Voting for Grammy nominees starts today

Grammy season is officially on.

First-round voting for the 69th Annual Grammy Awards opens today (October 12) and runs through to Thursday, October 22. This round determines all the Grammy nominees for all the categories of the awards. Following that, the next big date on the Grammy calendar will be the official nominations announcement on November 16.

Albums released from August 31, 2025, through to August 28, 2026 are eligible for consideration.

Although the official number of albums submitted for the Best Reggae Album category is yet to be declared, music insiders believe that this year will be particularly interesting. As we do every year, we connected with our ‘Grammy Man in the Street’ Sean ‘Contractor’ Edwards, CEO of Contractor Music Marketing, for his thoughts on who will possibly make the top five nominees.

“The 69th Grammy awards has 2300 new voting members which could significantly switch the status quo of nominees in each category,” Edwards told The Gleaner.

The Recording Academy, the entity which hosts the Grammys, added over 2,300 new voting members to its 2026 class for the 69th Grammy Awards, bringing the total voting community to nearly 16,000 music creators, Billboard reported recently. Voters aged 39 and under comprise 54 per cent of the new members and Edwards sees this as a plus for the Best Reggae Album category.

“This leads us to the plea of young voting members in the Best Reggae Album category to have more dancehall representation among the nominees. This year Vybz Kartel, Popcaan, Masicka and Alkaline all have albums vying for nomination,” Edwards added.

Popcaan’s Gyalentines II (EP) was released February 14; Alkaline’s album NPT was released on March 23; God & Time from Vybz Kartel was released on June 5; and Masicka’s Forever Reign was released on August 14.

Of significance also, are albums from dancehall veterans Beenie Man, Buju Banton and Capleton, which have performed exceedingly well on global charts.

“Over the past two months Beenie Man has been campaigning his album Eminence on major urban media platforms in the United States,” Edwards pointed out, adding that the project features cameos from Rick Ross, Snoop Dogg and Ashanti.

Buju Banton has also been heavily campaigning his new album, Too Too Bad, which was released on July 17, via VP Records and his own Gargamel Music.

“Buju Banton also had a major North American tour Roots And Rhymes Tour with Stephen Marley to promote the album. Capleton’s album Heights of Fire, his first solo project in 16 years, features a collab with Damian and Stephen Marley. His name is well known among Grammy voters in reggae and brings a vibrant energy to this year’s list of main contenders,” Edwards said.

Both Beenie Man and Buju Banton have won solo Grammy awards and have received several nominations. Capleton’s solo Grammy nomination was in 2003 for the critically acclaimed, Still Blazin’, which was released under VP Records.

This year, there is also the much-talked-about ‘Marley factor’ with both multi-Grammy Award winner, Ziggy and his younger brother, Ky-mani, having albums which are eligible. And also in the Marley mix is their sister Sharon, whose début solo album, Firebird – released on March 20, via Gong Gyal Entertainment and Tuff Gong International – is eligible for Grammy consideration.

“Ziggy Marley’s album Brightside is almost an automatic nomination for Best Reggae Album,” Edwards said.

He added, “His name is well known among Grammy voters. Ky-mani has never won a solo Grammy Award, and he is a strong contender this year for his album Live and Energy to be nominated.”

Also coming in very strong are Jamar ‘Chronixx’ McNaughton, who made a huge splash when he released his sophomore project, Exile on October 10, 2025, which was his 33rd birthday; and Protoje with his album, The Art of Acceptance, which arrived in April. Notably, it was released by Ineffable Records, the same company which was responsible for Lila Ike’s Grammy nominated album last year.

“ Exile will no doubt strike a chord with Grammy voters who appreciate the authentic reggae sound. Protoje’s album, The Art of Acceptance is another strong contender from an artiste who has already received Grammy nominations,” Edwards stated.

He was also quick to point out that almost every year the Grammy surprises everyone in the Best Reggae Album category with “a nomination that few people saw coming”.

“Usually this means the album is of high quality and the artiste and his team were campaigning heavily behind the scenes. Last year it was Keznandi and this year it could be Runkus with his album Supernova or perhaps Samory I with the Clive Hunt-produced Revelation,” Edwards said.

He added however, that it would be unwise to forget about Shaggy as a main contender for nomination with his album Lottery which has cameos from Robin Thicke, Sting and Mutabaruka.

“Shaggy has won two Grammy awards with eight nominations so his name is well known to the Grammy voters. He has also been campaigning on the main stream American media,” Edwards said.

He noted that a female artiste to watch is definitely Naomi Cowan, whose 12-track, debut album, Welcome to Paradise, was released on October 10, 2025, to critical acclaim. The album won the 2026 JUNO Award for Reggae Recording of the Year.

Edwards added to his list, Jamaicans who have singles up for consideration in other categories. There is Spice with the single Miss World Body – a bilingual dancehall and Latin urban collaboration with Argentine star L-Gante / Lajoaqui produced by Alexx Antaeus targeting categories like Best Global Music Performance.

“Busy Signal and Bahamian artiste Righteous Teacher are in consideration for Best Gospel Performance/Song and Record of the Year for Give Thanks ... another dancehall inspired track by BL the Hook Slaya and Kruziano is also up for consideration in the category of Best R&B song and Best R&B collab or duo for their song I’ll Be There for the Weekend,” Edwards said.

The 69th Annual Grammy Awards will take place on Sunday, February 7, 2027, at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California.

yasmine.peru@gleanerjm.com