & Andrew J.S., art directors (Perfume Genius)
Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical:
For Melancholy Brunettes & sad women – Joseph Lorge, Blake Mills & Sebastian Reunert, engineers; Patricia Sullivan, mastering engineer (Japanese Breakfast)
Best Immersive Audio Album:
Immersed – Justin Gray, immersive mix engineer; Michael Romanowski, immersive mastering engineer; Justin Gray, Drew Jurecka & Morten Lindberg, immersive producers (Justin Gray)
Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals:
Something In The Water — Acoustic-Ish – Clyde Lawrence, Gracie Lawrence & Linus Lawrence, arrangers (Lawrence)