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New York: The 2026 Grammy Award nominees are here, and who else but Kendrick Lamar leads this year’s crop with nine nods on the strength of 2024’s “GNX?”It’s an exciting lineup, but like every year, there were a few artists who made the coveted list Friday and a few who didn’t. Snubs and surprises are in no short supply in 2026.The 2026 Grammy Awards will air Feb. 1 live on CBS and Paramount+ from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.Hip-hop heavyweights get recognized in the top prizeIt’s Lamar’s world, but he’s sharing it. This year, for the first time, there are three releases nominated in both the rap album and album of the year categories. Those are “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 over a lack of diversity — artists of color and women left out of top prizes; rap and contemporary R&B stars ignored. Is this symbolic of a new shift?The best new artist category leaves out rap and countryDespite the hip-hop attention in the album of the year category, rap’s missing in the list of best new artist nominees this year. The same is true of 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 backA favorite of the Recording Academy, Billie Eilish is up for two trophies this year: song and record of the year, both for her track “Wildflower.” That make come as a surprise to some award show devotees: Only recordings commercially released in the U.S. between Aug. 31, 2024 through Aug. 30, 2025 were eligible for nominations. “Wildflower” was released in May 2024, on her last album, the critically acclaimed “Hit Me Hard and Soft.” So, why is Eilish allowed to compete again in 2026?There’s another rule that states “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 several categories, including all the classical ones. But because “Wildflower” was not previously entered — and it was entered as an album track — it is eligible. Will that ruin others’ opportunity to take home one of the top prizes? Only time will tell.New country categories confuseThere were a few changes to the Grammys this year, one of which was the creation of a best traditional country album category, while the existing best country album category has been renamed best contemporary country album. (Beyoncé won best country album at the 2025 Grammy Awards for “Cowboy Carter.”) It was unclear how the two categories would differ from one another — and it is still unclear.The traditional country category includes Charley Crockett’s “Dollar A Day,” Lukas Nelson’s “American Romance,” Willie Nelson’s “Oh What A Beautiful World,” Margo Price’s “Hard Headed Woman” and Zach Top’s “Ain’t In It For My Health.”And in the contemporary country category is Kelsea Ballerini’s “Patterns,” Tyler Childers’ “Snipe Hunter,” Eric Church’s “Evangeline vs. The Machine,” Jelly Roll’s “Beautifully Broken” and Miranda Lambert’s “Postcards from Texas.”Is it that the latter leans more “crossover” country? You decide.And let the record show Morgan Wallen didn’t submit his hit album, “I’m the Problem” for consideration.What’s up with The Weeknd?At the 2025 Grammy Awards, The Weeknd performed for the first time since 2017. As many may recall, back in 2020, he slammed the Grammys, calling them “corrupt” after he landed zero nominations despite a megahit album. “You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency,” he wrote on social media.At the 2025 event, Grammys CEO Harvey Mason jr. introduced The Weeknd by stating that he understood the criticism and listed all the things the academy has done to fix it.“We have completely remade our membership, adding more than 3,000 women voting members. The Grammy electorate is now younger, nearly 40% people of color, and 66% of our members are new since we started our transformation,” he said. “Over the past few years, we have listened, we’ve acted and we’ve changed.”However, in 2026, The Weeknd’s “Hurry Up Tomorrow” album was eligible and submitted for Grammy consideration in over a dozen categories, including album, song and record of the year. He does not appear on the 2026 nominations list.Make way for K-popLast year, K-pop was absent from the 2026 Grammys major categories. It seemed odd, to fans of the genre, especially considering the prolific output from BTS members who released 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 received five nominations across its career.) This year, that changes somewhat.Rosé, perhaps best known as one-fourth of the juggernaut girl group BLACKPINK, is the...
