Grammy Awards Expand With Five New Categories, Including Asian Pop and Latin Song

Grammy Awards Set to Introduce Five New Categories in 2026

The Grammy Awards are undergoing a significant expansion, with five brand-new categories set to debut at next year's ceremony. The additions include Best Asian Pop Music Performance and Best Latin Song — two categories that reflect the growing global influence of non-English music on the mainstream music industry.

Historic Wins Sparked the Change

The decision follows a landmark year for diversity at the Grammys. Puerto Rican reggaeton star Bad Bunny made history earlier in 2025 by becoming the first artist ever to claim Album of the Year for an album recorded entirely in Spanish. Meanwhile, Golden — the breakout anthem from the fictional K-pop group Huntr/x, featured in the film KPop Demon Hunters — became the first K-pop track to win a Grammy, taking home Best Song for Visual Media.

These milestone moments signaled a broader cultural shift that the Recording Academy was eager to acknowledge and build upon.

What the New Categories Mean for Artists

Expanding Representation Across Genres

Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. stated that the expansion is designed to make the Grammys "more inclusive" and better equipped to "represent more music creators, artists, writers, and producers." He emphasized that the changes were driven directly by feedback from the music community, which expressed a desire for greater opportunities to celebrate emerging and diverse genres.

To be eligible for the new Best Latin Song award, tracks must be composed predominantly in Spanish. The Best Asian Pop Music Performance category will encompass a wide range of Asian pop subgenres, including K-pop, J-pop, and C-pop — genres that have built enormous global fanbases in recent years.

The Recording Academy had already taken preparatory steps in this direction by adding Korean and Latino artists to its voting membership last year, a move widely interpreted as laying the foundation for this very expansion.

Bad Bunny's Dominant Grammy Night

Bad Bunny, who was Spotify's most-streamed artist globally in 2025, had an exceptional night at February's ceremony. In addition to his historic Album of the Year win for Debí Tirar Más Fotos (translated as I Should Have Taken More Photos), he also claimed Best Música Urbana Album and Best Global Music Performance — cementing his status as one of the most decorated artists in recent Grammy history.

Full List of New and Revised Grammy Categories

Alongside the high-profile additions of Best Asian Pop Music Performance and Best Latin Song, the Grammy Awards will also introduce:

• Best R&B Collaboration or Duo/Group Performance
• Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance
• Best Traditional Folk Album

In tandem with these new categories, the existing R&B Performance category will be restructured to focus exclusively on solo artists, while the current Folk Album award will shift its focus to contemporary folk recordings.

Best New Artist Eligibility Gets an Update

The eligibility rules for Best New Artist have also been revised. The number of times an emerging act can be submitted for consideration has been increased from three to four. This change benefits artists such as Ravyn Lenae and Ella Langley, who have previously exhausted their three submission allowances and will now have the opportunity to be nominated once more.

Looking Ahead

All new categories and updated rules will officially take effect at the 2026 Grammy Awards ceremony. The changes represent one of the most meaningful structural shifts in the awards show's history, reflecting a music industry that is increasingly borderless, multilingual, and culturally diverse.