Grammys Overview

Juliana Buckmaster ~  February 2026

The 68th annual Grammys awards took place on Sunday, February 1st. The Grammys are one of the biggest nights in music where artists, producers, and songwriters get recognized for their amazing work. This year’s Grammys truly highlighted the significance behind music in different cultures and genres, rather than just popularity. Here are some of the winners!

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 BEST ALBUM COVER - CHROMAKOPIA by Tyler, The Creator

For this year’s “Best Album Cover”, the Grammy went to Tyler, The Creator. This album reached about 1.45 billion streams and his annual streamers went to 5.66 billion near the end of 2025. The artists nominated for this category were: Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos, Djo’s The Crux, Perfume Genius’ Glory, and Wet Leg’s moisturizer. While Tyler’s album has a unique style to it, I think that Djo’s album cover was one that should have won. Its colors are brighter which attracts the eye more than CHROMAKOPIA, and the more you look at it the more you find little details that capture the album beautifully. Comments from people on social media seem to agree that CHROMAKOPIA should not have won that award, and maybe would’ve fit for best rap album, as people liked the music in the album more than the cover art. 

BEST NEW ARTIST - Olivia Dean 

Olivia Dean won the Grammy for best new artist! Her album The Art of Loving has over 1 billion streams on Spotify, and her hit song “Man I Need” has been hanging at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 charts. The nominees for this category were: KATSEYE, The Marías, Addison Rae, sombr, Leon Thomas, Alex Warren, and Lola Young. Personally, I believe this is the one time where the Grammy’s didn’t feel completely rigged. Dean’s songs have been constantly hitting all the charts, and she rose to fame quite quickly with the release of her new album. Most commentary from social media seems like everyone is attracted to her vibe, which seems reasonable for her winning the award! 

BEST POP SOLO PERFORMANCE - “Messy” by Lola Young

The winner for best pop solo performance was “Messy” by Lola Young. At the end of 2025, this song reached 1 billion streams, and was constantly heard over social media and the radio. The runner ups for this category were: “DAISIES” by Justin Bieber, “Manchild” by Sabrina Carpenter, “Disease” by Lady Gaga, and “The Subway" by Chappell Roan. I believe that “Messy” is a good song, but if we were going for more popular music I thought that “Manchild” would’ve won this Grammy. I thought that more people on social media would agree with me, but it seems that most people think this song deserved a Grammy. Some comments included people saying how Young deserved this after a long time of her music not being recognized. That might be a sign I need to listen to her music more!

ALBUM OF THE YEAR - Debí Tirar Más Fotos by Bad Bunny

Lastly, album of the year went to Bad Bunny! Currently, this album has 9.9 billion streams, and his hit song “DtMF” has been at the top of spotify’s billboard hot 100 charts ever since his superbowl performance a week after the Grammys. The runner ups for this category were: SWAG by Justin Bieber, Man’s Best Friend by Sabrina Carpenter, Let God Sort Em Out by Clipse, Pusha T, & Malice, MAYHEM by Lady Gaga, GNX by Kendrick Lamar, MUTT by Leon Thomas, and CHROMAKOPIA by Tyler, The Creator.  At first, I was skeptical as to why Bad Bunny received this award, as I never really heard it anywhere. I thought that Sabrina would have won due to popularity, but after seeing his superbowl performance and the significance behind this project, I definitely came to like both him as a person and some of his songs. 

—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Overall, the Grammys were a success, while there were some results that I did not fully agree with, I still believe that every award was well deserved! Looking forward, next year’s Grammys might be one of the craziest ones, as artists like Harry Styles, Noah Kahan, Olivia Rodrigo, and many more are releasing music! I’m looking forward to the new music that is coming our way.