All The 2026 Grammy Nom Snubs And Surprises

new York: The 2026 Grammy Award nominees are here, and 2024’s “GNX?” Leveraging his power, who else other than Kendrick Lamar leads this year’s crop with nine nominations?

It’s an exciting line-up but, as every year, on Friday there were a few artists who made the coveted list and a few who didn’t. There is no shortage of snubs and surprises in 2026.

The 2026 Grammy Awards will air live on February 1 from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on CBS and Paramount+.

Hip-hop’s heavyweights were awarded the grand prize

It’s Lamar’s world, but he shares it. This year, for the first time, three albums were nominated in both the rap album and album of the year categories. These include “GNX,” Clipse, Pusha T & Malice’s “Let God Sort Em Out,” and Tyler, the Creator’s “Chromakopia.”

In the past, the Grammys have been criticized for their lack of diversity; artists and women of color were excluded from major awards; rap and contemporary R&B stars were ignored. Is this a symbol of new change?

Best new artist category leaves out rap and country

Despite hip hop’s interest in the album of the year category, rap is missing from the list of best new artist nominees this year. The same goes for the country. Don’t get it twisted – Katseye, Olivia Dean, The Marias, Addison Rae, sombr, Leon Thomas, Alex Warren and Lola Young make a great list – but what about Ella Langley? Megan Moroney?

Billie Eilish is back

Recording Academy favorite Billie Eilish is nominated for two awards this year: both song and record of the year for her song “Wildflower”. This came as a surprise to some award show enthusiasts: Only recordings commercially released in the U.S. between August 31, 2024 and August 30, 2025 were eligible for nomination. “Wildflower” was released on her latest critically acclaimed album, “Hit Me Hard and Soft” in May 2024. So why is Eilish allowed to compete again in 2026?

There’s another rule: “Tracks from an album released during last year’s eligibility period are eligible in the current eligibility period, provided the same tracks were not entered the previous year and the album did not win a Grammy.”

There are a few exceptions. The rule excludes many categories, including all classic ones. However, “Wildflower” is appropriate since it has not been included before and was entered as an album track. Will this ruin the opportunity for others to take home one of the biggest prizes? Only time will tell.

New country categories are confusing

There have been a few changes to the Grammys this year; one of these was the creation of a best traditional country album category, while the existing best country album category was renamed best contemporary country album. (Beyoncé won best country album at the 2025 Grammy Awards for her song “Cowboy Carter.”) It was, and still is, unclear how the two categories would differ.

The traditional country category includes Charley Crockett’s “A Dollar a Day,” Lukas Nelson’s “American Romance,” Willie Nelson’s “Oh What a Beautiful World,” Margo Price’s “Tough Head Woman” and Zach Top’s “Not in This for My Health.”

The contemporary country category includes “Patterns” by Kelsea Ballerini, “Snipe Hunter” by Tyler Childers, “Evangeline vs. The Machine” by Eric Church, “Beautiously Broken” by Jelly Roll and “Postcards from Texas” by Miranda Lambert.

Is the latter moving towards more “transition” countries? You decide.

And for the record, Morgan Wallen did not submit his hit album “I’m the Problem” for review.

What’s the latest on The Weeknd?

The Weeknd performed at the 2025 Grammy Awards for the first time since 2017. As many will recall, he harshly criticized the Grammys in 2020, calling them “corrupt” after they received zero nominations despite a megahit album. “You owe it to me, my fans, and industry transparency,” he wrote on social media.

Grammy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. at the 2025 event. He introduced The Weeknd and stated that he understood the criticism, listing everything the academy was doing to fix it.

“We have completely revamped our membership and added more than 3,000 female members who are eligible to vote. Since we began our transformation, Grammy voters are now younger, nearly 40% are of color, and 66% of our members are new,” he said. “Over the past few years, we have listened, acted and changed.”

But in 2026, The Weeknd’s “Hurry Up Tomorrow” was deemed eligible and submitted for Grammy consideration in more than a dozen categories, including album, song and record of the year. He does not appear on the 2026 candidate list.

Make room for K-pop

Last year, K-pop was not included in the main categories of the 2026 Grammys. It seemed odd for fans of the genre, especially considering the prolific output of BTS members releasing solo material: RM’s “Right Place, Wrong Person,” J-Hope’s “Hope on the Street, Vol. 1” and Jimin’s “Muse” among them. (As a boy band, BTS has been nominated five times throughout its career.) This year, things have changed a bit.

Perhaps best known as one-fourth of the smash girl group BLACKPINK, Rosé has a mega-hit with Bruno Mars called “APT.” He is the first K-pop artist to be nominated for record of the year.

Song of the year, which is awarded to the songwriters of a track and sometimes, but not always, includes the artist, also includes the song “Gold” from the “KPop Demon Hunters” soundtrack.

Timothée Chalamet receives first Grammy nomination

You read that correctly. The actor was awarded the best compilation soundtrack for visual media for the movie “A Complete Unknown,” in which he played the great Bob Dylan. But the competition is tight: it will have to beat “Wicked,” “KPop Demon Hunters,” “Sinners” and “F1 the Album.”

He’s not the only shocker with a first-time nomination: Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and the Dalai Lama are set to record audiobook, narration and storytelling. Steven Spielberg was also nominated in the music film category for “Music By John Williams.”

Is the future of the Grammys Hispanic? Or is it just the Bad Rabbit effect?

Bad Bunny is this year’s top nominee and is making history with his critically acclaimed album “Debí Tirar Más Fotos.” This is only the second Spanish-language album to be nominated for album of the year. First? And that was Bad Bunny: for “Un Verano Sin Ti” in 2023. Harry Styles’ “Harry’s House” won that year.

It raises several questions. Do the Grammys accept more Spanish-language music, or is Bad Bunny an exception? The 2026 nomination list does not include Fuerza Regida’s “111XPANTIA,” which was this year’s highest-charting Mexicana album. And at one point it debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, just below Bad Bunny; this marked the first time two Spanish-language albums had both charted at the top. Fuerza Regida’s joint EP with Grupo Frontera, “Mala Mia,” was nominated instead.

On Monday, it was announced that all Latin Grammy voting members have been invited to join the Recording Academy as part of the 2025 new member class. It will take time to see results, but perhaps an evolving, diversified electorate could bring more openness to Latin artists in the future.

Jack Antonoff returns

Last year, Antonoff was not nominated in the producer of the year, non-classical category, and that unfortunate trend continues this year. This was unusual because he had previously taken her home three years in a row. (Dan Nigro, known for his work with Chapel Roan and Olivia Rodrigo, took home the trophy in 2025.)

But it’s not all doom and gloom: This year, the actor known for his work with Lamar and Sabrina Carpenter is the second-most nominated act at the Grammys, with seven nominations.