LOS ANGELES — Ready or not, here they come: Nominations for the 69th Grammy Awards will be announced Monday morning, capping a yearlong pop music season in which new stars rose, old hands returned and Taylor Swift dropped a song about Cleveland that even people in Ohio decided was trash. To be eligible for consideration among the Recording Academy's approximately 16,000 voting members, songs and albums had to be released between Aug. 31, 2025, and Aug. 28, 2026. Here are our bets for who's likely to show up in the Grammys' top four categories, with potential honorees listed in alphabetical order. Music's most prestigious awards show will take place Feb. 7 at Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles.

Album of the Year

Phoebe Bridgers, "Lost Weekend"

Olivia Dean, "The Art of Loving"

Noah Kahan, "The Great Divide"

Ella Langley, "Dandelion"

Bruno Mars, "The Romantic"

Olivia Rodrigo, "You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love"

Rosalía, "Lux"

Taylor Swift, "The Life of a Showgirl"

Possible surprise: Kacey Musgraves, "Middle of Nowhere"

The race for the Grammys' flagship prize may amount to a tale of two Olivias: Olivia Dean, the English soul singer named best new artist at February's show, versus Olivia Rodrigo, whose smash "You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love" would be her third straight LP to be nominated for album of the year. Yet those presumed front-runners are likely to face competition from longtime Recording Academy faves like Bruno Mars and Taylor Swift along with critical darlings such as Rosalía and Phoebe Bridgers. Watch out for a possible showing by one of several old-timers — Madonna, Paul McCartney or the Rolling Stones — who made plenty of noise this year with new albums.

Record of the Year

Olivia Dean, "Man I Need"

Ella Langley, "Choosin' Texas"

Bruno Mars, "I Just Might"

Raye, "Where Is My Husband!"

Olivia Rodrigo, "The Cure"

Taylor Swift, "The Fate of Ophelia"

Sienna Spiro, "Die on This Hill"

Don Toliver, "E85"

Possible surprise: Tame Impala with Jennie, "Dracula"

A nod for Mars' retro-funk "I Just Might" would be his ninth for record of the year, bringing him up even with Beyoncé for the most of all time. (Unlike Beyoncé, Mars has actually won the record award three times.) Additional throwback-y singles likely to make the cut include hits by three Brits: Dean's ebullient "Man I Need," Raye's boisterous "Where Is My Husband!" and Sienna Spiro's grandly emotional "Die on This Hill." But everyone here will be vying in the shadow of "Choosin' Texas," which this year became the longest-running chart topper in the history of Billboard's Hot 100 — and would be the first country record by a country act (not counting Beyoncé's "Texas Hold 'Em" and Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road") to be nominated in this category since Lady A's "Need You Now" back in 2011.

Song of the Year

"Choosin' Texas," written by Luke Dick, Miranda Lambert, Ella Langley and Joybeth Taylor (performed by Ella Langley)

"The Cure," written by Daniel Nigro and Olivia Rodrigo (performed by Olivia Rodrigo)

"Die on This Hill," written by Omer Fedi, Michael Pollack and Sienna Spiro (performed by Sienna Spiro)

"The Great Divide," written by Noah Kahan and Gabe Simon (performed by Noah Kahan)

"I Knew It, I Knew You," written by Jack Antonoff and Taylor Swift (performed by Taylor Swift)

"Man I Need," written by Olivia Dean, Tobias Jesso Jr. and Zach Nahome (performed by Olivia Dean)

"Risk It All," written by Dernst Emile II, James Fauntleroy, Philip Lawrence and Bruno Mars (performed by Bruno Mars)

"Where Is My Husband!," written by Raye and Mike Sabath (performed by Raye)

Possible surprise: "Hate That I Made You Love Me," written by Ariana Grande, Max Martin and Ilya Salmanzadeh (performed by Ariana Grande)

At the most recent Grammys ceremony, seven of the eight nominees for record of the year were also nominated for song of the year. (The record prize goes to performers and producers, while the song prize goes to songwriters.) So expect plenty of overlap here, even if Mars and Swift each submitted different songs in the two categories. A nod for Swift's country-ish tune from "Toy Story 5" would put her in the running for an award she's somehow lost eight times; it would also boost her chances of scoring the original song Oscar nomination for which she's been vigorously campaigning.

Best New Artist

Miles Caton

Geese

Audrey Hobert

Bella Kay

Ella Langley

Sienna Spiro

Malcolm Todd

Don Toliver

Possible surprise: Stella Lefty

Thanks in part to an academy rule change that increased the number of times an act can be submitted for best new artist, Langley's ultimate victory here seems all but assured. (Consider also that a woman has won the category in nine of the last 10 years.) Among her likely competitors, Audrey Hobert and Malcolm Todd will be fun to watch as the Grammys' first set of siblings nominated against each other for this prize.

©2026 Los Angeles Times. Visit latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.