2026 Grammys Set for Sunday as Recording Academy Defends New Categories After BTS Boycott

Sunday's ceremony and the Academy's framing

The 2026 Grammy Awards will be held Sunday in Los Angeles with Trevor Noah hosting, according to an interview Recording Academy president and CEO Harvey Mason Jr. gave to CNN on July 30. Mason said the show should serve as a form of "medicine" during a period of national unrest, citing reactions to the Trump administration's actions in Minneapolis following the killing of ICU nurse Alex Pretti. He told CNN that musicians are "communicators" and that viewers will "feel what's going on in the world through the music." The Academy, which has been pursuing a diversification push, said more than 3,800 music creators and professionals joined its 2025 new member class — 58% people of color and 35% identifying as women — and that invitations were extended for the first time to all Latin Recording Academy voting members.

Lead nominees and category firsts

Kendrick Lamar enters the ceremony as the most-nominated artist, with nine nominations. Bad Bunny became the first Spanish-language artist to receive nominations simultaneously in the Grammys' three most prestigious categories — album of the year, record of the year and song of the year — for his album "DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS" and the single "DtMF." K-pop also reached milestones: Rosé's collaboration with Bruno Mars, "APT.," and HUNTR/X's "Golden" from the Netflix film "KPop Demon Hunters" are the first two songs by K-pop artists nominated for song of the year, with "APT." also becoming the first K-pop song nominated for record of the year. The ceremony is adding best traditional country album and best album cover as new categories this year.

Best new artist lineup

All eight best new artist nominees — Addison Rae, Alex Warren, KATSEYE, Leon Thomas, Lola Young, Olivia Dean, sombr and The Marías — will perform during the broadcast, a return to a practice the Recording Academy said it is reinstating this year.

BTS boycott and the Asian Pop category dispute

BTS announced they would not submit their music for consideration at the 2027 Grammy Awards, in what outlets described as a protest against the Recording Academy's new Asian Pop category. In a July 30 statement reported by Forbes, Mason said he was "saddened" by the decision but respected it "as a fellow creator," and stressed that the "spirit of this new category is to shine a dedicated spotlight on these important artists." Time reported that Mason also clarified that submitting music in a genre category such as Asian Pop, Jazz or Country does not exclude artists from submitting or being considered in the general categories including record, album and song of the year. South Korea's Korea JoongAng Daily separately reported on July 30 that videos of BTS's Grammy performances of "Dynamite" and "Butter" later became inaccessible on the Recording Academy website following the boycott decision, prompting questions from fans about the timing of the change.

What remains uncertain

It is not yet clear whether other K-pop or Asian artists will follow BTS in declining to submit for the 2027 cycle, or whether the Recording Academy will adjust the new category in response. Reports diverge on whether the inaccessibility of BTS performance videos on the Academy's site was deliberate, with the Korea JoongAng Daily noting that the change was noticed by fans without providing a definitive explanation.