Grammy Awards 2026: 19 Singers And Bands Who’ve Never Won At The Grammy

For many musicians, there’s no indicator they’ve made it quite as big as winning a Grammy.

However, there are a select few A-listers who have proved that you can still have make a huge impact in the music industry without ever taking home one of those coveted gold gramophones.

From multi-nominated rappers to legendary singers and groups who managed to slip through the awards show’s net, here are 19 huge artists that have made a massive impact in the music world, but still have a Grammy-shaped gap on their mantelpiece…

Despite more than 50 years in the entertainment industry, Diana Ross never won any of the previous 13 Grammys that she has been nominated for.

However, her contribution to the music world is so inarguable that the Recording Academy eventually granted her a Lifetime Achievement award in 2012, while the Supremes received the same honour in 2023.

Ms Ross was most recently nominated for a competitive Grammy in 2024, but lost out to Michael Bublé on the night.

He may be remembered the world over as a trailblazer in the world of reggae music, but Bob Marley was never even nominated for a Grammy in his lifetime, let alone awarded one.

The genre-specific Best Reggae Album award was introduced at the Grammys in 1985, four years after Bob Marley’s death. His son, fellow musician Ziggy Marley, is the artist who has won in this category the most times.

Since I Kissed A Girl was released in 2008, Katy Perry has been nominated for a total of 13 Grammys, including a coveted nod in the Album Of The Year category for Teenage Dream.

As of yet, she’s yet to win one, though, with her last nomination coming in 2015 off the back of her Prism album.

Nicki Minaj is slightly behind her former collaborator Katy Perry on 10 nominations without a win, last receiving a nomination in 2016 for her album The Pinkprint.

In 2019, she accused the Recording Academy of deliberately snubbing her, claiming: “I was bullied into staying quiet for seven years out of fear.”

Three years later, she criticised the Grammys once again, claiming she’d missed out on a nomination because her song Super Freaky Girl was being considered in the pop categories, rather than rap, which she’d submitted it as.

Snoop Dogg is officially the Glenn Close of the Grammys, as he’s the artist with the most nominations and zero wins (joint with singer-songwriter Brian McKnight).

The rapper has 17 Grammy nominations to his name, and was last nominated in 2016, for his contribution to Kendrick Lamar’s album To Pimp A Butterfly.

In Freddie Mercury’s lifetime, Queen received a total of four Grammy nominations for their hits Bohemian Rhapsody and Another One Bites The Dust, though none of these translated into a win.

The band was eventually awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018, the same year their album A Night At The Opera was inducted into the Grammys Hall Of Fame.

Let’s just have a look at ABBA’s stats, shall we?

Nine UK number one singles. Hundreds of millions of records sold. Not one but two jukebox musicals that solely feature their music. And yet, zero Grammy wins.

In fact, it took until 2021 for them to even be nominated, when their comeback song I Still Have Faith In You was recognised in the Record Of The Year category.

Follow-up album Voyage later picked up four nominations in 2023, including Album Of The Year, though sadly none of these translated into a win, either.

The Academy did also kind of make up for their past oversights by inducting Dancing Queen into their Hall Of Fame in 2015, though.

Sadly, the legendary singer and guitarist is another musician who the Recording Academy only recognised after his death (unless you count his sole nomination for his guitar of The Star-Spangled Banner).

After being awarded Lifetime Achievement in 1992, he’s since won some posthumous Grammys and had his work inducted into the Hall Of Fame on more than one occasion.

Known for her unique and avant-garde approach to music, Björk has a hefty 16 Grammy nominations under her belt, placing her high up on the list of musicians who’ve received the most recognition without an actual win.

Her most recent nomination came in 2023, when her album Fossora lost out in the Best Alternative category to Wet Leg’s self-titled debut.

Undoubtedly one of the most celebrated pop acts Britain has ever produced, with 15 albums to their name and a Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution, Pet Shop Boys have still somehow never won a Grammy.

They have been nominated on six occasions, though, most recently in 2010 for their Xenomania-produced Yes album.

Spread out over a decade, Lana Del Rey has a total of 11 Grammy nominations.

Five of these fell in 2024, and while it wasn’t to be for Lana that night, she did end up getting dragged up on stage by Taylor Swift after her album Midnights – on which the Video Games singers lent her vocals to the fan-favourite Snow On The Beach – was awarded the night’s top prize.

As one of the biggest and most recognisable K-pop groups on the planet, BTS have fans all over the world and have now charted on both sides of the Atlantic.

They were also the first Korean pop act to be recognised at the Grammys, where they’ve now been nominated five times (including three in 2023), albeit without a win as of yet.

She’s known as much for her own music as she is for her songwriting credits for artists including Beyoncé and Rihanna.

But despite nine nominations, Sia is yet to win a Grammy for any of her musical offerings.

In his lifetime, Tupac earned just two Grammy nominations, both for his album Me Against The World, but lost out on the night to Coolio and Naughty By Nature.

Following his death in 1996, Tupac racked up a further four posthumous nominations, though none of these led to a win, either.

Guns N’ Roses have sold a whopping 100 million records worldwide, and in 2012 were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

Between 1990 and 2019, the rock legends also racked up four Grammy nominations, but never managed a win.

Despite their undeniable impact on pop music, the Recording Academy never gave The Beach Boys a competitive Grammy win.

They do have a lifetime achievement award, though, and their iconic Pet Sounds album also has a place in the Grammys Hall Of Fame.

During their time in the spotlight, Arctic Monkeys have scooped an impressive seven Brit Awards, though they’ve not yet managed to win a Grammy.

They have been nominated nine times in total, though, most recently in 2024 for their album The Car.

Rapper and singer Post Malone has an impressive 18 Grammy nominations, including two Album Of The Year nods.

In 2025, he went into the night with a hefty eight nominations for his album F-1 Trillion and collaborations with Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, though he once again wound up coming home empty-handed.

It’s been well-documented that Robbie Williams’ mammoth success on his home turf has never quite translated across the Atlantic, and despite having the most Brit Awards and UK number one albums of anyone in history, he’s never managed to win a Grammy.

Interestingly, he has been nominated for two in the past, but neither were actually for his music.

Robbie’s first nomination was for the music video for 1 Giant Leap’s My Culture, on which he was a featured artist. Meanwhile, his second was in the Best Music Film category for his live show at the Royal Albert Hall.