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Grammys 2026 prediction – who will win, who will lose?

  • Karolina Malyan
    • Grammy Awards 2026 Grammy Trophy Award Music Awards 2026

    Courtesy of the Recording Academy®

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    Grammys 2026 prediction – who will win, who will lose?

    The 2026 awards season has arrived to us in full swing – from the Golden Globes ceremony to the Oscars and locally to the UK BRITs and BAFTA nominations coming in late January – the enthusiasts of these shows have plenty to be excited about.  
     
    However, we at Media Junkbox – the website for all things about music – want to have a peak on the biggest night of the music industry that will happen on Sunday, February 1st in Los Angeles – The 68th Annual Grammy Awards. 
     
    This year’s nominations are spread between 95 categories and 11 fields covering all genres of music to honour the excellence of all music released between August 31st, 2024, and August 30th, 2025. Upon in-depth analysis of all nominees and the general interest of current music trends, we will be sharing our predictions of winners in 25 categories. The results of our vote are a result of months of listening, experiencing some of these acts live and admiring the overall efforts of our potential winners since the nomination list was published by the Grammys committee on November 7th on their YouTube channel as well as their website.   
     
    Some of the category winners have completely swept our hearts in our contributors’ poll by a landslide, and some tied or won a small margin. Some results might be controversial… and some will be the voice of popular vote. Like in a classic awards ceremony scenario, the result turned unpredictable and intriguing. One thing we can guarantee in this exploration – there will be lots of captivating new music to explore,like it was for us to create this prediction for you. 

    Category 1: Record of the Year

    The Nominees are:

    Winner: Abracadabra, Lady Gaga (46.2%)

    lady gaga o2 arena london 2025 getty images 7
    Photo by Samir Hussein/Getty Images for Live Nation)

    The most important category was predicted by our team to be won by Lady Gaga by a landslide. Having released one of the best albums of 2025 (and probably one of the best ones in her career), Gaga’s “Abracadabra” is a catchy, lively and top-tier electronica/pop blend that sticks to your heart and moves you to another dimension of experiencing music. Considering that alongside “Disease” it was chosen as the lead single for “Mayhem”, “Abracadabra” is a phenomenal song and deserves to receive an accolade.

    Remaining results for this category:

    Category 2: Album of the Year

    The Nominees are:

    Winner: MAYHEM, Lady Gaga (46.2%)

    Once more, our team reckons that Lady Gaga’s 6th solo effort is going to grab Grammy in another major category. With aforementioned lead singles “Disease” and “Abracadabra” that open “MAYHEM” and set mood for the following tracks, it’s a musical masterpiece. It might be a bold statement, but this album might one of the best Gaga’s creations and despite strong competition she had this year in “CHROMAKOPIA”, “GNX” or “MUTT”, it’s set for the win from the very first listen. It’s especially great to catch up with “Garden of Eden” or “Zombieboy” that pay homage to not only her first commercially well acclaimed albums sound wise but also reminds about Rick Genest legacy, the Guiness World record holder of the most tattoos of human bones (139) as well as his artistic involvement in 2010s alternative modelling scene.

    Remaining results for this category:

    Category 3: Song of the Year

    The Nominees are:

    Winner: Abracadabra, Lady Gaga (46.2%)

    Again, contributors at Media Junkbox think Lady Gaga’s song should win Song of The Year. Even though this category doesn’t really have a weak entry when it comes to overall look on all songs, it can absolutely noted that we might see a strong contention from Billie Eilish, Doechii, Kendrick Lamar & SZA and Huntrix (Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami) songs as well. Per our team it will be probably Lady Gaga’s another grab… However, seeing the strength of these songs, it cannot be skipped that others stand a chance for a Grammy here too.

    Remaining results for this category:

    Category 4: Best New Artist

    The Nominees are:

    Winner: Olivia Dean (38.5%)

    olivia dean live eventim apollo album artwork

    Best New Artist was one of the most nail-biting categories our team voted for. Until the last minute, contributors couldn’t decide whether it should be Olivia or Lola Young, but in the end the first singer won by one vote. Olivia Dean had a very successful year in 2025, released the sophomore long play “The Art of Loving” that topped charts in the UK and reached number 4 on Billboard charts, performed with Sam Fender on selected dates in London as well as released a collaborative effort “Rein me In”, and finally became a face of fashion brand Burberry. Having highly successful ventures last year can be paving her way to biggest music accolades in the world… but just like our team said, another Brit, Lola Young with similarly strong year and viral hits, can win this category.

    Remaining results for this category:

    Category 5: Best Pop Solo Performance

    The Nominees are:

    Winner: Disease, Lady Gaga (53.8%)

    Another big sweep for Lady Gaga. “Disease” is a monumental song with even bigger delivery. Just seeing the music video for this song it’s easily noticeable how much thought was put into delivery of it and how grandiose it is. Without undermining other songs, specially that Chappel Roan’s “The Subway” was closely chasing “Disease” in our vote, performance wise Gaga should grab a Grammy win in this category with ease.

    Remaining results for this category:

    Category 6: Best Pop Duo / Group Performance

    The Nominees are:

    Winner: Golden (from KPOP Demon Hunters, 38.5%)

    kpop demon hunters press

    Similarly to Best New Artist category, the fight between artists who should win Grammy in Best Pop Duo/Group Performance was super close and Huntrix won it by a thread with one vote leaning towards them against Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo’s performance. These two acts can easily win the award here. Both “Golden” and “Defying Gravity” are performed at the highest level of catchiness and vocal theatrics, making them super memorable in comparison to the fellow nominees. Will it be a tough nut to crack for Grammy committee voting in this category? Most likely. Who will win? It will be a mystery until the final announcement.

    Remaining results for this category:

    Category 7: Best Pop Vocal Album

    The Nominees are:

    Winner: MAYHEM, Lady Gaga (46.2%)

    Is it surprising this prediction belongs to Lady Gaga? Absolutely not. Did she deliver one of the best vocally albums in 2025? Absolutely yes. Even though this category also features top vocal pieces from Teddy Swims, being perfectly frank, again, Gaga should this win in a pocket with her experimental and masterful vocals.

    Remaining results for this category:

    Category 8: Best Dance/Electronic Recording

    The Nominees are:

    Winner: VOLTAGE, Skrillex (38.5%)

    When it comes to Skrillex’s “Voltage” we could quote Sabrina Carpenter’s 2024 record title, it is short and sweet, but it also is not too short for an electronic song. The general feel is a great combination and blend between dubstep and uk garage vibes with minimalistic lyrical base. It’s pleasant to listen to, and pretty sure that team Media Junkbox is onto something with “Voltage” grabbing the final win.

    Remaining results for this category:

    Category 9: Best Dance/Electronic Recording

    The Nominees are:

    Winner: F* U SKRILLEX YOU THINK UR ANDY WARHOL BUT UR NOT!! <3, Skrillex (38.5%)**

    The whopping 34 track “F*** U SKRILLEX YOU THINK UR ANDY WARHOL BUT UR NOT!! <3” won our prediction poll by a small margin against fellow Brit PinkPantheress “Fancy That” mixtape that is on the complete opposite spectrum of length with most 2 ish minute songs. These two albums will be contending for the win… with the trustee dubstep vibes from Skrillex and fresh uk garage vibes from PinkPantheress you cannot go wrong when it comes to electronic genres. BUT, there might be another contender in shape of FKA twigs “EUSEXUA”. Especially self titled track that filled with sensual tones and delicate vocals.
    Overall if we look at it in a bigger picture form, it’s one of strongest categories this year and pretty much every album has a chance of winning it.

    Remaining results for this category:

    Category 10: Best Rock Performance

    The Nominees are:

    Winner: Changes (Live From Villa Park) Back ToThe Beginning, YUNGBLUD Featuring Nuno Bettencourt, Frank Bello, Adam Wakeman, II (38.5%)

    Yungblud Up Close and Personal Idols Bristol (late show) 13.07.2025
    Photo: Samantha Potts

    We are entering 4 categories that are dear to our hearts at Media Junkbox, Rock, Metal and Alternative genres of music. Starting with Best Rock performance, live version of “Changes” by Black Sabbath is our team’s favourite nominee to win. It’s hard not to share the sentiment with our contributors, star studded performance was the highlight of Back to the Beginning concert that celebrated Ozzy Osbourne’s musical career. With the memorable vocals of YUNGBLUD, and with all respect to fellow nominees, this performance is brilliant and simply deserves to be crowned.

    Remaining results for this category:

    Category 11: Best Metal Performance

    The Nominees are:

    Winner: BIRDS, Turnstile (53.8%)

    Outbreak Festival 2025 – London was ready for a hardcore fest!
    Photo: @ISHASHAHPHOTOGRAPHY

    Turnstile had an amazing 2025, released incredibly successful long play “Never Enough”, sold out many tour dates in Europe and the United States and can definitely surprise us all with the win in this category. But historically looking and despite being favourite, there is a chance that maybe Dream Theater or Ghost will snag the iconic statuette, because Grammy’s committee is not so keen on voting for younger generations of metal performers.

    Remaining results for this category:

    Category 12: Best Rock Song

    The Nominees are:

    Winner: NEVER ENOUGH, Turnstile (46.2%)

    In such masterpiece studded category seeing self titled “Never Enough” win the prediction is warming. Every song listed here is outstanding and genuinely worth the win but seeing primarily hardcore band with melodic song be the definite leader of this race is amazing, especially amongst greats like Hayley Williams, Trent Reznor or mentioned above Yungblud. Will this year’s Grammy belong to overlooked genre of music within rock realm? We shall find out but never say never and be definitely enough.

    Remaining results for this category:

    Category 13: Best Rock Album

    The Nominees are:

    Winner: NEVER ENOUGH, Turnstile (46.2%)

    … And again, Turnstile swept the opinion polls of our team. And once more, in a packed category with large names. However, seeing that we are in the presence of established names, and yet the underdog is the leader in our teams’ eyes, surely, we can expect a surprise on Sunday night.

    Remaining results for this category:

    Category 14: Best Alternative Music Album

    The Nominees are:

    Winner: Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party, Hayley Williams and DON’T TAP THE GLASS, Tyler, The Creator (30.8%)

    This is the first category we happened to have a tie! Our team couldn’t agree on whether Hayley Williams or Tyler, The Creator should be considered a winner here. Upon listening to these two albums, subjectively “Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party” is more artistic piece within alternative music frame rather that more experimental “DON’T TAP THE GLASS” that leans more rap than alternative genre wise. We could also expect Bon Iver trying to add to this pot his five pence… Overall it feels righter to have Hayley win here.

    Remaining results for this category:

    Category 15: Best R&B Performance

    The Nominees are:

    Winner: Folded, Kehlani (69.2%)

    Moving on to R&B and Rap genres and calming the vibes, we have a first predicted winner in that realm, and it couldn’t be anyone else but Kehlani. “Folded” is a magical song by itself, and the performance is even better, backing our team’s opinion. Even though this category features a magnificent performance of “MUTT” by Leon Thomas… Kehlani’s performance of “Folded” is like an enchantment and won’t leave your head with its catchy chorus.

    Remaining results for this category:

    Category 16: Best R&B Song

    The Nominees are:

    Winner: Folded, Kehlani (69.2%)

    One more time, it’s “Folded” at the top of the Media Junkbox prediction when it comes to the R&B genre category. Without needing to repeat the same praises, “Folded” is an absolutely beautiful and melodic song that, despite the heartbreak meaning of the lyrics, is incredibly relaxing to listen to and somewhat ethereal.

    Remaining results for this category:

    Category 17: Best R&B Album

    The Nominees are:

    Winner: MUTT, Leon Thomas (38.5%)

    leon thomas portrait
    Leon Thomas with Vali at The Citadel Outlets

    Having prominent names in this category, such as GIVEON or Teyana Taylor (who is also sweeping accolades for her acting at the moment), seeing “MUTT” being recognised by our team is fantastic. From the amazing self-titled track to groovy “YES IT IS”, this album is full of soul, calming vibes and lastly intertwined in Leon’s beautiful voice, it’s purely bound to succeed for a Grammy.

    Remaining results for this category:

    Category 18: Best Rap Performance

    The Nominees are:

    Winner: Anxiety, Doechii (53.8%)

    Doechii delivers more than just a rap performance here. It’s a harmonious anthem about mental health struggles, and through her rap parts (and sung ones!), there is undeniable power behind it. While the other nominees are very typical rap performers, Doechii brings something more to the table in terms of meaning and the overall feel.

    Remaining results for this category:

    Category 19: Best Rap Song

    The Nominees are:

    Winner: Anxiety, Doechii (46.2%)

    While it was important to highlight “Anxiety” performance as a masterpiece, it is also important to note that this composition is based on a sample of Gotye and Kimbra’s 2011 effort “Somebody That I Used To Know”,… Which is also a Grammy-nominated and winning song. “Anxiety” with a sample of “Somebody That I Used To Know” and Doechii’s singing and rapping levels up the whole concept. If the original was phenomenal, let’s devour how great the sampling idea was, and making the sound of it into something new just made it better.

    Remaining results for this category:

    Category 20: Best Rap Album

    The Nominees are:

    Winner: GNX, Kendrick Lamar (53.8%)

    gnx kendrick lamar

    Best Rap Album vote was a real nail-biter between “GNX” by Kendrick Lamar and “CHROMAKOPIA” by Tyler, The Creator. Among these two albums, we will absolutely have a winner in this category. With “CHROMAKOPIA” art concept and “GNX” mastery of genre, it’s like choosing bread or bread roll, both are great, but one is going to serve the meal, and similarly to our team, it will probably be the predicted winner.

    Remaining results for this category:

    Category 21: Best Country Song

    The Nominees are:

    Winner: Good News, Shaboozey (30.8%)

    To be perfectly honest, Media Junkbox is usually the place where we focus on the country genre. However, this year’s Grammy nominations are actually bringing something fresh to the table when it comes to country. Even though our team had trouble agreeing on what song should be our favourite to win, by a small margin, Shaboozey, with his “Good News,” won the prediction. Genuinely speaking, “Good News” is a very “feel-good” piece of music despite its sad meaning. Will be a winner on Sunday? Highly likely.

    Remaining results for this category:

    Category 22: Best Contemporary Country Album

    The Nominees are:

    Winner: Beautifully Broken, Jelly Roll (61.5%)

    beautifully broken jelly roll

    “Beautifully Broken” or gracefully amazing? These two questions come to mind while listening to Jelly Roll’s album. It feels only right to admit that the latter claim is true. Being refreshing sound-wise but keeping a vocally strong tie to traditional country music, Jelly Roll delivered something elegant musically. Excellent “Winning Streak” or moving “I Am Not OK” are making this album outstanding. With other great nominees in this category who are more “country” per se, Jelly Roll has a diamond in the rough in the form of this album, and it is very convincing to see him win the Grammy.

    Remaining results for this category:

    Category 23: Best Latin Pop Album

    The Nominees are:

    Winner: Tropicoqueta, KAROL G (53.8%)

    We couldn’t skip the Latin music genre in this prediction, so it would be right to look at the category with the biggest pop names in it. And we have a truly delightful piece of music in the shape of “Tropicoqueta” by KAROL G. This album is the freshest of the fresh air when it comes to this genre. It forces you to move your body, relax and imagine you are on a warm weather vacation right this minute… While most people are currently experiencing a cold winter. Top-notch music in the genre with very high chances to win.

    Remaining results for this category:

    Category 24: Best Music Video

    The Nominees are:

    Winner: Anxiety, Doechii and Love, OK Go (30.8%)

    Doechii - Anxiety

    Another tie and another hard decision on who should be a favourite to win the category. Both “Anxiety” and “Love” are very artistic in their own right. The first music video portrays emotions through dance and chaos, while the latter shows emotions through various interesting visual techniques using mirrors and kaleidoscopes. After in-depth watching both pieces, and we solely focus on the technical parts, OK Go has a bigger chance of being a winner.

    Remaining results for this category:

    Category 25: Best Music Film

    The Nominees are:

    Winner: Live At The Royal Albert Hall, RAYE (53.8%)

    Last but not least, it would be a crime not to include a category that celebrates Film in music. And what an astonishing production our winner is! “Live At The Royal Albert Hall” by RAYE is not just a music film; it’s a visual and musical spectacle. Without spoiling too much, it’s easy to say that cinematography is on the highest possible level, sound is perfectly done for RAYE’s music and voice. Watching this film (or more likely, should it be really a live performance in a film form), it was easy to connect to it emotionally as RAYE laid everything she could into it and deserves this accolade with the biggest fanfare possible.

    Remaining results for this category:

    To conclude our team predictions, there are a few immediate favourites of our team: Lady Gaga, Turnstile, Skrillex and Kehlani. Out of these four performers, it’s the easiest to say that this is the year of MAYHEM and Gaga, even if we look at her music not only from a pop genre standpoint. We can almost expect it’s a formality she wins; the only question is how many gramophone statues are going to wait for her on the night.

    The show will also feature Lady Gaga’s live performance as well as fellow nominees: Bruno Mars, ROSÉ, Addison Rae, Lola Young, Olivia Dean, Clips, KATSEYE, Justin Bieber, SOMBR, Sabrina Carpenter, Tyler the Creator and many more exciting pop culture musicians. The ceremony will be split into two parts: The Premier part with most of the Grammys awarded that will be broadcast for everyone on YouTube and the Grammy’s website at 12:30 pm PT (8:30 pm GMT), and the main show that will broadcast for American audiences on CBS and Paramount+ on demand from 5 pm PT (1 am GMT on Monday). UK Audiences will be able to stream the main part of the ceremony on Paramount+ with the Showtime add-on.

    Featured picture Courtesy of the Recording Academy® 

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