Kendrick Lamar tops 2026 Grammy nominations

Kendrick Lamar leads the 2026 Grammy Awards with nine nominations announced Friday, including record of the year, song of the year and album of the year.

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The Grammy Awards, or Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy to recognise “outstanding” achievements in the music industry, primarily of songs and albums popular in the United States. The annual presentation ceremony features performances by prominent artists, and the televised broadcast attracts a large international audience.

The tally also includes pop duo/group performance, melodic rap, rap song and rap album, along with two additional rap performance slots.

Lamar’s latest release “GNX” underpins his haul and extends a run that now includes five consecutive album of the year nominations. He has 22 career Grammy wins and 66 nominations.

If “GNX” wins album of the year, it would be his first in the category and would mark only the third time a rap album has taken the top prize, following Lauryn Hill in 1999 and Outkast in 2004.

Lady Gaga, Jack Antonoff and Cirkut received seven nominations each. Gaga appears in record of the year, song of the year and album of the year simultaneously for the first time.

Antonoff features twice across the top general categories for work with Lamar and Sabrina Carpenter and is also up for rap song. Producer Cirkut is nominated for both record and song of the year for Lady Gaga’s “Abracadabra” and Rosé and Bruno Mars’ “APT,” along with album of the year and best dance pop recording.

Album of the year is led by a field that includes Lamar’s “GNX,” Sabrina Carpenter’s “Man’s Best Friend” and Bad Bunny’s “Debí Tirar Más Fotos.”

Projects involving Justin Bieber, Pusha T and Clipse, Leon Thomas and Tyler, the Creator are also in contention. This is the first year that three albums are nominated for both rap album and album of the year. Bad Bunny’s entry is only the second all-Spanish album to secure an album of the year nomination.

K-pop reached a new milestone as Rosé of BLACKPINK became the first K-pop artist nominated for record of the year. She is recognized for “APT,” a collaboration with Bruno Mars that also brought nominations to producer Cirkut. First-time nominees include Tate McRae, Zara Larsson, PinkPantheress, JID and Timothée Chalamet.

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

Additional music category nominees and performers are expected to be announced closer to the broadcast. Organizers have not released voting round details beyond the nominations.