iWorld
Grammys 2026: Kendrick Lamar, Bad Bunny and K-pop Demon Hunters make history
LOS ANGELES: The 68th Annual Grammy Awards, held on February 1, 2026, at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena, marked a turning point in the music industry’s global reset. Hosted for the sixth and final time by Trevor Noah, the ceremony celebrated genre-blurring hits and international dominance.
Bad Bunny delivered the night’s biggest shock by winning album of the year for Debí Tirar Más Fotos, while Kendrick Lamar topped the rap categories, including best rap album and best rap song.
Lady Gaga claimed best pop vocal album and best dance-pop recording, underlining her continued pop supremacy.
A landmark moment arrived when Golden from KPop Demon Hunters became the first K-pop track to win a Grammy, taking best song written for visual media. Olivia Dean was crowned best new artist, signalling a fresh wave of global pop talent.
Country music enjoyed an expanded presence, with wins across best contemporary country album, best traditional country album, best country solo performance and best country song. Rock and alternative were split between Turnstile, The Cure and Nine Inch Nails across best rock album, best rock performance, best rock song, best alternative music album and best alternative music performance.
R&B honours went to Leon Thomas and Kehlani across best R&B album, performance, traditional R&B performance and song. Electronic music saw victories for FKA twigs and Tame Impala in best dance/electronic album and recording, while Tyla led African music performance.
Global recognition extended to Latin and world sounds with Bad Bunny winning best música urbana album and best global music performance. Jazz, orchestral and folk categories rewarded Chick Corea’s ensemble, Andris Nelsons and I’m With Her respectively.
Elsewhere, Doechii dominated best music video, Sinners won best compilation soundtrack for visual media, Nate Bargatze took best comedy album, Cirkut was named producer of the year and Amy Allen claimed songwriter of the year.
Check out the full list of categories and winners below:
Best Pop Vocal Album
Justin Bieber – Swag
Sabrina Carpenter – Man’s Best Friend
Miley Cyrus – Something Beautiful
Lady Gaga – Mayhem – WINNER
Teddy Swims – I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 2)
Best Contemporary Country Album
Kelsea Ballerini – Patterns
Tyler Childers – Snipe Hunter
Eric Church – Evangeline vs the Machine
Jelly Roll – Beautifully Broken – WINNER
Miranda Lambert – Postcards from Texas
Best Música Urbana Album
Bad Bunny – Debí Tirar Más Fotos – WINNER
Feid – Ferxxo Vol X: Sagrado
J Balvin – Mixteip
Nicki Nicole – Naiki
Trueno – EUB Deluxe
Yandel – Sinfónico (En Vivo)
Best New Artist
Olivia Dean – WINNER
Katseye
The Marias
Addison Rae
Sombr
Leon Thomas
Alex Warren
Lola Young
Best Rap Album
Clipse – Let God Sort Em Out
Glorilla – Glorious
JID – God Does Like Ugly
Kendrick Lamar – GNX – WINNER
Tyler, the Creator – Chromakopia
Best Dance-Pop Recording
Selena Gomez & Benny Blanco – Bluest Flame
Lady Gaga – Abracadabra – WINNER
Zara Larsson – Midnight Sun
Tate McRae – Just Keep Watching
PinkPantheress – Illegal
Best Rap Performance
Cardi B – Outside
Clipse – Chains & Whips (ft Kendrick Lamar & Pharrell Williams) – WINNER
Doechii – Anxiety
Kendrick Lamar – TV Off (ft Lefty Gunplay)
Tyler, the Creator – Darling, I (ft Teezo Touchdown)
Best Country Solo Performance
Tyler Childers – Nose on the Grindstone
Shaboozey – Good News
Chris Stapleton – Bad As I Used to Be – WINNER
Zach Top – I Never Lie
Lainey Wilson – Somewhere Over Laredo
Best Rap Song
Doechii – Anxiety
Clipse, Pusha T & Malice ft John Legend & Voices of Fire – The Birds Don’t Sing
Tyler, the Creator ft GloRilla, Sexyy Red & Lil Wayne – Sticky
GloRilla – TGIF
Kendrick Lamar ft Lefty Gunplay – TV Off – WINNER
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
Cynthia Erivo & Ariana Grande – Defying Gravity – WINNER
Huntr/x – Golden
Katseye – Gabriela
Rosé & Bruno Mars – APT.
SZA Featuring Kendrick Lamar – 30 for 30
Best R&B Album
Givēon – Beloved
Coco Jones – Why Not More?
Ledisi – The Crown
Teyana Taylor – Escape Room
Leon Thomas – Mutt – WINNER
Best Rock Album
Deftones – Private Music
Haim – I Quit
Linkin Park – From Zero
Turnstile – Never Enough – WINNER
Yungblud – Idols
Best Dance/Electronic Album
FKA twigs – Eusexua – WINNER
Fred Again – Ten Days
PinkPantheress – Fancy That
Rüfüs Du Sol – Inhale/Exhale
Skrillex – F U Skrillex You Think Ur Andy Warhol But Ur Not!! <3
Best Rock Performance
Amyl and the Sniffers – U Should Not Be Doing That
Linkin Park – The Emptiness Machine
Turnstile – Never Enough
Hayley Williams – Mirtazapine
Yungblud – Changes (Live from Villa Park, Back to the Beginning) – WINNER
Best Metal Performance
Dream Theater – Night Terror
Ghost – Lachryma
Sleep Token – Emergence
Spiritbox – Soft Spine
Turnstile – Birds – WINNER
Best R&B Performance
Justin Bieber – Yukon
Chris Brown – It Depends (ft Bryson Tiller)
Kehlani – Folded – WINNER
Leon Thomas – Mutt
Summer Walker – Heart of a Woman
Best Traditional R&B Performance
Durand Bernarr – Here We Are
Lalah Hathaway – Uptown
Ledisi – Love You Too
SZA – Crybaby
Leon Thomas – Vibes Don’t Lie – WINNER
Best R&B Song
Kehlani – Folded – WINNER
Summer Walker – Heart of a Woman
Chris Brown ft Bryson Tiller – It Depends
Durand Bernarr – Overqualified
Leon Thomas – Yes It Is
Best Alternative Music Album
Bon Iver – Sable, Fable
The Cure – Songs of a Lost World – WINNER
Tyler, the Creator – Don’t Tap the Glass
Wet Leg – Moisturizer
Hayley Williams – Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party
Best Traditional Country Album
Charley Crockett – Dollar a Day
Lukas Nelson – American Romance
Willie Nelson – Oh What a Beautiful World
Margo Price – Hard Headed Woman
Zach Top – Ain’t In It for My Health – WINNER
Best Global Music Performance
Bad Bunny – EoO – WINNER
Ciro Hurtado – Cantando en el Camino
Angélique Kidjo – Jerusalema
Yeisy Rojas – Inmigrante Y Que?
Shakti – Shrini’s Dream (live)
Anoushka Shankar – Daybreak (ft Alam Khan & Sarathy Korwar)
Best Rock Song
Nine Inch Nails – As Alive as You Need Me to Be – WINNER
Sleep Token – Caramel
Hayley Williams – Glu
Turnstile – Never Enough
Yungblud – Zombie
Best Country Song
Tyler Childers – Bitin’ List – WINNER
Shaboozey – Good News
Zach Top – I Never Lie
Lainey Wilson – Somewhere Over Laredo
Miranda Lambert and Chris Stapleton – A Song to Sing
Best Alternative Music Performance
Bon Iver – Everything is Peaceful Love
The Cure – Alone – WINNER
Turnstile – Seein’ Stars
Wet Leg – Mangetout
Hayley Williams – Parachute
Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media
A Complete Unknown
F1 The Album
Kpop Demon Hunters
Sinners – WINNER
Wicked
Best Music Video
Sabrina Carpenter – Manchild
Clipse – So Be It
Doechii – Anxiety – WINNER
OK Go – Love
Sade – Young Lion
Best Song Written for Visual Media
Nine Inch Nails – As Alive as You Need Me to Be (From Tron: Ares)
Huntr/x – Golden (from KPop: Demon Hunters) – WINNER
Miles Caton – I Lied to You (From Sinners)
Elton John and Brandi Carlile – Never Too Late (From Elton John: Never Too Late)
Jayme Lawson – Pale, Pale Moon (From Sinners)
Rod Wave – Sinners (From Sinners)
Best Folk Album
Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson – What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow
Patty Griffin – Crown of Roses
I’m With Her – Wild and Clear and Blue – WINNER
Jason Isbell – Foxes in the Snow
Jesse Welles – Under the Powerlines (April 24 – September 24)
Best Dance/Electronic Recording
Disclosure & Anderson Paak – No Cap
Fred again, Skepta & PlaqueBoyMax – Victory Lap
Kaytranada – Space Invader
Skrillex – Voltage
Tame Impala – End of Summer – WINNER
Best African Music Performance
Burna Boy – Love
Davido ft Omah Lay – With You
Eddy Kenzo & Mehran Matin – Hope & Love
Ayra Starr feat. Wizkid – Gimme Dat
Tyla – PUSH 2 START – WINNER
Best Jazz Performance
Lakecia Benjamin – Noble Rise (ft Immanuel Wilkins & Mark Whitfield)
Chick Corea, Christian McBride & Brian Blade – Windows (live) – WINNER
Samara Joy – Peace Of Mind / Dreams Come True
Michael Mayo – Four
Nicole Zuraitis, Dan Pugach, Tom Scott, Idan Morim, Keyon Harrold & Rachel Eckroth – All Stars Lead to You (live)
Best Orchestral Performance
Michael Repper (National Philharmonic) – Coleridge-Taylor: Toussaint L’Ouverture
Andris Nelsons (Boston Symphony Orchestra) – Messiaen: Turangalîla-Symphonie – WINNER
Gustavo Dudamel (Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra) – Ravel: Boléro
Yannick Nézet-Séguin (The Philadelphia Orchestra) – Still & Bonds
Esa-Pekka Salonen (San Francisco Symphony) – Stravinsky: Symphony in Three Movements
Best Comedy Album
Bill Burr – Drop Dead Years
Sarah Silverman – PostMortem
Ali Wong – Single Lady
Jamie Foxx – What Had Happened Was…
Nate Bargatze – Your Friend, Nate Bargatze – WINNER
Best Melodic Rap Performance
Fridayy ft Meek Mill – Proud Of Me
JID ft Ty Dolla $ign & 6Lack – Wholeheartedly
Kendrick Lamar with SZA – luther – WINNER
Terrace Martin & Kenyon Dixon Featuring Rapsody – WeMaj
PARTYNEXTDOOR & Drake – SOMEBODY LOVES ME
Producer of the Year
Dan Auerbach
Cirkut – WINNER
Dijon
Blake Mills
Sounwave
Songwriter of the Year
Amy Allen – WINNER
Edgar Barrera
Jessie Jo Dillon
Tobias Jesso Jr
Laura Veltz
Gaming
MTG gaming chief Benninghoff joins NODWIN board as esports firm primes for IPO
The Gurugram-based esports firm is pursuing a public listing, has returned to profitability and is growing revenues by 42 per cent
GURUGRAM: NODWIN Gaming is moving fast. The Gurugram-based gaming and esports company has launched a pre-IPO fundraising round, appointed UBS as lead adviser for both the round and a subsequent public listing, and landed a heavyweight board director, all in one go.
The new board member is Arnd Benninghoff, executive vice president of gaming at Stockholm-listed Modern Times Group (MTG), who has overseen the group’s strategic investments and portfolio growth since 2014. He is no stranger to building things: Benninghoff has founded and built fifteen companies, served as chief digital officer at ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG, managing director of SevenVentures, and chief executive of Holtzbrinck eLAB. He began his career as a journalist at Deutsche Presse Agentur and various TV networks, holds a Diplom-Kaufmann in business and administration from the University of Münster, and previously sat on the board of Edgeware AB.
The numbers back the ambition
NODWIN is not pitching a story without substance. The company has returned to EBITDA profitability and posted a 42 per cent year-on-year revenue surge, reaching $58.5m in the first nine months of FY2026. The pre-IPO round will combine a primary issuance to fund global expansion through organic growth and acquisitions, alongside a secondary sale to give existing shareholders some liquidity.
Akshat Rathee, co-founder and managing director of NODWIN Gaming, said Benninghoff understands “the entire lifecycle of the gaming and media ecosystem, from the boots-on-the-ground reality of building startups to the strategic complexity of managing multi-billion dollar global portfolios.”
Benninghoff, for his part, said the company “sits at the intersection of sports, entertainment, and technology, making it one of the most exciting players in the global gaming landscape today.”
A portfolio built for the global south
Founded in 2014 by Rathee and Gautam Virk, NODWIN has quietly assembled one of the more compelling esports portfolios outside the Western hemisphere. Its properties include DreamHack India and Comic Con India, and it recently acquired StarLadder, the Ukraine-based tournament organiser behind premier events in CS:GO and Dota 2. The company also serves as a long-term strategic marketing partner for the Evolution Championship Series (EVO), the world’s most prominent fighting game tournament, helping push it into new geographies.
Its geographic focus spans South Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Backers include Nazara Technologies, KRAFTON, Sony Group Corporation, JetSynthesys, and the founders’ investment vehicle Good Game Investments.
What comes next
With UBS running the books, a board freshly reinforced with European media and gaming expertise, and revenue heading in the right direction, NODWIN is laying the groundwork deliberately. The esports industry has burned investors before with big promises and thin margins. NODWIN’s return to profitability, combined with a real portfolio of owned intellectual properties across gaming, music and youth culture, gives it a more credible runway than most. The IPO clock is now ticking.
