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The Recording Academy has added two new GRAMMY categories and updated eligibility requirements for some others.
The new categories are Best Traditional Country Album and Best Album Cover.
“The Academy’s top priority is to represent the music people that we serve each year,” said Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy. “That entails listening carefully to our members to make sure our rules and guidelines reflect today’s music and allow us to accurately recognize as many deserving creators as possible. As we kick off another exciting GRAMMY Season, we look forward to celebrating the amazing power of music and its ability to bring so many people together.”
The category formerly known as Best Country Album has been renamed to Best Contemporary Country Album.
The Best Album Cover category has been added as the existing Best Recording Package and Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package categories have been combined into one: Category: Best Recording Package.
“The physical product eligibility requirement for Best Recording Package, Best Album Notes, and Best Historical Album has also been expanded to be more representative of today’s marketplace,” the academy explained. “This change ensures that physical album packages sold directly to fans through an artist’s or label’s website are eligible for GRAMMY consideration.”
Eligibility has been updated for the Best New Artist category to include those who have previously been nominated for Album Of The Year, “but whose contributions fell below the current 20 percent playing time threshold.”
This update allows acts who were credited as featured artists on projects that were GRAMMY nominated for Album Of The Year in a previous awards cycle to be eligible for Best New Artist consideration.
Classical composers and lyricists/librettists are now allowed to be considered in the Classical categories alongside artists, producers, and engineers on winning albums.
The 2026 GRAMMYs take place on Feb. 1, live from the Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles.