2026 Best Alternative Music Album Grammy Nominees:
• SABLE, fABLE, Bon Iver
• Songs of a Lost World, The Cure
• Don’t Tap the Glass, Tyler, the Creator
• Moisturizer, Wet Leg
• Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party, Hayley Williams
The Analysis
Best Alternative Music Album is consistently one of the strongest categories at the Grammys.
This year features a very interesting mix of contenders, with three current rock acts, a rapper branching out into a new musical style, and a legendary band that has never won a Grammy.
Four of these artists have won Grammys before. Let’s start with Wet Leg, the female-fronted British band who won this award in 2023 for their debut album. This time, they’re nominated for Moisturizer, one of three noms for the group this year.
Women do win this category often. In fact, they’ve captured the last five in a row. That’s good news for both Wet Leg and Hayley Williams, the Paramore singer who released her third solo album, Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party.
Paramore surprisingly captured their first two Grammys in 2024, for their album This is Why. So it stands to reason that Williams has a great chance to win again, especially given the many good reviews her latest solo album has garnered.
Former Best New Artist winner Bon Iver claimed this award in 2012 and has picked up a steady stream of Grammy noms since then. SABLE, fABLE was a great album with standout singles “Everything is Peaceful Love” and “From.”
It’s the best album in this category. But Bon Iver hasn’t won a Grammy in more than a decade, so our prediction is that he won’t come out victorious.
Tyler the Creator is the wild card here. He’s a two-time Rap Album of the Year winner who released Don’t Tap the Glass, a more experimental record with singing vocals and electronic and dance elements. Is it Alternative music? That’s debatable.
There’s no precedent for someone outside the rock music world winning this category, so we’re going to assume that Tyler isn’t a contender for this one.
That leaves the Cure. Robert Smith and his bandmates amazingly got inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (in 2019) before winning a Grammy. They were nominated for this award back in 1993 and 2001, but still have yet to win a gramophone.
With ’80s and ’90s hits like “Friday I’m in Love,” “Just Like Heaven,” “Boys Don’t Cry,” and “Lovesong,” the Cure influenced probably every artist who has ever won this award. So a win would be fitting.
The Grammys have a long history of rewarding beloved artists many years later to make up for snubbing them at their peak. The Cure would be the latest in a long line of such artists, including Bonnie Raitt, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Natalie Cole, and Herbie Hancock.
But are the Cure really beloved by Recording Academy voters, or do some voters consider them old news? That’s the big question. We just don’t know whether the Cure name has the same cachet with this newer, younger version of the Academy.
Best Alternative Music Album Prediction
This is a tough call. It would be awesome to see the Cure finally win a Grammy. And they have a really good chance.
Women have been ruling this category in recent years, and Wet Leg and Hayley Williams both have recent Grammy wins. If either were in this category as the lone female, they would be a heavy favorite. However, they have to compete with each other.
Our guess is that Williams and Wet Leg split enough votes to allow the Cure to get their long overdue Grammy recognition.
2026 Grammy Awards: Best Alternative Music Album Prediction
Deserves to win: SABLE, fABLE, Bon Iver
Will win: Songs of a Lost World, The Cure
Should have been nominated: Virgin, Lorde
See also our complete list of 2026 Grammy predictions. And here’s a list of every Best Alternative Music Album winner in history.
Last Updated on December 13, 2025