Not that we are ruling out divas who happen to have a different first name, like Taylor Swift and Ella Langley, or a couple of contenders who only carry a single name professionally, Raye and Rosalía. But unless Noah Kahan turns out to be as big of an awards sleeper as he has beena commercial blockbuster, the one thing we can almost conclusively about the top four categories this far out from the ’27 Grammys is that a man will not be winning any of them. The slogan “the future is female” may seem a little overly optimistic when it comes to making a projection about society in general, but when it comes to music, and especially the quality of music rising to the level of Grammy consideration… Welcome to the matriarchy, and may the best woman walk away with an armful.
Although the Grammys have pared the list of nominees in the top categories down to eight, from 10, we’re just tentative enough about our predictions to name an alphabetical field of 10 we think most of those eight finalists will be pulled from. Then we’ve named 10 more we consider close calls that also stand a decent chance of slipping in… followed, in passing, by 20 wild cards, any of which might not come as a complete shock, given how impossible the Grammys are to truly nail down.
TEN LEADING CONTENDERS, ALPHABETICALLY
Brandi Carlile Returning to Myself
Olivia Dean The Art of Loving
Noah Kahan The Great Divide
Ella Langley Dandelion
Bruno Mars The Romantic
Raye This Music May Contain Hope
Olivia Rodrigo You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love
Rosalía Lux
Sienna Spiro Visitor
Taylor Swift The Life of a Showgirl
TEN MORE THAT COULD GET IN
Lily Allen West End Girl
Phoebe Bridgers Lost Weekend
Ariana Grande Petal
Zara Larsson Midnight Sun
Madonna Confessions II
Paul McCartney The Boys of Dungeon Lane
Kacey Musgraves Middle of Nowhere
Harry Styles Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally
Tame Impala Deadbeat
Don Toliver Octane
And 20 more that are also coming up for mention as possibilities, in no particular order: the 2025-26 albums by Geese, Justin Bieber (“Swag II” fell into this eligibility period), Kehlani, Charli xcx (with “Music, Fashion, Film” being her submission, not the also eligible “Wuthering Heights”), Gracie Abrams, Jill Scott, Steve Lacey, A$AP Rocky, Jacob Collier, J. Cole, Cardi B, Pink Pantheress, the Rolling Stones, Ari Lennox, Mitski, Luke Combs, Mumford and Sons, Foo Fighters and Mavis Staples.
