Snubs & Surprises in the 2026 Grammy Nominations

The Recording Academy released the list of nominations for the 68th annual Grammy Awards on Friday morning (Nov. 7). Four artists – Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, Sabrina Carpenter and Bad Bunny – each received nominations for album, record and song of the year. The sweep of these top awards for Lamar, Gaga and Carpenter were completely expected. It’s Lamar’s third time sweeping those categories in the same year; the second time Gaga and Carpenter have done it. Gaga last did it at the 2010 ceremony; Carpenter did it at the ceremony earlier this year.

Bunny’s nominations for record and song of the year for “DtMF” were more of a surprise, but make perfect sense when you consider that the Recording Academy extended invitations to join their organization to all members of the Latin Recording Academy, who vote for the Latin Grammys.

While those were not surprising outcomes, there were plenty of surprises sprinkled through the Grammy ballot, which has 95 categories this year.

Lamar was this year’s top nominee, with nine nods, followed by Jack Antonoff, Cirkut and Lady Gaga, with seven each.

With nine nominations, Lamar could very easily become the rapper with the most career wins when the awards are presented on Feb. 1. Having won 22 Grammys, he needs just four more trophies to top Jay-Z as the most-awarded rapper in Grammy history. Jay-Z has amassed 25 wins since 1999. Lamar has accumulated all of his wins since 2015.

Here are some of the biggest snubs and surprises in the nominations for the 68th annual Grammy Awards.