Grammys 2026 - 2 Big New Categories Added for Next Year!
There’s going to be new Grammys categories at the 2026 Grammys!
The Recording Academy confirmed that there will now be two new categories included: Best Album Cover, and Best Traditional Country Album.
The country award is the only new music category being added for the 68th annual Grammy Awards, per Billboard.
Keep reading to find out more…
The existing best country album category has been renamed Best Contemporary Country Album.
The new category will join the 13 other categories in Field 5, four of which are specifically dedicated to country, while the others cover American roots, Americana, bluegrass, blues, folk and regional roots music, per the report.
“The community of people that are making country music in all different subgenres came to us with a proposal and said we would like to have more variety in how our music is honored,” Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. told the news outlet.
“They said, we think we need more space for our music to be celebrated and honored.”
He noted that the proposal was submitted a number of times previously before passing for 2026.
Other genres also separate contemporary and traditional albums or performances, including R&B, pop and blues.
“It makes country parallel with what’s happening in other genres. But it is also creating space for where this genre is going,” he added.
Here’s the definition for the new category: “This category recognizes excellence in albums of traditional country music, both vocal and instrumental. Traditional country includes country recordings that adhere to the more traditional sound structures of the country genre, including rhythm and singing style, lyrical content, as well as traditional country instrumentation such as acoustic guitar, steel guitar, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, piano, electric guitar, and live drums. It also includes sub-genres such as Western, Western Swing, and Outlaw country.”
The goal is for the category to represent artists who fall outside of mainstream, commercial country music, who have previously been nominated into the Americana and American roots categories.
“The issues have been, traditionally, a lot of people that weren’t sure whether [an album] was Americana or roots or folk or country were just jamming everything into one category,” the CEO explained.
“There are obviously nuances between the different genres. Those experts in those genres understand those nuances, and I’m quite certain now you’re going to see the right people going into Americana versus folk versus traditional country. [The change] gives us an opportunity to put things in more specific categories.”
“People from that community are making more music, it’s more varied, there’s different styles of writing and performing. I’m hopeful that that community understands that the academy is doing what it always does, which is stay in tune with what’s happening in their genre,” he concluded.
Along with the Best Album Cover category, Best Recording Package and Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package are also now being merged into one category.
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