Kendrick Lamar came into the Grammys with the most nominations — nine — and to the surprise of few, he exited with the most wins: an impressive five, including record of the year for “Luther,” his collaboration with SZA.
But the love was very much spread around at the 2026 ceremony, with different winners in each of the four top categories. Bad Bunny picked up the climactic prize, album of the year; Billie Eilish got song of the year, for “Wildflower”; and Olivia Dean, in perhaps the only truly predictable category out of the top four, scored a win as best new artist.
The Recording Academy presented trophies in 95 categories, with 86 of those being given out in an afternoon “premiere ceremony,” with the final nine falling into the performance-heavy primetime telecast. Scroll down to see the complete list of winners.
Lamar picked up three awards In the pre-telecast — best rap song for “TV Off”; melodic rap performance for “Luther” with SZA; and rap performance for “Chains & Whips,” on which he is a featured performer — before adding two more to that total, after the CBS broadcast began. When he won his fourth Grammy of the night, for best rap album, that win pushed him over the top to become the most-awarded rapper in Grammy history, beating Jay-Z’s old mark. He added some extra security to hold onto that record for a while with his fifth win of the night, for record of the year.
Lady Gaga personally picked up two awards, with a win for pop vocal performance for “Abracadabra” being presented on the telecast, following a win in the pre-tel ceremony for best dance pop recording. (“Abracadabra” itself won three Grammys — the two given out to Gaga plus an award for best remixed recording that went to her producer-remixer, Gesaffelstein.)
Among the upsets during the telecast were British singer Lola Young winning for best pop solo performance for “Messy,” over four superstars with higher profiles in the U.S., and Billie Eilish winning song of the year for “Wildflower,” in another highly contested category.
Jelly Roll was a triple winner, winning best country album during the live telecast for “Beautifully Broken,” after picking up two awards in the pre-telecast.
Among those who picked up two awards each during the pre-telecast: Kehlani, the Cure, Turnstile, Leon Thomas, Mavis Staples, I’m With Her, Gustavo Dudamel, Amy Allen and Ludwig Göransson (for his work on the “Sinners” soundtrack and score).
Other winners in the pre-telecast included “Golden,” Laufey, Chris Stapleton, Tyler Childers, Zach Top, Jon Batiste, Yungblud, Cirkut, FKA Twigs, Clipse & Pusha T, Billy Strings, Buddy Guy and “Wicked” duet partners Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.
Cirkut picked up producer of the year (non-classical) for work on several projects, Gaga’s “Mayhem” album among them. Songwriter of the year went to Amy Allen.
(Excerpt) Read more in: Variety