Kendrick Lamar leads early winners as 2026 Grammy Awards begin

Los Angeles, Feb 2: The music industry’s biggest night is underway as the 2026 Grammy Awards honor the year’s top songs and artists.
The Recording Academy is presenting trophies in 95 categories this year, with 86 handed out during the afternoon pre-telecast ceremony and the remaining nine reserved for the prime-time broadcast, Variety reports.
The Premiere Ceremony ran three hours and 40 minutes and saw several artists collect multiple awards. Kendrick Lamar led the afternoon winners, earning three trophies and positioning himself for a potentially historic night.
He won best rap song for “TV Off,” best melodic rap performance for “Luther” with SZA, and best rap performance for “Chains & Whips,” on which he is a featured artist.
Several performers and creators picked up two awards each during the pre-telecast, including Kehlani, the Cure, Turnstile, Leon Thomas, Mavis Staples, I’m With Her, Gustavo Dudamel, Amy Allen, Jelly Roll and Ludwig Göransson for his work on the Sinners soundtrack and score.
Single-award winners included Lady Gaga, Bad Bunny, Laufey, Chris Stapleton, Tyler Childers, Zach Top, Jon Batiste, Yungblud, Cirkut, FKA Twigs, Clipse and Pusha T, Billy Strings, Buddy Guy, and Wicked co-stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.
The first award of the day went to “Defying Gravity,” performed by Grande and Erivo, which won best pop duo/group performance. The song edged out several contenders, including “Golden” from Netflix’s animated hit KPop Demon Hunters. “Golden” also fell short in the best remixed recording category, which went to Lady Gaga’s “Abracadabra.”
Still, “Golden” avoided a shutout, winning best song written for visual media over entries from Sinners and Elton John. The track remains a contender for song of the year, which will be awarded during the main telecast.
Gaga’s “Abracadabra” earned two early wins, taking best dance pop recording and best remixed recording, the latter awarded to remixer Gesaffelstein. Producer Cirkut claimed producer of the year (non-classical) for work on multiple projects, including Gaga’s Mayhem, while Amy Allen won songwriter of the year, according to Variety.
Lamar enters the night with nine nominations for his album GNX and the song “Luther.” He is poised to surpass Jay-Z as the most-awarded rapper in Grammy history if he secures four wins, a milestone that appears increasingly likely following his early success. Gaga follows closely with seven nominations, tied with producers Jack Antonoff and Cirkut.
Best new artist nominee Leon Thomas earned six nominations and faces competition from Olivia Dean, Katseye, the Marías, Addison Rae, Sombr, Alex Warren and Lola Young. Bad Bunny, who is set to headline the Super Bowl halftime show next week, and Sabrina Carpenter also earned six nominations each. Both artists are competing in the top three categories, album, record and song of the year—alongside Lamar and Gaga.
Trevor Noah is hosting the Grammy Awards for the sixth and final time. The ceremony airs live on CBS and streams on Paramount beginning at 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT.