Lehigh Valley native Sabrina Carpenter has six Grammy Award nominations -- and momentum

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — If 2025 was the year the Grammy Awards became aware of chart-topping pop singer and Lehigh Valley native Sabrina Carpenter, 2026 may be her coronation.

Carpenter, a Lower Milford Township native best known for her 2024 seven-times-platinum hit "Espresso" (which won the Grammy for Best Pop Solo Performance), is up for six Grammys this year.

The nominations were announced Friday, with Carpenter among the announcers.

The 2026 Grammys will take place Feb. 1, at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles and will be broadcast live on the CBS-TV.

Carpenter is nominated for the same number of awards she was last year, when she was among the few music artists ever nominated for all the “Big Four” categories: Best New Artist, Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

Carpenter, of course, is no longer a new artist, but she again is nominated for the other three categories this year — Album of the Year for "Man's Best Friend," and Record of the Year and Song of the Year for "Manchild."

In addition, she's nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance and Best Music Video for “Manchild,” and Best Pop Vocal Album for "Man's Best Friend."

Carpenter won those final two last year — Best Pop Solo Performance for "Espresso," and Best Pop Vocal Album for "Short n' Sweet" — and also performed on the awards broadcast.

In winning, Carpenter became the first person born in or residing in Lehigh or Northampton counties to win a performance Grammy, according to the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, organizers of the awards.

Nominations are solid

Only two artists this year are nominated for more Grammys than Carpenter: Kendrick Lamar for nine and Lady Gaga for seven. Jack Antonoff and Cirkut also each got seven nominations, but all were for songwriting and production.

Last year, Carpenter lost Record of the Year and Song of the Year by Lamar, who dominated the ceremony with five wins.

This year, she again faces off against Lamar for Record of the Year and Song of the Year for his “luther,” with SZA, and for Album of the Year for his “GNX.”

But the rest of Lamar's nominations are in other categories — Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best Melodic Rap Performance for “luther”; two nominations for Best Rap Performance, for “Chains & Whips” and “tv off”; Best Rap Song for “tv off”; and Best Rap Album for “GNX.”

Carpenter also is up against Gaga for Record of the Year and Song of the Year for her “Abracadabra” and Album of the Year for “Mayhem.”

She also faces Gaga for Best Solo Pop Performance for Gaga's “Disease” and Best Pop Vocal Album for Gaga's ”Mayhem.”

Gaga also is nominated for Best Dance Pop Recording for “Abracadabra” and Best Remix Recording for “Abracadabra — Gesaffelstein Remix.”

But Carpenter's entries are solid.

"Man's Best Friend," released Aug. 29, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Albums chart, and nearly three months later remains at No. 6 this week.

With more than a month left in 2025, it already has logged the highest sales and streaming figures for a female artist in 2025, and third overall — a career-best for Carpenter.

"Manchild," released in June, also debuted at No. 1 — her first chart-topping debut and second No. 1 single. It already has sold platinum.

Carpenter's profile is clearly rising. On Oct. 18, she was both host and musical guest on NBC-TV's "Saturday Night Live."

Less competition than last year

Carpenter this year doesn't have the sort of direct competition she faced last year, when she and fellow pop songstress Chappell Roan both were nominated for the "Big Four" Awards.

Roan ended up beating Carpenter for Best New Artist, but it was the only award she received.

This year, Roan is nominated for Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance, both for her song "Subway," which peaked at No. 3 and has not yet reached gold sales.

Carpenter also this year faces no competition from fellow Lehigh Valley-area native Taylor Swift, who last year was nominated for six Grammys, but won none.

Only recordings commercially released in the United States between Aug. 31, 2024, and Aug. 30, 2025, are eligible to be nominated.

That means Swift’s new album "The Life of a Showgirl," which debuted at No. 1 upon its Oct. 3 release, and its songs were not nominated.

Amazingly, that album already has had nine of its 12 songs hit the Top 10.

The latest is the album's title track, which features a guest appearance — by Sabrina Carpenter.