2026 Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album Grammy Nominees:
• Wintersongs, Laila Biali
• Who Believes in Angels?, Elton John & Brandi Carlile
• The Gift of Love, Jennifer Hudson
• Harlequin, Lady Gaga
• A Matter of Time, Laufey
• The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume 2, Barbra Streisand
The Analysis
Elton John and Brandi Carlile were surprisingly shut out of Album of the Year for their terrific collab album Who Believes in Angels? Their consolation prize is a Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album nod. But why is it in this category?
Traditional pop music, as celebrated by the Recording Academy, tends to be slow, dramatic balladry. Think Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand. Who Believes in Angels? is anything but that.
Much of the album is up-tempo rock & roll, in the old-school style of Little Richard. We’re talking barnburning, rollicking piano numbers. It’s hard to see how that fits “traditional pop” at all. But the Grammys have never been consistent or strict with how they categorize music.
Regardless, it has a great chance of winning. John has five career Grammys, and Carlile has a whopping 11. Logically, they would seem to be the favorites here.
But others may have something to say about that. Lady Gaga won this award twice with Bennett. She’s nominated for Harlequin, an album of jazzy songs recorded for the 2024 Joker movie. The movie was panned, and the album barely registered a blip on the charts, so we don’t expect Gaga to win this time around.
But watch out for Laufey. The impressive young singer already won this award in 2024. A Matter of Time featured throwback, cocktail lounge-ready tunes like “Lover Girl.” It’s fun music, and she will likely get a lot of votes from those who want to vote for something more traditional than the John/Carlile record.
What about Barbra Streisand? She’s as “traditional pop” as it gets. She has now been nominated 14 times in this category without a single win. Could this be the year? The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume 2 is a collection of collaborations with A-listers like Ariana Grande, Mariah Carey, Hozier, Sam Smith, Paul McCartney, and many more.
This is Streisand’s most mainstream effort in years, and she’ll likely get a lot of support from her many duet partners. Maybe she’ll break through this time. But we just can’t pick someone who is 0 for 13 in the category.
Jennifer Hudson may have a chance, based on that booming voice and her extreme personal popularity. A Gift of Love was an album of Christmas standards, though. Voters in this category (rightfully) prefer to reward a more original album than one composed entirely of holiday cover songs.
How did Laila Biali score a nomination with this group of heavyweights? She’s a Juno-winning jazz singer. Her reflective album Wintersongs is a nice collection of quiet pop songs with new age elements, but it doesn’t figure to win.
It also denied a nomination for other deserving albums of traditional pop music, like Seth McFarlane’s collection of songs that were arranged for Frank Sinatra decades ago, but which he never got to record.
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album Prediction
Most likely, it’s Elton & Brandi vs. Laufey. While there’s a very good chance that Laufey wins again, we have to go with the pair who have 16 Grammy Awards between them.
Who Believes in Angels? is the best album among this group, and this was the only Grammy category that showed it any love. We trust that Grammy voters will reward it.
2026 Grammy Awards: Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album Prediction
Deserves to win: Who Believes in Angels?, Elton John & Brandi Carlile
Will win: Who Believes in Angels?, Elton John & Brandi Carlile
Should have been nominated: Lush Life: The Lost Sinatra Arrangements, Seth McFarlane
See also our complete list of 2026 Grammy predictions. And here’s a list of every Best Traditional Pop Album winner in history.
Last Updated on December 13, 2025