American rapper Kendrick Lamar has made history at the 2026 Grammy Awards, becoming the most-awarded rapper of all time with a total of 27 Grammy wins. He surpassed the previous record held by Jay-Z, who has 25 awards.
The 38-year-old achieved the milestone after winning five awards at the ceremony, which was held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Sunday night.
Lamar picked up Best Rap Album for GNX early in the night. He also won Record of the Year for Luther, a collaboration with SZA. In addition, he secured Best Rap Performance for Chains & Whips, a track he features on alongside Clipse, Pusha T, Malice, and Pharrell Williams. He won Best Melodic Rap Performance for Luther and Best Rap Song for tv off.
While accepting the award for Best Rap Album, Lamar said, “It is hip-hop as usual, man. I’m not good at talking about myself, but I express it through the music. It’s an honor to be here. Hip-hop is going to always be right here. We are going to be in these suits looking good, having our folks with us. We are going to be having the culture with us.”
He also gave a shout-out to fellow nominees, saying, “It’s Tyler [the Creator], Clipse. These are my brothers to be in this category. What’s up Push man, Malice man. Every time I tell you this, hip hop is gonna always be right here. We gonna be in these suits. We gonna be looking good. We gonna be having our folks with us. We gonna be having the culture with us.”
Lamar ended his speech by adding, “So I appreciate y’all, God is the glory. Love y’all.”
With his latest win, Lamar also became the first rapper to win Record of the Year twice. He is also the first male artist and rapper to win the award in consecutive years.
Before the ceremony, Lamar was already leading the nominations list with nine nods across major categories. Lady Gaga and producers Cirkut and Jack Antonoff followed with seven nominations each, while Bad Bunny, Leon Thomas, and Sabrina Carpenter earned six nominations apiece.
