Three Rap Albums Could Land Grammy Nominations for Album of the Year for Just the Second Time Ever

When the 2026 Grammy nominations are announced on Friday, Nov. 7, three rap albums could be in the running for album of the year for only the second time in Grammy history. If Kendrick Lamar’s GNX; Tyler, The Creator’s Chromakopia; and Clipse’s Let God Sort Em Out all make the final cut, this will be the first time that three rap albums were nominated in the same year since 2019, when Cardi B’s Invasion of Privacy, Drake’s Scorpion and the Black Panther soundtrack were nominated. (Lamar was nominated as a featured artist, producer and songwriter on Black Panther.)

There have been two rap nominees on four occasions, which we list below.

If GNX is nominated, Lamar will become the first rapper to land five album of the year nods as a lead artist, pulling ahead of Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, who has received four. Lamar would also become the first solo artist – from any genre – to be nominated for album of the year with five consecutive studio albums. (Donald Fagen also achieved that feat, but only if you combine two solo album and three albums he recorded as half of Steely Dan.)

Lamar is a 22-time Grammy winner. Tyler, The Creator has yet to be nominated in a marquee Grammy category, but he won best rap album with his two albums preceding Chromakopia: Igor and Call Me If You Get Lost. Clipse’s only Grammy nod to date was for best rap/sung collaboration as a featured artist on Justin Timberlake’s “Like I Love You” in 2003. (Clipse’s Pusha T has received five additional Grammy nods.)

Coincidentally, both Lamar and Tyler, the Creator are featured on Clipse’s album, along with such other past Grammy winners as John Legend, The Dream, Pharrell Williams and Nas. Pharrell, the sole producer of the Clipse album, is a three-time winner of the Grammy for producer of the year, non-classical – twice on his own and once as half of The Neptunes.

The other two albums that have a strong chance at album of the year nods also feature multiple past Grammy winners. Lamar’s album features SZA and Roddy Ricch. Tyler, The Creator’s self-produced album features Daniel Caeasar, Lil Wayne and Doecchi.

Tyler, The Creator released two albums in the eligibility period for the 68th annual Grammy Awards, which runs from Aug. 31, 2024 to Aug. 30, 2025 — Chromakopia (released on Oct. 28, 2024) and Don’t Touch the Glass (July 21, 2025). Only one of them can be nominated for album of the year, according to Recording Academy rules.)

Several other rap albums could conceivably make the album of the year finals. They include Central Cee’s Can’t Rush Greatness, Party Next Door & Drake’s $ome $exy $ongs 4U, Playboi Carti’s Music and Lil Baby’s WHAM.

The Recording Academy’s ongoing efforts to diversify its membership make it seem entirely possible that three rap albums could be nominated this year. On Oct. 3, 2024, the academy revealed that 66% of the Grammy voting body at that point had joined since the academy introduced its new membership model in June 2019. Under that model, the academy invites large new member classes to join each year, with an eye on boosting the numbers of women, people of color and people under 40 in the academy.

On July 7, the academy announced that it had extended membership invitations to nearly 3,600 additional music professionals spanning, in its words, “diverse backgrounds, genres and disciplines.” According to the academy, this year’s class of invitees is 49% women, 56% people of color and 60% under the age of 40. That 3,600 total includes about 2,600 who are being invited to join as voting members and about 1,000 who are being invited to join as non-voting professional members. To put that 3,600 figure into perspective, the Academy reported last year that it has 16,000+ total members, of which 13,000+ were voting members.

Two notes: It has become easier to have multiple album of the year candidates from any one genre in recent years as the Grammys have expanded the number of nominees in each of the Big Four categories. The Grammys generally had five nominees for album of the year each year through the 2018 ceremony. The number jumped to eight in 2019 and then to 10 in 2022, before (mercifully) dropping back to eight in 2024.

Also, I’m adhering to Grammy classifications of the albums in question — where they competed in that year’s Grammy process. They classified Lil Nas X’s two album of the year nominees, 7 and Montero, as pop; Doja Cat’s Planet Her and Post Malone’s Beerbongs and Bentleys also as pop; and Lizzo’s Cuz I Love You as urban contemporary.

Here’s a complete list of all the times that multiple rap albums received Grammy nominations for album of the year in the same year. The years shown are the years of the Grammy ceremony. We also show you who won the award each year.