The nominees for the 2026 Grammy Award for Album of the Year have been announced. Justin Bieber’s Swag , Lady Gaga’s Mayhem, and Kendrick Lamar’s GNX all have a chance to clinch their artists’ first wins in the category after multiple prior nominations. Rounding out the pack are Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos, Clipse’s Let God Sort Em Out, Leon Thomas’ Mutt, Sabrina Carpenter Man’s Best Friend, and Tyler, the Creator Chromakopia. See all of the 2026 Grammy nominations here.
Lady Gaga has now been nominated five times for Album of the Year; she was previously up for the award for 2008’s The Fame, 2009’s The Fame Monster, 2011’s Born This Way, and 2022’s Love for Sale (with Tony Bennett). Meanwhile, it is Lamar’s fifth solo Album of the Year nod (his contributions to Beyoncé’s Lemonade and 2018’s Black Panther: The Album were also previously nominated in the category). It would be both artists’ first time claiming the top prize.
In fact, 2026 will be the first year a previous Album of the Year winner has not been nominated in the category since 2019. Bieber has been up for the award twice, in 2017 for Purpose and in 2022 for Justice, and Carpenter and Bad Bunny can each lay claim to one prior nod—for last year’s Short n’ Sweet and 2022’s Un Verano Sin Ti, respectively. None of them, however, has yet taken home the trophy.
Tyler, the Creator also has an Album of the Year nomination dating all the way back to 2012, for his work on Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange. Clipse and Thomas are the category’s newcomers, though Pusha T claimed anod in 2022 as a featured artist on Kanye West’s Donda.
Last year’s lineup for Album of the Year included Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, Charli XCX’s Brat, André 3000’s New Blue Sun, Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft, and Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department. Beyoncé took home the prize, making it her first win in the category and extending her lead as the most decorated artist in Grammys history with 35 victories.
The 2026 Grammy Awards will air live, on Sunday, February 1, 2026, from Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena. Follow along with all of Pitchfork’s coverage of the 2026 Grammy Awards, and revisit “Who Should Be Nominated at the 2026 Grammy Awards.”
Album of the Year
Bad Bunny – Debí Tirar Más Fotos
Clipse, Pusha T & Malice – Let God Sort Em Out
Justin Bieber – Swag
Kendrick Lamar – GNX
Lady Gaga – Mayhem
Leon Thomas – Mutt
Sabrina Carpenter – Man’s Best Friend
Tyler, the Creator – Chromakopia
![Grammy Awards graphic [2:1 JPG]](https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/690e0fdf4048f5be713ee597/master/w_775%2Cc_limit/Grammys-2026-2.jpeg)
