Why Taylor Swift Is Ineligible For The 2026 Grammys Bustle

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Nov 17, 2025, 1:49 PM

why taylor swift is ineligible for the 2026 grammys bustle

The Life of a Showgirl is the biggest album of 2025, but it won’t be honored at the upcoming ceremony. The 2026 Grammy nominations will be announced on Nov. 7, recognizing the biggest hits and most beloved albums of the past year. Taylor Swift has contributed both, releasing her 12th album, The Life of a Showgirl, in October to record-breaking sales, and spawning a No. 1 single with “The Fate of Ophelia.” However, Swift won’t be among the nominees this year — for good reason. To be eligible for the 2026 Grammys, new music must have been released between Aug.

31, 2024, and Aug. 30, 2025. Swift released The Life of a Showgirl on Oct. 3, 2025. This means that the album will be eligible to compete at the 2027 Grammys, along with all its songs, including “Ophelia.” Swift did not release any new songs during the eligibility period, after putting out The Tortured Poets Department in April 2024, which received six nominations at the 2025 show.

This means that Swift will not be eligible for any Grammys for the first time since she was 17, when she released her debut single “Tim McGraw,” but didn’t submit it for Grammy consideration. The 2026 Grammys will also mark the first time that Swift will not be nominated since 2017. That year, her Reputation single “Look What You Made Me Do” was eligible to compete and submitted for consideration, but did not garner any nominations. Every year since, Swift has been nominated for at least one award, adding more trophies to her mantle and making Grammys history. Taylor Swift talks about releasing her album “The Life of a Showgirl,” Travis Kelce trying to distract her from his surprise proposal and why she’s not performing at the Super Bowl. Taylor Swift can't check off more Grammy nominations from her wish list quite yet.

Stream NBC10 Boston news for free, 24/7, wherever you are. After the 2026 Grammy nominations were announced Nov. 7, music fans may have wondered why the singer's latest album "The Life of a Showgirl" was completely missing from the list of nods — but don't fret, Swift's absence from the list of... Turns out, she simply wasn't eligible this go 'round. Taylor Swift released 'The Life of a Showgirl' after the eligibility window closed Don't worry, Swifties!

There is a reason why Taylor Swift isn't up for any 2026 Grammys. The "Cruel Summer" singer didn't receive any nominations for the upcoming 2026 Grammys when all the potential winners were announced on Nov. 7. However, Swift didn't get the nod because she didn't release any music during the eligibility period for the 68th annual Grammy Awards. Although she notably released her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, in 2025, she debuted it over a month after the eligibility window closed. Prior to her most recent hit album, Swift also didn't drop any new music videos, singles or records that would qualify her for a nomination in the upcoming show.

Swift last attended the 2025 Grammy Awards, where she was nominated for several categories for her 2024 album, The Tortured Poets Department. The pop star didn't take home any awards for the album, but in total, she has won 14 Grammy Awards since 2010. Taylor Swift had one of the biggest album releases of the year with The Life of a Showgirl. Still, when Grammy nominations were announced today for the 2026 ceremony, Swift wasn’t anywhere on the list. So was the artist’s latest album completely snubbed? Not at all—it just isn’t eligible for next year’s ceremony.

Swift released The Life of a Showgirl on Oct. 3, 2025. The eligibility period for the 2026 awards covers works released between Aug. 31, 2024 to Aug. 30, 2025. The Life of a Showgirl can still be submitted for the 2027 Grammys, though (where the period is Aug.

31, 2025 to Aug. 30, 2026). Swift might still attend the 2026 Grammys. At this year’s show, she was a presenter, ultimately giving Beyoncé the Best Country Award. While she was nominated for The Tortured Poets Department, she did not win any awards. For the moment, however, Swift has been focused on promoting her album, wedding planning, and enjoying her fiancé Travis Kelce’s football season.

She’ll also be releasing her Disney+ documentary series on the Eras Tour next month. Last week, a source told Us Weekly that Swift isn’t planning to tour again imminently after completing her Eras Tour last year. Taylor Swift missed the 2026 Grammy nominations because 'The Life of a Showgirl' was released after eligibility closed. The album will compete in 2027, where she's expected to be a major contender. .cls-1{fill:#0c9d58;}.cls-2{fill:#004d40;}.cls-10,.cls-2,.cls-3,.cls-5,.cls-9{opacity:0.2;}.cls-2,.cls-3,.cls-5,.cls-9{isolation:isolate;}.cls-3,.cls-8{fill:#fff;}.cls-4{fill:#ea4335;}.cls-5{fill:#3e2723;}.cls-6{fill:#ffc107;}.cls-7{fill:#4285f4;}.cls-11,.cls-9{fill:#1a237e;}.cls-12{fill:url(#radial-gradient);}google-news Follow Us Swifties can rest easy—there's a simple reason Taylor Swift isn't nominated for the 2026 Grammy Awards.

When the Recording Academy announced this year's nominations on 7th November, fans quickly noticed the 'Cruel Summer' singer's name missing from the list. But Swift's absence isn't due to a snub—it's purely a matter of timing. The eligibility period for the 68th Annual Grammy Awards ran from 31st August 2024 through 30th August 2025. Since Taylor Swift released her 12th studio album, 'The Life of a Showgirl,' in October 2025, it officially fell outside of the qualifying window. Because of that, neither the album nor its lead single, 'The Fate of Ophelia,' could be submitted for consideration this year. You need to calm down.

Taylor Swift was not snubbed at the 68th Grammy Awards. She did not release any much during the eligibility period and will be competing in next year’s ceremony. Each year, the Grammy eligibility season stirs up some confusion online. Songs, albums, and artists that could be considered for this year’s Grammy Awards were released between Aug. 31, 2024, to Aug. 30, 2025.

Anything that has come out since Aug. 31 of this year will be up for consideration for the 69th Grammy Awards, which will air in early 2027. Artists like Swift tend to benefit from letting an album breathe for a full year with Grammy voters. For example, her sophomore album, Fearless, came out in November 2008 and was awarded Album of the Year in February 2010. Both Red and 1989 were fall releases, with the latter dropping in 2014 and taking home the top honor in 2016. Newer artists have also seen some advantages with the eligibility period not adhering to a typical calendar year.

Chappell Roan released her debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, in September 2023, after the window closed for the 2024 ceremony. Thankfully for her, Roan’s big breakthrough arrived in the spring of 2024, bringing millions of new listeners to her more quietly released album and singles. She received an Album of the Year nomination at the 2025 ceremony (and took home Best New Artist). The timing of when voting begins for the Recording Academy falls out of step with the rest of awards season, causing further confusion about who has been snubbed and what is surprising. Oscars and Golden Globes eligibility tends to fall more in step with the January-to-December calendar year, which is why so many awards-bait films tend to drop around the holiday season and lists celebrating the... So Swifties, The Life of a Showgirl has a chance to dominate the 69th Grammy Awards.

You’ll just have to wait a year to see what happens. Find this story in your account’s ‘Saved for Later’ section. The artist with the most Album of the Year awards is absent from the 2026 Grammy nominations. Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl isn’t up for any awards — this year, at least. The 2026 Grammys eligibility period ran from August 31, 2024, through August 30, 2025, bumping Swift’s October 3 album into next year’s ceremony. That window is how we get 2024 releases like Leon Thomas’s Mutt competing for Album of the Year against Sabrina Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend.

The February 1 awards show will air nearly a year and a half after Thomas released his record in September 2024. (Fun fact: Carpenter’s Grammy-winning album, Short n’ Sweet, came out about a month before Mutt.) Swift is on the bench with a slew of artists whose work appeared this fall. Cardi B, Rosalía, Doja Cat, Tame Impala, Gucci Mane, and Sudan Archives have all released either critically acclaimed or widely popular records in the past two months — nearly enough to fill the next... Next year’s nominated artists will get one big promotional benefit: The 2027 Grammy Awards will be aired by Disney’s ABC instead of CBS after the corporation bought the show in October 2024. And the House of Mouse is planning a promotional blitz.

“Our big sell was ‘Here’s what we can do on Disney,’” Walt Disney Television alternative-TV chief Rob Mills told Vulture in May. “We can do Grammy-winner night on Idol. We can do a Grammy night on Dancing With the Stars. We could do a date on The Bachelor where they go to the Grammy Museum and a musical artist performs.” Swift may not be nominated this year, but expect to see a big Disney-branded... The 2026 Grammy Award nominees were announced on Nov. 7, and the list is honestly stacked.

Fan favorite artists like Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, Sabrina Carpenter, and Bad Bunny all earned multiple nods, Justin Bieber (!!!) earned himself an Album of the Year nomination with SWAG (plus other noms!), and... But among all the nominees, one big name was missing: Taylor Swift. Why wasn’t Taylor Swift nominated for any 2026 Grammys? It was only a month ago, on Oct. 3, 2025, that Swift released her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl. Like any Swift album, the tracks — “The Fate Of Ophelia,” “Opalite,” and “Wood” are just some of the bops that come to mind — have been streamed by Swifties millions of times since...

Why Taylor Swift Is Ineligible For The 2026 Grammys Bustle

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