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In form of music The industry hopes unveiling of 2026 grammy award candidates This Friday, the focus will inevitably shift to the complex Process Highlighting these iconic selectionhow does it Recording Academy Determine its contenders, and who ultimately influences the nomination?
Here’s everything you need to know about the music awards:
How does Grammy voting work?
The path to GRAMMY approval begins with submissions from Recording Academy members and record labels. Artists and their works are proposed in 95 different categories, with each entry undergoing rigorous scrutiny for eligibility.
Once these presentations have been scrutinized, the voting members take over. Typically in the fall, they use a dedicated membership dashboard to cast their ballots, and decide the final nominees. Importantly, only officially submitted and fully vetted music is eligible for consideration.
Once the candidates are determined and announced in November, there is a period for the final round of voting. This cycle, which runs from December 12 to January 5.
Winners are announced live at the awards show in February.
And don’t get it confused – voting members do not vote in all 95 categories. They are allowed to vote in up to 10 categories across three genre fields as well as six general field categories, including Record, Album, Song, Producer, Non-Classical and Songwriter, Non-Classical of the Year and Best New Artist. This allows experts to focus on their expertise.
How does one become a voting member?
There are three types of Recording Academy memberships: GRAMMY U, professional, and voting memberships. The latter includes artists, songwriters, producers, engineers, instrumentalists and beyond. These are the members who determine the Grammy winners each year.
Voting members must provide proof of a primary career in music, two recommendations, and some verifiable credits.
But there are a few ways around some of those requirements: If you’re the current year’s Grammy winner or nominee, you don’t need to provide a recommendation from anyone in the industry. If you have been nominated for a Grammy in the last five years, you do not need to provide proof of your credits.
What determines GRAMMY eligibility?
Entries must comply with the specific eligibility criteria of the categories to which they are submitted. Rules and guidelines can be found on grammy.com.
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Changes are also made frequently in categories and regions. In 2026, there have been: Best Country Album is divided into Best Contemporary Country Album and Best Traditional Country Album.
The Best Recording Package and Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package categories were also combined into the Best Recording Package category, which also included Best Album Cover.
Most important: The recording and music video must also be submitted within the GRAMMY eligibility window, which means work released between August 31, 2024 – August 30, 2025, for the 2026 awards show.
How does a musician qualify for Best New Artist?
The category of new artists is constantly evolving, trying to catch the zeitgeist every year as the process of classifying fame becomes more complex. Grammy rules currently say that nominations depend on whether “the artist has achieved success or prominence” – and it delegates that determination to a screening committee.
Eligible artists must release at least five singles or one album, but there is no longer a maximum limit. That’s why someone like Sabrina Carpenter — who made a splash over the summer with “Espresso” — finds herself up for the Best New Artist trophy in 2025, despite it being only her sixth full-length release.
And this year, the category has also been expanded to include acts that were included in previous Album of the Year nominees, provided they composed less than 20% of the album’s music.
When are the 2026 Grammys?
The Grammys will be held on February 1 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, with nominations to be announced on Friday. It will be broadcast live on CBS and can be streamed on demand via Paramount+.