The 68th Grammy Awards: Who Won, Who Performed, and What Happened?

The 68th Annual Grammy Awards took place on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. As usual, it was held at the Crypto.com Arena (formerly Staples Center) in Los Angeles, California. The event was hosted by Trevor Noah, the usual host, and was broadcast on CBS and streamed on Paramount+. The 68th Grammys honored the best recordings, artists, and compositions released between August 31, 2024, and August 30, 2025. So, who took home some awards this year, and did they deserve it?

The Winners:

For the sake of time I am going to exclude some minor categories such as soundtracks, focusing rather on major categories that I am most familiar with, such as pop, rock, R&B/hip-hop, and alternative.

The first award presented was for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. The nominees were absolutely formidable: “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters by Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami, “Gabriela” by girl group Katseye, “APT.” from Blackpink’s Rosé and Bruno Mars, “30 for 30” by SZA and Kendrick Lamar, and “Defying Gravity” from Wicked performed by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. The winner was “Defying Gravity” – it’s an amazing and beautiful song, so I am happy it won.

Best Music Video came shortly after. Doechii’s “Anxiety” took home that award, which is interesting because despite the creativity of the music video I cannot say it is the best song I’ve heard. However, it didn’t have much serious creative competition apart from Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild” – it was up against Clipse (Malice & Pusha T), OK Go, and Sade. While those other music videos are perfectly fine, I think “Anxiety” was the most creative one.

The award for Best Rock Performance certainly could have gone to any of the nominees. They were: “U Should Not Be Doing That” by Australian punk band Amyl & The Sniffers, “The Emptiness Machine” – Linkin Park’s comeback single, “Never Enough” by Turnstile, “Mirtazapine” by Paramore’s Hayley Williams, and the winner: “Changes (Live From Villa Park) Back to the Beginning” by Yungblud featuring Nuno Bettencourt of Extreme, Frank Bello from Anthrax, the keyboardist for Ozzy Osbourne’s band Adam Wakeman, and II (Two) of Sleep Token. This performance of “Changes” honored the legacy of the late Ozzy Osbourne, and it was an amazing performance, so I think it deserved the win.

Best Rock Song went to Nine Inch Nails for “As Alive as You Need Me to Be” from Tron: Ares. A surprise pick, I won’t lie. While not a bad song in any respect, I love Nine Inch Nails. I do honestly believe that any of its competitors could have taken it home instead. It was up against “Caramel” by Sleep Token, “Glum” by Hayley Williams, “Never Enough” by Turnstile, and “Zombie” by Yungblud. 

To cap off the Rock genre, the award for Best Rock Album went to Turnstile with Never Enough. It was a tough one – Turnstile was up against Deftones, Haim, Linkin Park, and Yungblud. However, I do think it was the right choice; Never Enough was one of my favorite rock albums of 2025. Plus, Turnstile earned it: starting from a small hardcore band in the basements of Baltimore, now taking home not one but two Grammys. Great choice. 

You may be asking: What’s the second Grammy that Turnstile won? The answer to that is for Best Metal Performance with their song “Birds.” Again, though I am a big Turnstile fan, I don’t think that “Birds” is a metal song at all – it is more of a hardcore punk song. They were up against formidable metal opponents too: Sleep Token’s “Emergence,” Ghost’s “Lachryma,” Spiritbox’s “Soft Spine,” and Dream Theater’s “Night Terror.” So… an interesting choice on the Recording Academy’s part.

Both Alternative awards – Best Alternative Performance and Best Alternative Album – went to The Cure for their song “Alone” and album Songs of a Lost World. I like The Cure, and respect their legacy and work, but I cannot say I fully agree with this selection. Hayley Williams was nominated in both of those categories and had one of the most critically-acclaimed albums and songs of the year. They were also up against Turnstile, Bon Iver, Wet Leg, and Tyler, the Creator. But, like I said, The Cure are legendary, and I’d bet all of these artists were influenced by The Cure, so I’m not upset by any means.

The awards for Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song went to Kehlani for the song “Folded.” Again, no competition: it was a smash hit, and its competitors – while good songs – were not as popular or interesting as “Folded.” Best R&B Album went to Leon Thomas for his album Mutt. Another good choice, it is a solid R&B album with some great tracks.

Now, we move into the genres of rap and hip-hop. The award for Best Rap Performance went to “Chains & Whips” by Clipse (Pusha T & Malice) featuring Pharrell Williams and Kendrick Lamar. Kendrick Lamar had an amazing and dominant year. He had nine nominations total, and won five of them, making him the most awarded rapper in history. As for the rest of the rap/hip-hop categories, Lamar swept them: Best Melodic Rap for “Luther” feat. SZA, Best Rap Song for “TV Off,” and Best Rap Album for GNX. Even though I am a fan of Kendrick Lamar, and I admit I am biased towards him, you objectively cannot ignore the impact that he has had with those songs and that album.

In addition, the Grammys added two new categories: Best Traditional Country Album and Best Album Cover. I am not big into country music, so I don’t have enough knowledge to formulate an opinion on Zach Top’s Ain’t in It For My Health. As for Best Album Cover, it could have gone to any of the nominees: Debí Tirar Más Fotos by Bad Bunny, The Crux by Djo (actor Joe Keery), Glory by Perfume Genius, Moisturizer by Wet Leg, and the winner: Chromakopia by Tyler, the Creator. I probably would have been happy no matter what, because from an artistic standpoint, all of these album covers are good.

Now, we’ve entered into the best part: the General Field. This is the one that everyone tunes in for. It’s the one that makes Twitter (X) feeds go wild with arguments and debate. Really, it’s the part the general public cares about the most.

We’ll get things started with Record of the Year, which is often confused with Song of the Year; Record of the Year focuses on the best released single of the year without regard to charts (although they don’t hurt). That award went to– you guessed it– Kendrick Lamar and SZA with “Luther.” Again, another category I think every nominee had a shot with: “Luther” was up against “DTMF” by Bad Bunny, “Manchild” by Sabrina Carpenter, “Anxiety” by Doechii, “Wildflower” by Billie Eilish, “Abracadabra” by Lady Gaga, “The Subway” by Chappell Roan, and “APT.” by Rosé and Bruno Mars.

Next up is Album of the Year, one of the more well-known categories. The nominees were as follows: Swag by Justin Bieber, Man’s Best Friend by Sabrina Carpenter, Let God Sort Em Out by Clipse, Mayhem by Lady Gaga, GNX by Kendrick Lamar, Mutt by Leon Thomas, Chromakopia by Tyler, the Creator, and the winner: Debí Tirar Más Fotos by Bad Bunny. It was a great choice. Not only is it a great album (especially since I’m not typically a consumer of Latin music), it truly elevated Bad Bunny’s success even more than it was before – which says a lot about how popular he is now.

Song of the Year is the other category that the general public cares the most about. Its nominees are very similar to Record of the Year. The nominees: “Abracadabra” by Lady Gaga, “Anxiety” by Doechii, “APT.” by Rosé and Bruno Mars, “DTMF” by Bad Bunny, “Golden” from the film KPop Demon Hunters performed by Ejae, Rei Ami, and Audrey Nuna, “Luther” by Kendrick Lamar, “Manchild” by Sabrina Carpenter. And the winner: “Wildflower” by Billie Eilish. While “Wildflower” is a great song, and I agree with the choice, a lot of eyebrows were raised on the Internet: the song was on an album – Hit Me Hard & Soft – released almost two years ago. However, the Grammys consider the single release date rather than album release date, and “Wildflower” was released as a single on March 4, 2025. So, it makes sense.

Best Pop Solo Performance was another one that I think could have gone to any of the songs up for the award: “Daisies” by Justin Bieber, “Manchild” by Sabrina Carpenter, “Disease” by Lady Gaga, “The Subway” by Chappell Roan. The award went to a pick which was a pleasant surprise to me: “Messy” by Lola Young. I’ve been following Lola Young for a while now, and considering how much she’s been through in the past year (including cancelling an entire tour and going on a temporary personal hiatus after collapsing on stage at the All Things Go festival), I think she’s earned it.

Let’s end the awards with Best New Artist. This is probably one of the more heated debates over Best New Artist, considering how many of them have developed dedicated fanbases on social media. Up for nomination: Olivia Dean, Katseye, The Marías, Addison Rae, Sombr, Leon Thomas, Alex Warren, and Lola Young. My personal choices would be Olivia Dean, Katseye, or Sombr. The award went to Olivia Dean – which makes sense, considering how she’s grown to be so popular this past year that she can sell out four(!) nights at Madison Square Garden. I don’t think anyone was upset by her victory because you can’t argue with a fanbase growth like that – at least I didn’t see anyone who was.

Performances

The first main performance of the night was headlined by Rosé and Bruno Mars, performing a hard rock rendition of “APT.” I must say, it is always incredibly fun whenever they perform together – they have great chemistry. Plus, it’s such a catchy song, and the reimagining of it makes it significantly more fun!

Next came Sabrina Carpenter with her hit single “Manchild.” While the performance was great, I must give a shoutout to the set design of her stage. It was a vintage airport theme, complete with parts of planes that read “SCA” – Sabrina Carpenter Airlines. A lot of fans think that it was a clue to future tour dates; only time will tell.

Then came the Best New Artist Medley. Each of the nominees for Best New Artist performed a (shortened version) of their most popular song. Featured: The Marías – “No One Noticed”, Addison Rae – “Fame is a Gun”, Katseye – “Gnarly”, Leon Thomas – “Mutt”, Alex Warren – “Ordinary”, Lola Young – “Messy”, Olivia Dean – “Man I Need”, and Sombr – “12 to 12.” Katseye’s performance of “Gnarly” was the one most people discussed afterwards; it was incredibly divisive. I personally thought it was a good performance, but a lot of people didn’t. Regardless, the other artists put on a good show as well; that was just the one that got the most discussion on social media.

Also performing during the main show: Justin Bieber with “Yukon”, Lady Gaga with “Abracadabra”, Bruno Mars and The Hooligans (his backing band) with recent single “I Just Might”, Tyler, the Creator and Regina King with “Thought I Was Dead” and “Sugar on my Tongue”, and, Reba McEntire, Brandy Clark, and Lukas Nelson with “Trailblazer” to pay tribute to past female country artists.

Speaking of tributes, I must give a shoutout to the two major tributes performed that night. Firstly, the tribute for Ozzy Osbourne. It was composed of the following musicians: Post Malone, Duff McKagan and Slash  of Guns N’Roses, Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and instrumentalist Andrew Watt. I’ve been loving every tribute for Ozzy Osbourne this year, most notably the one at Villa Park with Yungblud on vocals (go watch it!). This one was no exception;, everyone absolutely killed it on stage.

I must also give a shoutout to the D’Angelo and Roberta Flack tribute. This one was a huge ensemble of R&B artists from throughout history. Ms. Lauryn Hill, Lucky Daye, Raphael Saadiq, Anthony Hamilton, Leon Thomas, Bilal, Alexia Jayy, Jon Batiste, Leon Bridges, Lalah Hathaway, October London, John Legend, Chaka Khan, and Wyclef Jean all performed a medley of songs by D’Angelo and Roberta Flack. A beautiful tribute to some legendary artists.

My Thoughts

The 2026 Grammys were a great time, as usual. A lot of good artists were up for nomination. Regardless of how I feel about who won, people who are significantly more qualified than me selected the winners, so I can’t say too much about them. Plus, why rain on someone’s parade? Musicians work hard to get to this awards show, so they should have their moment. The performances were wonderful, too, but I tend to have more to say about the awards. Overall, it was a good show, and I’m already looking forward to next year’s Grammys.