Lady Gaga and Kendrick Lamar dominate Grammys 2026 nominations

Lady Gaga and Kendrick Lamar dominate Grammys 2026 nominations
• Kendrick Lamar accepts Album of the Year for GNX at the BET Awards, Los Angeles, June 9, 2025
Reuters

Kendrick Lamar and Lady Gaga lead the 2026 Grammy nominations, while K-Pop enters the Song of the Year category for the first time in the award’s history.

Kendrick Lamar tops this year’s nominees with nine nods, including Album of the Year for GNX. It marks his second consecutive year leading the field. Lady Gaga follows with seven nominations, also competing for the top album award with Mayhem, a project centered on her return to electro-pop.

History was also made in the Song of the Year category. Two K-Pop tracks earned nominations, APT by Rosé and Bruno Mars, and Golden from the Netflix film K-Pop Demon Hunters, marking the first time songs from the genre have been shortlisted in the category.

Both Lamar and Gaga have been nominated five times previously for Album of the Year, but neither has won the award.

Lamar, coming off major wins at the 2025 Grammys, could become the first rapper since Outkast in 2004 to win Album of the Year if GNX takes the prize. His competition includes Tyler, The Creator (Chromakopia) and hip-hop duo Clipse with Let God Sort Em Out. This is the first year three rap albums have been shortlisted in the category.

Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny is also in the race for Debí Tirar Más Fotos, making it the second fully Spanish-language album ever nominated for Album of the Year, following his own 2022 nomination. Bad Bunny is also set to headline the 2026 Super Bowl halftime show.

The 2026 Grammy Awards winners will be announced in February.

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