Kendrick Lamar and Lady Gaga lead Grammy Award nominations

US rapper Kendrick Lamar and pop star Lady Gaga are among those leading the nominations for next year’s Grammy Awards.

The annual awards show, recognising artists from across the music industry, will take place at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Sunday February 1 2026.

Lamar, 38, who already has 22 Grammys to his name, is up for nine prizes – record of the year, album of the year, song of the year, pop/duo group performance, melodic rap performance, rap album and rap song.

He has also been nominated twice in the rap performance category for TV off featuring Lefty Gunplay and Chains And Whips with Clipse, Pusha T, Malice and Pharrell Williams.

The nominations sweep comes after a federal judge tossed out a defamation lawsuit Canadian rapper Drake brought against Universal Music Group, labelling the alleged libellous words in Lamar’s diss track Not Like Us as opinion.

Rap titan Lamar took home Grammys for song of the year, record of the year, music video, rap song and rap performance at the most recent ceremony for the hit diss track, which he performed during his acclaimed Super Bowl LIX half-time show in February.

Lady Gaga, who finished a spate of UK performances last month amid her Mayhem Ball world tour, is up for record, song and album of the year – her first time receiving nominations in all three categories simultaneously – and could also score wins in the categories, pop solo performance, pop vocal album, dance pop/electronic recording and traditional pop vocal album.

The Paparazzi singer, 39, who already has 14 Grammys, topped the UK album charts for a fifth time after she released her studio album Mayhem earlier this year.

Among the other artists with major nods this year are US producer Jack Antonoff, Puerto Rican rapper and singer Bad Bunny, US pop star Sabrina Carpenter and Canadian record producer/songwriter Cirkut.

In addition to Lady Gaga’s Mayhem and Lamar’s GNX, the album of the year category includes Swag by pop singer Justin Bieber, Debi Tirar Mas Fotos by Bad Bunny, Man’s Best Friend by Carpenter, Let God Sort Em Out by hip-hop duo Clipse, Pusha T and Malice, Mutt by US musician Leon Thomas, and Chromakopia by US rapper Tyler The Creator.

The song of the year category, which features Lady Gaga and Lamar, also includes Anxiety by Doechii, APT by Bruno Mars and Rose, Golden by HUNTR/X from the Netflix hit KPop Demon Hunters, Manchild by Carpenter, DtMF by Bad Bunny and Wildflower by Billie Eilish and Finneas.

This is made up of an almost identical list to record of the year, except Chappell Roan’s The Subway replaces Golden from the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack.

Missing from the nominations was US pop superstar Taylor Swift, whose most recent chart-topping album, The Life Of A Showgirl, was released following the eligibility period for nominations.

British stars Lola Young and Olivia Dean, who have both topped the UK charts this year, secured nods in the best new artist category which was last year won by Good Luck, Babe! singer Chappell Roan.

Young, who said she would be “going away for a while” after collapsing on stage in September, also has a nod in the pop solo performance category for her number one single Messy.

Sir Elton John and Brandi Carlile have also received a Grammy nomination for their song Never Too Late, which features on the soundtrack of a documentary film about the British music star.

Their song, which received an Oscar nomination earlier this year, appears in the category for best song written for visual media.

Elsewhere, BBC concert Live At The Royal Albert Hall, featuring Brit Award-winner Raye, is nominated in the music film category.

There are a number of first-time nominees this year as well, including Greedy singer Tate McRae, Swedish singer Zara Larsson and British music star and Mercury Prize nominee PinkPantheress.

This year’s nominations included two new categories, traditional country album and best album cover.

Only recordings commercially released in the US between August 31 2024 and Aug 30 2025 are eligible for nominations for the 2026 ceremony.