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Why Taylor Swift Doesn't Qualify for the 2026 Grammys
Not all chart-toppers are Grammy winners.
In fact, some of music's biggest names have never won a golden gramophone despite their success on the airwaves.
Take Katy Perry, who has been nominated 13 times—including Teenage Dream for Album of the Year, "Firework" for Record of the Year and "Roar" for Song of the Year—without a single victory.
"To be honest, I always go by numbers, and they don’t lie," she told Variety in a 2021 interview. "Everyone has an opinion and that’s wonderful, but numbers are numbers. Math is sacred."
Likewise, her "California Gurls" collaborator Snoop Dogg has been up for the prestigious award over a dozen times, but to no avail.
"I got 20 nominations for Grammys," the rapper quipped in a 2025 video with ESPN, "zero wins."
And that's why some several of these infamously snubbed stars are now taking their losses in stride. For example, eight-time nominee Blake Shelton believes his bad luck is actually a great motivator for others.
"I'm gonna see a lot of young artists," he told Entertainment Tonight in 2019, "and I hope they look at me and go, 'Oh my god that old bastard he still hasn't won a Grammy and he's still up there trying?!'"
Just last year, Kelsea Ballerini poked fun at how her and Noah Kahan's song "Cowboys Cry Too" lost in every category before they even stepped foot on the red carpet.
“What does it feel like to lose three awards for the same song?” Kelsea—an eight-time nominee with zero wins—jokingly asked her collaborator in an Instagram Story, who quipped in response, "I'm on a losing high right now."
However, the country music star could finally see a win this year. After all, Patterns is up for Best Contemporary Country Album at the 2026 Grammys, airing live Feb. 1 on CBS and streaming live on Paramount+.
Sergione Infuso/Corbis via Getty Images; Xavi Torrent/Redferns); Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
And when Miley Cyrus' decades-long snub ended in 2024 with her first-ever win, she couldn't help but to take her road to Grammy gold in stride.
"No shade, but I've been doing this for 20 years, and this is my first time actually being taken seriously at the Grammys?" she said in a W magazine feature that year. "I've had a hard time figuring out what the measurement is there, because if we want to talk stats and numbers, then where the f--k was I? And if you want to talk impact on culture, then where the f--k was I?"
The Hannah Montana alum added, ""This is not about arrogance. I am proud of myself."
And for more stars who have not yet received their flowers at the Grammys, read on...
Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic
Katy Perry
She’s pretty without any makeup on, but Katy Perry has 13 nominations, including Album of the Year for 2010’s Teenage Dream, and no wins.
Derrek Kupish/Variety via Getty Images
Blake Shelton
Blake Shelton’s got armloads of country-specific awards, but—much to Kelly Clarkson’s surprise—the Grammys have left him hanging nine times.
OLLE LINDEBORG/AFP via Getty Images
ABBA
Mamma mia! The cheery Swedish pop group ABBA racked up hits in the 1970s, but the Recording Academy didn’t even take a chance on ABBA until 2022 when they received their first nomination, Record of the Year for “I Still Have Faith in You.” Which, alas, they lost to Silk Sonic’s “Leave the Door Open.”
But then they were nominated for four more the next year, including Album of the Year for Voyage, so the journey continues.
Frank Micelotta/Getty Images
Jennifer Lopez
Maybe that look on Ben Affleck’s face at the 2023 Grammys was from finding out then-wife Jennifer Lopez didn’t win either of the Grammys she was nominated for in 2000 and 2001.
Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
The Beach Boys
Brian Wilson has two, but wouldn’t it be nice if The Beach Boys had ridden one of their four nominations—three for 1966’s “Good Vibrations” and another for 1988’s “Kokomo,” off the Cocktail soundtrack—to a win? The signature SoCal group was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award when they were older in 2001.
Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
The Who
While they’re Lifetime Achievement Award recipients, The Who only have two Grammy nominations to the group’s name and no wins.
To which we say, What?
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for iHeartRadio
Backstreet Boys
The Recording Academy kept on playing games with the Backstreet Boys’ hearts, leaving them 0-for-9 between 1999 (when, fair, they lost Best New Artist to Lauryn Hill) and 2019.
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
*NSYNC
Well, at least the Backstreet Boys can take solace knowing *NSYNC didn’t win any of their nine nominations either. Otherwise they might drive themselves crazy.
Dave J Hogan/Getty Images
One Direction
But yeesh, at least BSB and *NSYNC were nominated. (Of course, One Direction alum Harry Styles has since won three, including Album of the Year in 2023 for Harry’s House.)
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Bob Marley
One love, no Grammy nominations for revered Jamaican artist Bob Marley, who cranked out countless worthy tunes before his untimely death in 1981 at the age of 36. He was posthumously awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001.
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
Avril Lavigne
It may not be very obvious, but Avril Lavigne has never won once in the eight nominations she's received since her first trip to the Grammys during the early aughts.
Frans Schellekens/Redferns
Chuck Berry
It’s fine, Chuck Berry just helped invent rock and roll, no big deal. The “Johnny B. Goode” singer was ultimately given the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1984.
RB/Redferns
Queen
Lifetime Achievement Award recipients in 2018, Queen was nominated for four Grammys in frontman Freddie Mercury’s lifetime, but they were never the champions.
SIPA/Shutterstock
Lana Del Rey
Of course Taylor Swift meant well when she insisted Lana del Rey join her onstage in accepting Album of the Year in 2024 for Midnights, but surely Lana would rather have made the trip to accept one of her own Grammys after 11 nominations in 10 years.
Photo by Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic
Nicki Minaj
Nicki Minaj, then 0-for-10 in her career at the Grammys (now 0-for-12 since 2024), had thoughts after her song “Super Freaky Girl” was categorized as a pop vocal instead of a rap performance in 2022.
“They don't want the people who they have in the industry to have to go up against me,” she wrote on Instagram. “But why? If you're great, if a song is great, you should be able to be put together in the same category.”
Mickey Bernal/NBC via Getty Images
Toby Keith
Toby Keith, who died in 2024, was one of the biggest country artists of all time, but his seven nominations never resulted in the ultimate tip of the hat.
Katherine Bomboy/NBC via Getty Images
Josh Groban
You’ve just been running around, living your life, assuming Josh Groban was a Grammy winner for “You Raise Me Up.” But no. And he’s only been nominated five times, includinbg in 2005 for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.
Jeff Hochberg/Getty Images
The Supremes
Reflections of the way the Grammys used to be: Diana Ross, Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson of The Supremes were only nominated twice—for Motown bangers “Baby Love” and “Stop! in the Name of Love”—and never won.
Ross, meanwhile, has 11 competitive nominations outside of her work with the trio, most recently in 2023, and no wins. But she has two Lifetime Achievement Awards, one as a solo artist and one with the Supremes.
Watch the Grammys 2026 Sunday, Feb. 1 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
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