First-time GRAMMY nominees: The rising stars making their debut this year

The 2026 Grammy Nominations have been announced, and this year sees a number of breakout stars along with industry legends.

Lady Gaga and Kendrick Lamar are fighting toe-to-toe for some of the most coveted awards of the night. Meanwhile, this year also sees a huge number of rising stars finally getting their big break.

Olivia Dean, Lola Young, Addison Rae and global girl group Katseye received their first-ever Grammy nominations along with The Marias, sombr, and Alex Warren. Rose from BLACKPINK is the first K-pop idol to be shortlisted for one of the Grammys' "Big Four" with her song APT featuring Bruno Mars, which has been nominated for the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance award, Record Of The Year, and Song Of The Year.

EJAE, Audrey Nuna, and REI AMI are nominated for GOLDEN, from KPop Demon Hunters, which was one of the biggest songs of the year. While PlaqueBoyMax, whose real name is Maxwell Elliot Dent, becomes the first Twitch streamer to receive a Grammy nomination for the award, Best Dance/Electronic Recording.

Other first-timers include:

• Tate McRae - Best Dance Pop Recording
• Zara Larsson - Best Dance Pop Recording
• PinkPantheress - Best Dance Pop Recording
• Destin Conrad - Best Progressive R&B Album
• FLO - Best Progressive R&B Album

Grammy Nominations 2026

Kendrick Lamar received 9 nominations this year, leading for the second year in a row, followed by Lady Gaga with 7 nominations for her album Mayhem. Then we have a tie between Bad Bunny, Sabrina Carpenter, and Leon Thomas, who received six nominations each.

Here are the Grammys' "Big Four" nominations for 2026.

Song of the year

• Lady Gaga - Abracadabra
• Doechii - Anxiety
• Rosé & Bruno Mars - APT
• Bad Bunny - DtMF
• Hunter/x - Golden
• Kendrick Lamar feat SZA - Luther
• Sabrina Carpenter - Manchild
• Billie Eilish - Wildflower

Record of the year

• Bad Bunny - DtMF
• Sabrina Carpenter - Manchild
• Doechii - Anxiety
• Billie Eilish - Wildflower
• Lady Gaga – Abracadabra
• Kendrick Lamar feat SZA - Luther
• Chappell Roan - The Subway
• Rosé & Bruno Mars - APT

Album of the year

• Bad Bunny - Debí Tirar Más Fotos
• Justin Bieber - Swag
• Sabrina Carpenter - Man's Best Friend
• Clipse – Let God Sort Em Out
• Lady Gaga - Mayhem
• Kendrick Lamar - GNX
• Leon Thomas – Mutt
• Tyler, the Creator – Chromakopia

Best new artist

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• Olivia Dean
• Katseye
• The Marias
• Addison Rae
• Sombr
• Leon Thomas
• Alex Warren
• Lola Young

The ceremony will take place on 1 February 2026, in Los Angeles.

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