The Grammy Awards return this Sunday, February 1, and will once again be hosted by Trevor Noah. It’s the comedian’s sixth—and, according to him, final—time leading the ceremony. Topping this year’s list of nominees is Kendrick Lamar, with nine nods, including appearances in three categories he won in 2025: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Rap Performance. For the second-most nominees, it’s a three-way tie between Lady Gaga, Jack Antonoff, and Mayhem producer Cirkut, who have seven apiece.
Whether any of these artists comes home with a golden gramophone, though, remains to be seen. To find out, you’ll have to watch this year’s main ceremony, which will be broadcast live from Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena, beginning at 8 p.m. EST on CBS and Paramount+. In the meantime, check out our predictions for who should and will win in key categories at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards.
![Grammy Awards graphic [2:1 JPG]](https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/690e0fdf4048f5be713ee597/master/w_775%2Cc_limit/Grammys-2026-2.jpeg)
Record of the Year
- Bad Bunny: “DTMF”
- Billie Eilish: “Wildflower”
- Chappell Roan: “The Subway”
- Doechii: “Anxiety”
- Kendrick Lamar & SZA: “Luther”
- Lady Gaga: “Abracadabra”
- Rosé & Bruno Mars: “Apt.”
- Sabrina Carpenter: “Manchild”
Will Win: ROSÉ, Bruno Mars: “APT.”
Should Win: Lady Gaga: “Abracadabra”
Come Grammys season, ubiquity usually trumps all else; the more beaten into the cultural short-term memory, the better. In those terms, the 2026 Record of the Year race appears tight. Promo for Chappell Roan’s latest loosie “The Subway” has been plastered across its namesake public transit system all year. Lady Gaga’s “Abracadabra” premiered during last year’s Grammys. Bad Bunny, one of the biggest artists in the world right now, will bring “DtMF” to the Super Bowl halftime show on February 8. And not only has Doechii’s single “Anxiety” been floating around for years, it’s all but pre-existing IP, lightly reworking a Gotye song that won this category in 2013.
But if there’s one contender that was completely inescapable in 2026, it’s “APT.” Even with Academy darlings like Kendrick Lamar, SZA, and Billie Eilish in the mix, “APT.” is the kind of “even Grandma’s getting into it” pick Grammy voters love to laud. Bruno Mars is also a frequent flier in the Record of the Year category and Rosé’s BLACKPINK beginnings fit the Grammys’ recently-peaked interest in Korea’s star-making machine. (If “APT.” takes the statuette, she’ll be the first K-pop artist to win the category.)
But if it’s top-to-bottom production and performance the Grammys are allegedly after, “Abracadabra” should win. The MAYHEM single doesn’t exactly warrant a Lifetime Achievement nod. But after a decade of the Academy pointedly rewarding Gaga’s more traditionalist work, seeing her clinch her first Record of the Year for a song sharing more DNA with “Swine” than “Shallow” would be extremely satisfying. —Hattie Lindert
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
Should Win: Bad Bunny: Debí Tirar Más Fotos
