Last Friday, the Grammys held a live stream event where they announced the nominees for the 68th annual Grammy Awards, which will take place on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. There are a total of 95 categories this year, but for now, we are going to highlight some of the more notable categories. We are going to talk about three “Big Four” categories, along with who is the first to be nominated in the two new categories added to the Grammy Awards. Here are the nominees for Best Traditional Country Album, Best Album Cover, Best New Artist, Song of the Year and Album of the Year. For each category, I will also share my personal top three on who I believe should and have the most potential to win.
Best Traditional Country Album
Best Traditional Country Album is one of the two new categories added to the Grammys, as the category Best Country Album has also been changed to Best Contemporary Album. This change in the field of the award ceremony allows the Grammys to recognize just how far Country Music has evolved, while also showing appreciation to its roots, according to Chris Parton from the Grammys.
For this new category, the nominated albums are:
- “Dollar a Day” by Charley Crockett
- “American Romance” by Lukas Nelson
- “Oh What a Beautiful World” by Willie Nelson
- “Hard Headed Woman” by Margo Price
- “Ain’t In It For My Health” by Zach Top
Based on how each album has performed on various charts, the albums with the most potential to win the category are “Oh What a Beautiful World”, “Hard Headed Woman”, and “Ain’t In It For My Health”.
Hugh McIntyre from Forbes said “Oh What a Beautiful World” by Willie Nelson debuted at number two on the U.K. Official Country Artists Albums chart, and made it to that number one spot the following week. Official Charts shows that the album also reached number 11 on the Official Americana Chart.
“Hard Headed Woman” by Margo Price has also hit number one on the U.K. Official Country Artists Albums chart according to the Official Charts website, as well as 10th on the Official Americana Chart. On top of the nomination for Best Traditional Country Album, a song off the album, “Love Me Like You Used To Do” with Tyler Childers, has been nominated for Best Country Duo/Group Performance.
“Ain’t In It For My Health” by Zach Top made it to the fourth spot on the Billboard Top Country Albums Charts, as well as 11th on the Billboard 200 charts, according to Billboard.
Next, we have Best Album Cover, the second newest category added to the Grammys.
The albums nominated for this category are:
- CHROMAKOPIA with art directors Shaun Llewellyn & Luis “Panch” Perez
- The Crux with art director William Wesley II
- Debí Tirar Más Fotos with Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio (Bad Bunny)
- Glory with art directors Cody Critcheloe & Andrew J.S.
- moisturizer with art directors Hester Chambers, Ellis Durand, Henry Holmes, Matt de Jong, Jamie-James Medina, Joshua Mobaraki & Rhian Teasdale
After looking at each album cover, the ones that I believe are the most creative are CHROMAKOPIA, The Crux, and Debí Tirar Más Fotos.
I believe that both CHROMAKOPIA and Debí Tirar Más Fotos have simple but meaningful covers. They hold a subtle symbolism of the albums’ themes. The Crux, on the other hand, has a lot of little details. The deeper you look, the more you discover about it. For example, the person hanging off the building, or the banner in the sky.
These three albums have a strong chance of winning because, although they are all different from each other, they successfully embody the story told in these albums.
Best New Artist is one of the more prestigious categories of the Grammys. It is part of the “Big Four”. This category highlights an artist who not just started their career in the past year, but rather had their breakout year, according to Tássia Assis from the Grammys. Last year, the award went to pop artist Chappell Roan, and in 2024, it went to R&B singer-songwriter Victoria Monet.
For the 68th Annual Grammy Awards, the nominations are:
- Olivia Dean
- KATSEYE
- The Marias
- Addison Rae
- sombr
- Leon Thomas
- Alex Warren
- Lola Young
Of these eight nominees, I believe KATSEYE, Leon Thomas, and Sombr are the top contenders.
Leon Thomas, a child actor turned singer/songwriter and producer, had his personal breakout moment with his song “MUTT”, which reached number one on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts and 10th on the Billboard Hot 100. This song, along with other works that showcase his talents, such as projects with artists like Ariana Grande and SZA, proves that he is very deserving of the win.
KATSEYE has a strong chance of winning this category after their rising fame on social media due to winning the reality competition “Dream Academy” and releasing their song “GNARLY”, which hit number 90 on the Billboard Hot 100.
sombr had his breakout moment with his song “Back to Friends”, which has over 1.1 billion streams on Spotify and took the number one spot on the Billboard Hot Rock & Alternative Songs Charts. It also reached 11th on the Billboard Hot 100.
Song of the Year is another category in the “Big Four”. It awards the artist who released a song that sets itself apart from other songs in the past year lyrically. In the 2025 Grammys, Kendrick Lamar won the award for his song “Not Like Us”, and in 2024, Billie Eilish won for her song “What Was I Made For?”
The nominees for Song of the Year are:
- “Abacadabra” by Lady Gaga
- “Anxiety” by Doechii
- “APT” by Rose and Bruno Mars
- “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS” by Bad Bunny
- “Golden” by Huntr/x from Kpop Demon Hunters
- “luther” by Kendrick Lamar and SZA
- “Manchild” by Sabrina Carpenter
- “WILDFLOWER” by Billie Eilish
Given that this is a category of higher status, there is much competition among these nominees. All of these songs had their big moment in the music industry and have made it high in the charts. If we are going solely on songwriting, though, the songs that I believe to be the most deserving of this award are “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS”, “luther”, and “WILDFLOWER”.
“DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS”, the title track to Bad Bunny’s latest album, is an emotional song that talks about wishing you could have more time with those no longer in your life. It can also be interpreted as him missing Puerto Rico.
“luther” has a lot of potential to win, for Kendrick Lamar is known for his songwriting skills, and this song shows some of that talent. It samples “If This World Were Mine” by Luther Vandross, and it talks about the endless list of things on how Kendrick and SZA would do anything for their partner.
In “WILDFLOWER”, Billie Eilish is very transparent in a situation where she dates someone who used to date an old friend of hers, and the guilt that comes from it. The chorus of the song alone showcases the pain and how what she did is always weighing on her.
I am very confident that one of these songs will win Song of the Year. They are all very vulnerable and use their writing to share deep emotions.
Finally, we have what is arguably the most high-status award of the night: Album of the Year. This category simply signifies the best of the best. The winner in 2025 was Beyoncé with her album “Cowboy Carter”, and in 2024 was Taylor Swift with her album “Midnights”.
The nominations for Album of the Year are:
- “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, Pusha T & Malice
- “MAYHEM” by Lady Gaga
- “GNX” by Kendrick Lamar
- “MUTT” by Leon Thomas
- “CHROMAKOPIA” by Tyler, The Creator
The albums that I think are the most deserving for Album of the Year are “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS”, “CHROMAKOPIA”, and “GNX”.
DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS shows a lot of love to Puerto Rico and Latin culture. It includes 17 songs, with five of them getting to the top 10 on the Billboard Global 200 Chart, according to Gary Trust from Billboard. The most popular songs off the album, “DtMF” and “Baile Inolvidable”, peaked at number two and number three on the Billboard Hot 100. These two songs, along with “EoO”, “Perfumito Nuevo”, and many more from the album, are widely popular and give him a very high chance of winning this award.
CHROMAKOPIA is an album with many themes, focusing on Tyler, The Creator’s life. There are 14 songs, which all earned a spot in the Billboard Hot 100. “St. Chroma” and “Noid” made it to the top 10. Along with this, three other songs hit the top 20, and six songs in the top 50, according to Xander Zellner from Billboard.
GNX was released with no promotion, surprising Lamar’s entire fanbase. The album consists of 12 songs, all of them in the top 30 of the Billboard Hot 100, with seven of them in the top 10. In the top 10, five of the songs took the top five spots, according to Zellner. The most popular song “luther”, which is nominated for three categories in the Grammys this year, held the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for 13 weeks.
Along with their impressive standings in the charts, these albums simply have the most popular and, in my opinion, the best songs. I am positive that one of these songs will take the win.
While this has covered some of the more anticipated categories in the upcoming Grammy Awards, it has only scratched the surface. Anyone who would like to learn about the different categories and decide who they believe should win can visit the full list on the Grammys’ official website.
