Kendrick Lamar just opened his mouth: someone go hand him a maximum of nine Grammys right now. As covered by Billboard, these nine nominations for the 2026 Grammy Awards announced today (Friday, November 9) make him the most nominated artist across all genres this year. Other big names include Jack Antonoff, Cirkut, and Lady Gaga with seven nominations each; Bad Bunny, Sabrina Carpenter, Serban Ghenea, and Leon Thomas with six; and Tyler, The Creator, SZA, Clipse, Doechii, Sounwave, Turnstile, and Andrew Watt with five.
Back to K.Dot, though. This is reportedly the third time he has led Grammys nominations among all artists in a given year. At the 2016 ceremony, the Compton lyricist had 11 nominations and led winners with five wins, whereas the 2019 ceremony saw eight nominations and one win.
Also, the GKMC MC is the first solo artists in history to receive five consecutive Grammy nominations for Album Of The Year, which he got for GNX. It's the third time he received nominations for Album, Record, and Song Of The Year in the same year, something Bad Bunny and Sabrina Carpenter also achieved this year. Kendrick is also the first rapper in history to receive five lead Album Of The Year nominations, breaking a tie with Kanye West.
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As for Kendrick Lamar's specific Grammys nominations, GNX is up for Album Of The Year and Best Rap Album. "luther" with SZA is up for Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, and Best Melodic Rap Performance, whereas their "30 For 30" collab is up for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. He has two Best Rap Performance nominations in "Chains & Whips" with Clipse and "tv off" with Lefty Gunplay and a Best Rap Song nomination for "tv off."
Other key markers for hip-hop this Grammys season include the fact that this is the first time that three albums received both Album Of The Year and Best Rap Album nominations. These are GNX, Tyler, The Creator's CHROMAKOPIA, and Clipse's Let God Sort Em Out. Another curious detail is that Doechii's "Anxiety" is the first song in Grammys history to sample a previous winner (Gotye and Kimbra's "Somebody That I Used To Know) in the Record Of The Year category.
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