What can viewers expect from the 2026 Grammys? Executives say Sunday will be a night of celebrating music with tons of performances.
The 68th annual Grammy Awards are Sunday, airing live from Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena on CBS and Paramount+. What can viewers expect?
According to the Recording Academy: some new, some old and a lot of excitement. Executive producers Raj Kapoor, Ben Winston and Jesse Collins are returning for a different show from last year, when the event was completely transformed to help those affected by the devastating Los Angeles-area wildfires.
Here are four big questions — and answers — ahead of the event.What’s new at the 2026 Grammys?
A lot! A best album cover category is back for the first time in 53 years. Best country album has been renamed to best contemporary country album and a best traditional country album category has been added.
“In this case, we got a proposal that wanted an additional country category. It made its way through the proposal process — again, voted on by members, evaluated by members, submitted by members but ultimately voted on my members — and we deploy what the members ask for,” Recording Academy CEO and President Harvey Mason jr. tells The Associated Press.
When the change was announced, some viewed it as backlash to Beyoncé’s 2025 win for best country album. “It’s not accurate,” says Mason jr. “It’s something we’ve been talking about for a number of years.”
Also, in the last few years, the Grammy Awards have made a concerted effort to diversify its electorate. Last year, all Latin Grammy voting members were invited to join the Recording Academy.
“The idea was to make sure that the academy and the Grammys are representative of what’s going on in music,” says Mason jr. “Making sure that our membership was diverse around genre and geography and everything was really important to us. We acknowledged that Latin music is huge and it’s omnipresent in the industry at this point.”What can we expect from the performances?
Surprises and variety, says Mason jr. “The new up-and-coming group is so incredible. The legends and the icons are so, so special to have around. And then the superstars, having some of them on our stage, and that mixture, I think, makes for a really fun show.
