Compton-born rapper Kendrick Lamar will take a leading nine nominations into Sunday’s 68th annual Grammy Awards, including nods for Record and Song of the Year for “Luther” and Album of the Year for “GNX.”
Bad Bunny, Lady Gaga and Sabrina Carpenter also bring nominations in all three of the top categories into “Music’s Biggest Night ” — with Bad Bunny the first Spanish-language artist to receive that trio of nods in a single year.
Sunday’s main event — at which all the glamour awards will be handed out — will take place at Crypto.com Arena starting at 5 p.m. and be hosted for the sixth and last time by comedian Trevor Noah.
The show will feature the Grammys’ usual glittering galaxy of performers, including Bruno Mars, a 16-time Grammy winner with three more nominations on Sunday (among them Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “APT”).
Mars’ performance was announced only Friday, though what he’ll perform was not revealed. He’ll join previously announced performers Lady Gaga; Carpenter; Tyler, The Creator; Rosé; Justin Bieber; Post Malone; Pharrell Williams; Reba McEntire; Chad Smith; Duff McKagan; the hip-hop duo Clipse; Slash; and all eight nominees for Best New Artist.
Sunday’s festivities will actually begin 4 1/2 hours earlier, at 12:30 p.m., with the Grammy Awards Premiere Ceremony, during which the bulk of the day’s 95 awards will be presented. The Premiere Ceremony, held at held at the Peacock Theater, will be hosted by Darren Criss.
The main show will air on CBS and stream live on Paramount+ while the Premiere Ceremony will stream live at live.grammy.com and on the Recording Academy’s YouTube pages.
Sunday could mark the start of a historic week for Bad Bunny, who’s also set to headline the halftime show at next Sunday’s Super Bowl.
Handicappers put him as one of the three favorites for Album of the Year — where a win would make his “Debà Tirar Más Fotos” the first-ever best album sung entirely in Spanish.
Lamar, for “GNX,” and Lady Gaga, for “Mayhem,” are thought in many circles to be Bad Bunny’s biggest competition. Lamar already owns 22 Grammy trophies and Lady Gaga 14 — but none of them are for Album of the Year. Lamar could be due, as each of his last five releases has earned an album of the year nod.
Also nominated for Album of the Year on Sunday are Carpenter for “Man’s Best Friend”; Bieber for “Swag”; Clipse, Pusha T & Malice for “Let God Sort Em Out”; Leon Thomas for “Mutt”; and Tyler, The Creator for “Chromakopia.”
Meanwhile, the battle for Record of the Year — which recognizes the artist — will be between Bad Bunny for “DtMF”; Carpenter for “Manchild”; Doechii for “Anxiety”; Billie Eilish for “Wildflower”; Lady Gaga for “Abracadabra”; Lamar with SZA for “Luther”; Chappell Roan for “The Subway”; and Rosé and Mars for “APT.”
All of those songs — except for “The Subway” — are also nominated in the Song of the Year category, which honors the songwriters. Replacing “The Subway” in the category is “Golden (from `KPop Demon Hunters’)” by Huntr/x.
In the other closely watched major category, the battle for Best New Artist will be between Olivia Dean, KATSEYE, The Marias, Addison Rae, Sombr, Leon Thomas, Alex Warren and Lola Young.
After Lamar’s nine nods, Cirkut, Jack Antonoff and Lady Gaga each bring seven nominations into Sunday, while Bad Bunny, Leon Thomas, Carpenter and Serban Ghenea take six each. Andrew Watt, Clipse, Doechii, Sounwave, SZA, Turnstile and Tyler, The Creator have five apiece.
Lamar’s “GNX” is also nominated for Best Rap Album, along with “Let God Sort Em Out” by Clipse, Pusha T & Malice; “Glorious” by GloRilla; “God Does Like Ugly” by JID; and “Chromakopia” by Tyler, The Creator.
“Golden (from `KPop Demon Hunters’)” by Huntr/x also owns a nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, along with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande’s duet “Defying Gravity” from the film “Wicked.” Also nominated is KATSEYE for “Gabriela,” Rosé and Bruno Mars for “APT.” and SZA with Lamar for “30 for 30.”
Carpenter’s “Man’s Best Friend,” Bieber’s “Swag” and Lady Gaga’s “Mayhem” are all nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album,” joined in the category by Miley Cyrus’ “Something Beautiful” and Teddy Swims’ “I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 2).”
The eligibility period for this year’s Grammy nominations was Aug. 31, 2024 to Aug. 30, 2025. That timeline eliminated Taylor Swift’s hit release “The Life of a Showgirl” from consideration — but it will be eligible for the 2027 Grammys.
The Recording Academy announced Thursday that Carole King, Chappell Roan, Charli XCX, Doechii, Harry Styles, Jeff Goldblum, KAROL G, Lainey Wilson, Marcello Hernández, Nikki Glaser, Q-Tip, Queen Latifah and Teyana Taylor will serve as presenters during Sunday’s ceremony, with an additional surprise presenter to be revealed on Grammy night.