The Recording Academy has unveiled its updated rulebook for the 2026 Grammys. Key changes include the division of the Best Country Album category into two awards: The original category is now called Best Contemporary Country Album, and a new one, Best Traditional Country Album, has been added. Notably, Beyoncé won the 2025 Best Country Album Grammy in her first year of nomination in the category; her Lemonade song “Daddy Lessons” was controversially rejected by the country music committee in 2016.
A shakeup in the packaging field has led to the creation of a new category, Best Album Cover, as well as the merging of the Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package category—in which Jeff Mangum was a surprise 2024 nominee—with Best Recording Package. Albums sold directly to fans will also qualify for packaging Grammys from now on.
Elsewhere, Best New Artist eligibility has expanded. In the past, contributors to records nominated for Album of the Year would be ineligible for Best New Artist in the future. That remains the case, with some exceptions. In 2023, the Recording Academy tightened its Album of the Year eligibility criteria to exclude contributors who feature on less than 20 percent of the album. If your prior Album of the Year nomination would not have been eligible under the new, tighter parameters, you are now, once again, eligible for Best New Artist.
The overall changes, said Harvey Mason, Jr., in a press release, are the result of “listening carefully to [Recording Academy] members to make sure our rules and guidelines reflect today’s music.” The next Grammys take place on February 1, 2026. Nominees are announced on November 7.