First round of voting for Grammys begins Friday
Published:Tuesday | September 30, 2025 | 12:07 AMYasmine Peru/Senior Gleaner Writer
For all those who made the August 30 submissions deadline for the 2026 Grammy Awards, the next big date in the journey is the first round of voting, which opens in a few days time. Starting Friday, all who are eligible will cast their votes for the nominees across 96 categories in the 68th annual Grammy Awards.
“No matter what, this is always an exciting time for the music industry, because a Grammy is a Grammy is a Grammy,” music marketer Sean ‘Contractor’ Edwards told The Gleaner. “On Friday, we will know all the works that made the list for Grammy consideration across the various categories, and, you know that we are particularly interested in the submissions for the Best Reggae Album category.”
Edwards has emerged as one of the few, bold voices, for the annual, unofficial Grammy Awards “name the nominees and the name the winner” in the reggae category, and he is quite excited at this year’s prospects. He has so immersed himself in this business of Grammys that he knows all the official dates by heart and rattles them off as if he’s reading a script from a Teleprompter.
“First-round voting for the Best Reggae Album category in the 68th Annual Grammy Awards will take place from October 3 to October 15. During this period, Recording Academy members will cast their votes to determine the Best Reggae Album nominees. The official nominees will be announced on Friday, November 7. The final round of voting takes place from December 12, 2025 to January 5, 2026. The winners will be announced on Sunday, February 1, at the official Grammy Awards ceremony,” Edwards said, without missing a beat.
A producer, executive producer, and also a recording artiste, Edwards has distinguished himself with the Tropical House compilation reggae album series, which has enjoyed immense chart success. The first edition in 2018, Tropical House Cruises to Jamaica,climbed to #1 on the Billboard Reggae Album charts and stayed there for four weeks. It spent 19 weeks in the top 10. Subsequent editions have included Reloaded (2019); The Reggae Collector’s Edition (2020); and The Asian Edition (2022), which featured Chris Gayle.
He doesn’t have any albums in the Grammy race this year, however, he is invested in the much-talked-about resurgence of Jamaican music in North America, with artistes like Buju Banton and Vybz Kartel selling out arenas and Bounty Killer and Beenie Man in the US, after nearly a decade.
“With the resurgence of dancehall music in America, this year sees that reflection in the albums that were submitted for Grammy consideration ... a unique blend of reggae projects. Front runners in consideration will be albums from Lila Iké, Mojo Morgan, Israel Vibration and Aston Barrett Jr. , Vybz Kartel, Spragga Benz, Mr. Vegas, Baby Cham, and American band Groundation,” Edwards stated.
He noted that there has been strong efforts to promote the albums and commended the artistes for taking the initiative.
“Lila Iké’s Treasure Self Love had launches in the UK and Jamaica. It was featured in major publications in America such as grammy.com and Billboard magazine. MojoMorgan’s Jamaica Love album was featured in NewsWeek Magazine, BBC Radio and Hot 97 with Ebro in the Morning. Mr Vegas, Spragga Benz and Cham have all been promoting their albums on mainstream radio and television in America as well,” he said.
On August 29, Spragga Benz released the 13-track project, Endeavors, his first album in six years and it surged to the top of the iTunes Top 100 Reggae Albums charts, relegating Bob Marley’s long-running-number-one Legend to number two. August 29 was also the release date for Mr. Vegas’s album, Ghetto Reggae. Heart and Soul from the Grammy-nominated Vybz Kartel also dropped on August 29. Kartel is preparing to head to Canada as headliner for Drake’s birthday celebrations on October 26 and 27 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
Grammy-nominated Cham dropped his fourth album, Sherlock, on July 31, to much acclaim. It pays homage to the Sherlock Crescent community which Cham called home. Reggae harmony group, Israel Vibration and Aston Barrett Jr teamed up for Reggae Music Never Dies, an offering which has been receiving much love, and I-Octane’s God & I, which was released on April 25, has been consistently on the iTunes Top 100 Reggae Albums Chart. On Monday, it was positioned at # 3.
The 2026 Grammys takes place Sunday, February 1, at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.