The Recording Academy has announced the nominees for the 2026 Grammy Awards. Among the notable names in this year’s alternative music categories are Bon Iver, the Cure, Turnstile, and Wet Leg. Find the full list of 2026 Grammy nominations here.
Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon is a perennial Recording Academy favorite, having won Best New Artist over a decade ago off his 2011 album. He’s since been consistently recognized for his own releases, as well as, more recently, his work on Taylor Swift’s pair of 2020 albums, Folklore and Evermore. Vernon is nominated for Best Alternative Album, for SABLE, fABLE, and Best Alternative Music Performance, for its single “Everything Is Peaceful Love.”
Wet Leg are more recent Grammys darlings. They nabbed both alternative trophies—plus a Best New Artist nod—in 2023 for their self-titled debut and single “Chaise Longue,” and could do so again with their sophomore effort, Moisturizer. Hayley Williams is new to these categories—but only as a solo artist; her band Paramore recently won Best Rock Album and Best Alternative Performance for 2023’s This Is Why and its title track, respectively.
Also straddling the rock-alternative divide are Baltimore hardcore outfit Turnstile. They have songs up for consideration in three different genre categories—Best Alternative Music Performance, Best Rock Performance, and Best Metal Performance—though the album all these tracks hail from, Never Enough, falls under the rock umbrella. Meanwhile, Tyler, the Creator’s dance-forward Don’t Tap the Glass has earned him his first solo nod outside of a rap category.
The Cure came into today with only two Grammy nominations, both in the Best Alternative Album category: one for 1992’s Wish, and one for 2000’s Bloodflowers. Robert Smith and his band are nominated for both alternative music awards for Songs of a Lost World, their first album in 16 years, and its opening track, “Alone.”
At the 2025 Grammy Awards, earlier this year, St. Vincent took home both Best Alternative Music Album and Performance for her album All Born Screaming and its single “Flea.”
