Hope you like the sound of the name “Olivia,” because you’re going to hear it again and again — and probably again — at the 2027 Grammys ceremony. But which Olivia? Ah, now, there’s the rub… and a bet we’re going to hedge, at least until the forecast comes into clearer focus, if indeed it does, when the nominations are announced Nov. 16. But even with the Feb. 7 ceremony still being exactly four months away, some bettors are already laying odds on either Olivia Rodrigo or Olivia Dean to take a lead in the race toward the noms or final wins.
Not that we are ruling out divas who happen to have a different first name, like Taylor Swift and Ella Langley, or a couple of contenders who only carry a single name professionally, Raye and Rosalía. But unless Noah Kahan turns out to be as big of an awards sleeper as he has beena commercial blockbuster, the one thing we can almost conclusively about the top four categories this far out from the ’27 Grammys is that a man will not be winning any of them. The slogan “the future is female” may seem a little overly optimistic when it comes to making a projection about society in general, but when it comes to music, and especially the quality of music rising to the level of Grammy consideration… Welcome to the matriarchy, and may the best woman walk away with an armful.
For this particular column, we’re looking at Album of the Year and who stands the best chance at landing one of the eight slots, from a vast field of hundreds of aspirants. We’ll move on to the other big three — Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist — in the days to come. Voting opens to Recording Academy members on Oct. 12 and closes 10 days later, with the nominations then coming Nov. 16, allowing just enough time for everyone’s nervous stomachs to settle by Thanksgiving.
Although the Grammys have pared the list of nominees in the top categories down to eight, from 10, we’re just tentative enough about our predictions to name an alphabetical field of 10 we think most of those eight finalists will be pulled from. Then we’ve named 10 more we consider close calls that also stand a decent chance of slipping in… followed, in passing, by 20 wild cards, any of which might not come as a complete shock, given how impossible the Grammys are to truly nail down.
TEN LEADING CONTENDERS, ALPHABETICALLY
- Brandi Carlile Returning to Myself
- Olivia Dean The Art of Loving
- Noah Kahan The Great Divide
- Ella Langley Dandelion
- Bruno Mars The Romantic
- Raye This Music May Contain Hope
- Olivia Rodrigo You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love
- Rosalía Lux
- Sienna Spiro Visitor
- Taylor Swift The Life of a Showgirl
TEN MORE THAT COULD GET IN
- Lily Allen West End Girl
- Phoebe Bridgers Lost Weekend
- Ariana Grande Petal
- Zara Larsson Midnight Sun
- Madonna Confessions II
- Paul McCartney The Boys of Dungeon Lane
- Kacey Musgraves Middle of Nowhere
- Harry Styles Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally
- Tame Impala Deadbeat
- Don Toliver Octane
And 20 more that are also coming up for mention as possibilities, in no particular order: the 2025-26 albums by Geese, Justin Bieber (“Swag II” fell into this eligibility period), Kehlani, Charli xcx (with “Music, Fashion, Film” being her submission, not the also eligible “Wuthering Heights”), Gracie Abrams, Jill Scott, Steve Lacey, A$AP Rocky, Jacob Collier, J. Cole, Cardi B, Pink Pantheress, the Rolling Stones, Ari Lennox, Mitski, Luke Combs, Mumford and Sons, Foo Fighters and Mavis Staples.
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