WHO WILL TAKE HOME THE MOST GRAMMYS THIS YEAR?!

Written by Eloise Bramer and Zoe Levesque, 12/11/2025.

Sound Check: The Grammy Nominations Hit All the Right Notes

Get ready York because on February 1, 2026 the 68th annual Grammy awards are taking place and just a few days ago the nominations were announced. This has been a year for great music, Zoe and Eloise are very excited to see how the Grammys will go, and these vaguely contentious nominations leave us on the edge of our seats, wondering which artists have truly made the cut. 

As of this year there are two new categories for artists to win. The first is the “best traditional country album”. This award, to us, seems suspiciously similar to the “best country album award”, but was it a necessary divide? Someone will make history, as the first person to win this category, but we don’t think it was an imperative improvement, as there is already a country album award that more generally encapsulates the genre. The other new category is much better, best album cover. This will help to highlight the effort that artists put into every aspect of their music. This year, there are five nominations, and they are all amazing works of art that all deserve the win. The nominees for 

There are 94 categories at the Grammys this year but the most anticipated ones are Best new artist, Song of the year, Album of the year, and Record of the year. These are considered the “big four” and are the most coveted awards at the Grammys. Just to remind everyone that isn’t as committed to the Grammys as Zoe and Eloise, last year Chappell Roan (winning best new artist), Not Like Us by Kendrick Lamar (winning song of the year), Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter (winning album of the year), and Not Like Us by Kendrick Lamar (winning record of the year) won the “big four”. And though these awards can be divisive (cough cough Beyoncé shouldn't have won cough cough), they are indicative of a year's worth of trends and changes.This year though, there are some big changes to the nominations and we can’t wait to see who will take away all of these awards.

Before we talk about who can be nominated this year, we want to fill you in on who can’t be nominated this year. The Grammys this year are awarded to music released between August 31, 2024, to August 30, 2025. Consequently, this leaves out anyone who has released music after August. Some of the most noticeable being Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl, Justin Bieber's Swag II, Cardi B’s AM I THE DRAMA, Ed Sheeran’s Play, and Lola Young's new album, among so many others who will be considered in next year’s Grammys. 

On to the star of the show, the nominations. For that best new artist, it may be more complicated than initially thought. In order to be nominated in this category, new artists must have achieved these three requirements. First, you must have released a minimum of five singles/tracks or one album. Second, you can not have entered into this category more than three times, and this includes as a solo artist or a part of an established group. Third, you must have achieved a breakthrough into the public consciousness and impacted the musical landscape during the eligibility period. With these rules considered, this year the nominations are, drum roll please… Olivia Dean, Katseye, The Marias, Addison Rae, Sombr, Leon Thomas, Alex Warren, and Lola Young. After careful consideration, Eloise and Zoe have guessed that the most likely winner will be Sombr, for his massive breakout hits, “Undressed” and “back to friends”, following an extensive early career, and this year's release of his first album, “I barely know her”. He surely had one immense year for his career, a name to look out for. 

The next categories of the “big four” are song of the year, and record of the year. Yes, there is a difference between them, … supposedly. So, to break it down, the record of the year award is credited to everyone who helped to make the record. This includes the songwriter, producer, and everyone else behind the scenes of our favorite music. The song of the year is awarded to the artist who wrote the winning song. The nominations for song of the year are Abracadabra by Lady Gaga, Anxiety by Doechii, APT. by Rosé and Bruno Mars, DtMF by Bad Bunny, Golden by EJAE, Audrey Nuna, and REI AMI, Luther by Kendrick Lamar and SZA, Manchild by Sabrina Carpenter, and Wildflower by Billie Eilish. Eloise and Zoe believe that Luther by Kendrick Lamar and SZAwill be the winning song in this category, as it is the product of the powerful collab of two RnB/Hip Hop music staples of this generation, both having been on top of their game in their respective, and intertwined, careers. For the record of the year, most of the nominations remain the same as the previously mentioned category. Though, noticeably,  instead of Golden being nominated, The Subway by Chappell Roan has taken its place. For this category, Zoe and Eloise think DtMF by Bad Bunny will win for its widespread popularity, as well as the success of its artist in this eligibility period.

The final and widely considered most important category at all of the Grammys is Album of the Year. This is a very talented group of eight with 46 Grammys between them. Nominated for the Album of the year is Debí Tirar Más Fotos by Bad Bunny, Swag by Justin Bieber, Man’s Best Friend by Sabrina Carpenter, Let God Sort Em Out by Clipse, Mayhem by Lady Gaga, GNX by Kendrick Lamar, Mutt by Leon Thomas, Chromakopia by Tyler, the Creator. Of this talented group, Zoe and Eloise think that Chromakopia by Tyler the Creator will win a it is the amalgamation of what makes Tyler, the Creator a testament to the trends of 21st century Hip Hop/Rnb, whale still pushing the boundaries of his craft. 

When reading those names Zoe and Eloise were very surprised by some of the nominations. We knew that Kendrick Lamar had written great music this year, but nine nominations was still a shock. We both think that after him winning five awards last year he is going to win a lot this year as well. Another big artist to watch out for is the Kpop Demon Hunters movie in general. It was nominated for five awards which is a lot in general but specifically for an animated movie because the most an animated movie has won is three. Although Eloise and Zoe did see this coming because of the soundtrack’s success on the billboard top 100 recently.

This is also a big year for Canadian singers. As a sneak peak for our future article, Justin Bieber has just released two new albums, Swag and Swag II. (no we aren’t joking about these names) Swag was nominated for four Grammys!! These include best pop vocal album and album of the year. The songs Daisies is nominated for best pop solo performance and Yukon is nominated for best R&B performance. This came as a shock to Zoe and Eloise given that Swag II wasn’t eligible for nominations so we will have to wait to see what happens next year. Another Canadian going well this year is Tate McRae with her first two Grammy nominations ever!! Her song, Just Keep Watching, written for the F1 Movie has been nominated for best dance pop recording and the F1 Movie soundtrack has been nominated for best compilation soundtrack for visual media so congratulations to Tate McRae.

Zoe and Eloise can’t wait until the Grammys in February to see how it all plays out. We will be watching to see if our predictions came true (fingers crossed) and what the live performances we will get to see.