Arts & Entertainment

Kendrick Lamar Dominates, Sabrina Carpenter, Lady Gaga, Bad Bunny Score 3 Grammy Noms

Kendrick Lamar scored a leading nine Grammy nominations Friday.

Kendrick Lamar performs at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. He garnered a leading 9 Grammy nominations Friday.
Kendrick Lamar performs at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. He garnered a leading 9 Grammy nominations Friday. (Rich Fury/Invision/AP)

LOS ANGELES, CA — Compton-born rapper Kendrick Lamar scored a leading nine nominations Friday for the 2026 Grammy Awards, including nods for Record and Song of the Year for "Luther" and Album of the Year for "GNX."

Sabrina Carpenter, Lady Gaga and Bad Bunny also scored nominations in all three of the top categories -- with Bad Bunny becoming the first Spanish- language artist to ever receive that trio of nods in a single year.

Bad Bunny's "Debí Tirar Más Fotos" landed him in the coveted Album of the Year category along with Lamar's "GNX," Carpenter's "Man's Best Friend" and Gaga's "Mayhem." Also nominated were Justin Bieber for "Swag"; Clipse, Pusha T & Malice for "Let God Sort Em Out"; Leon Thomas for "Mutt"; and Tyler, The Creator for "Chromakopia."

Find out what's happening in Hollywoodfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Nods for Record of the Year -- which recognizes the artist -- went to Bad Bunny for "DtMF," Carpenter for "Manchild," Doechii for "Anxiety," Eilish for "Wildflower," Gaga for "Abracadabra," Lamar with SZA for "Luther," Chappell Roan for "The Subway" and Rosé and Bruno Mars for "APT."

All of those songs -- except for "The Subway" -- were also nominated in the Song of the Year category, which honors the songwriters. Replacing "The Subway" in the category was "Golden (from `KPop Demon Hunters')" by Huntr/x.

Find out what's happening in Hollywoodfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

In the other closely watched category, nominations for Best New Artist went to Olivia Dean, KATSEYE, The Marias, Addison Rae, sombr, Leon Thomas, Alex Warren and Lola Young.

After Lamar's nine nods, Cirkut, Jack Antonoff and Lady Gaga each collected seven nominations, while Bad Bunny, Leon Thomas, Carpenter and Serban Ghenea all earned six. Andrew Watt, Clipse, Doechii, Sounwave, SZA, Turnstile and Tyler, The Creator each collected five.

Lamar's "GNX" was also nominated for Best Rap Album, along with "Let God Sort Em Out" by Clipse, Pusha T & Malice; "Glorious" by GloRilla; "God Does Like Ugly" by JID; and "Chromakopia" by Tyler, The Creator.

"Golden (from `KPop Demon Hunters')" by Huntr/x also earned a nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, along with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande's duet "Defying Gravity" from the film "Wicked." Also nominated for KATSEYE for "Gabriela," Rosé and Bruno Mars for "APT." and SZA with Kendrick Lamar for "30 for 30."

Carpenter's "Man's Best Friend," Bieber's "Swag" and Gaga's "Mayhem" were all nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album, joined in the category by Miley Cyrus' "Something Beautiful" and Teddy Swims' "I've Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 2)."

The eligibility period for this year's Grammy nominations was Aug. 31, 2024, to Aug. 30, 2025.

That timeline eliminated Taylor Swift's hit release "The Life of a Showgirl" from consideration, but it will be eligible for the 2027 Grammys.

The 68th annual Grammy Awards will be presented at 5 p.m. Feb. 1 at the Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles and aired live on CBS. The bulk of the awards will be presented during the Grammy Awards Premiere Ceremony, which will be held at 12:30 p.m. Feb. 1 at the Peacock Theater and stream live at live.Grammy.com and on the Recording Academy's YouTube page.

The nominations -- in all 95 categories -- were announced Friday morning in a live-streamed event led by Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. Also taking part in the announcement were artists and guests including Angélique Kidjo, Brandi Carlile, CeCe Winans, Chappell Roan, David Foster, Doechii, Dr. Chelsey Green, Gayle King, Jon Batiste, KAROL G, Little Big Town, Lizzo, Masaki Koike, Mumford & Sons, Nicole Scherzinger, Sabrina Carpenter and Sam Smith.

Copyright 2025, City News Service