Monowhales - 'Real Love'

The 68th annual Grammy Awards were presented just nine days ago, so how can we already be thinking ahead to next year’s awards? Well, even though many execs who flew out to L.A. for the Grammys haven’t even filed their expense reports yet, we’re nearly halfway through the eligibility year for the 69th annual Grammy Awards – Aug. 31, 2025 through Aug. 30, 2026.

Last year at this point, four of the eight albums that were later nominated for album of the year had been released – Leon Thomas’ MUTT, Tyler, the Creator’s CHROMAKOPIA, Kendrick Lamar’s GNX and the eventual winner, Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos. A fifth eventual nominee, Lady Gaga’s MAYHEM, was just weeks away from its March 7 release. The other three nominated albums were both released during the summer: Clipse’s Let God Sort Em Out and Justin Bieber’s Swag (both released on July 11) and Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend (on Aug. 29, just one day before the close of the eligibility year).