Everybody knew Sinners was going to clean up when the 98th Academy Award nominations were announced on Thursday (Jan. 22), and the Ryan Coogler blockbuster didn’t disappoint. It received a record 16 nods.
For the ninth year in a row, Diane Warren learned that she was nominated for best original song, this time for writing “Dear Me” for the documentary Diane Warren: Relentless. No one else in Oscar history has ever been nominated in this category nine years running. The late, great Sammy Cahn had held the category record, with eight consecutive nominations from 1954 to 1961.
KPop Demon Hunters became just the 14th film — and the first in four years — to be nominated for best animated feature film and also land a nod for best original song.
For the eighth year in a row, an actor was nominated for playing a real-life musician. This time it was Ethan Hawke for playing lyricist Lorenz Hart in the film Blue Moon.
Alexandre Desplat received his 12th Oscar nod for best original score for Frankenstein. That puts him in a tie with Hans Zimmer for third place on the list of living composers with the most nominations in score categories. These two composers trail only John Williams (who has amassed an astounding 49 nods in score categories) and Thomas Newman (14).
All of those were momentous achievements, but none can really be called a surprise. But there were plenty of snubs and surprises in this year’s Oscar nominations, starting with Wicked: For Good, which was shut out entirely. Nikki Glaser’s jibe when she hosted the Golden Globes on Jan. 11, in which she referred to the sequel as Wicked: For Money, probably didn’t help. The Globes aired the night before the nominations-round voting period began. The jibe was funny, but definitely not what you want to hear if you’re connected with a film on the eve of Oscar voting.
Here are some of the biggest snubs and surprises in the 2026 Oscar nominations, with a focus on music categories.
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Snub: Wicked: For Good
The first Wicked received 10 Oscar nominations last year, making it one of that year’s three most nominated films. The sequel was completely shut out. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande were hoping to join the short list of actors who received two Oscar nods for playing the same role in two different films. Erivo’s chances seemed remote, in part because her role was smaller in Wicked: For Good, but Grande was thought to have a good shot at another nod. Even though that didn’t come to pass, the two Wicked films did give people more appreciation for Grande’s comic flair. It’s easy to see her being nominated in the future.
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Snub: Miley Cyrus
Avatar: Fire and Ash also had a disappointing morning, landing just two nods. The first Avatar amassed nine nominations. The sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, received four. The cool reception to Avatar: Fire and Ash hurt Miley Cyrus’ chance of landing her first Oscar nod for “Dream as One,” which she cowrote with Andrew Wyatt, Mark Ronson and Simon Franglen. At least Cyrus is getting closer to a nomination: She made the shortlist this time. Last year, she wasn’t even shortlisted for cowriting “Beautiful That Way” from The Last Showgirl. As with Grande, Cyrus can take comfort in the knowledge that the snub wasn’t personal. Their films just didn’t land with Oscar voters.
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Surprise: Nicholas Pike
If you thought “Sweet Dreams of Joy” from Viva Verdi! was a surefire Oscar nominee for best original song, move to the head of the class. Most were surprised that it made the final list. This is the first nomination for Nicholas Pike, an English film and television music composer who has been active since 1987.
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Snub: Women Composers
For the first time in three years, no women composers are nominated for best original score. Last year, Camille was nominated for Emilia Pérez (along with Clément Ducol). Two years ago, Laura Karpman was nominated for American Fiction. Two women were shortlisted in this category this year: Karpman for Captain America: Brave New World and Hildur Guðnadóttir for Hedda. Both have been nominated once before, with Hildur winning in 2020 for Joker. If either had been nominated again, they would have joined the short list of women who have received two or more nods in scoring categories, following Rachel Portman and Angela Morley.
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Slight Surprise: Kate Hudson
Kate Hudson was nominated for best actress for Song Sung Blue, the film titled after Neil Diamond’s Billboard Hot 100-topping smash from 1972. Hudson’s mother, Goldie Hawn, was nominated in this same category for the 1980 smash Private Benjamin. They are the third mother-daughter pair to each land best actress nods. Judy Garland was nominated for A Star Is Born. Her daughter, Liza Minnelli, was nominated for The Sterile Cuckoo and won for Cabaret. Fernanda Montenegro was nominated for Central Station. Her daughter, Fernanda Torres, was nominated for I’m Still Here.
Diamond never received an Oscar nod. He had the best chance in the best original song category with songs from the 1980 film The Jazz Singer (in which he starred), including “Love on the Rocks,” “Hello Again” and “America.” All three songs were top 10 hits on the Hot 100.
Here are six things to know about “Song Sung Blue,” an easy listening earworm for the ages.
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Snub: Paul Mescal
The Irish actor was passed over for a nod for best supporting actor for his performance as William Shakespeare in Hamnet. The film received eight nods, including one for Jessie Buckley as Shakespeare’s wife, commonly known as Anne Hathaway. Mescal was nominated three years ago in the lead actor category for Aftersun. Mescal’s partner, Gracie Abrams, has received two Grammy nominations.
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Snub: Miles Caton
The talented 20-year-old actor, singer and songwriter missed out on two nominations for his work in Sinners. Caton was thought to have a good chance at a nod for best original song for cowriting “Last Time (I Seen the Sun)” with Alice Smith and an outside chance of a nod for best supporting actor. Neither came to pass. Caton, who will turn 21 in March, would have been the youngest nominee for best original song since Billie Eilish, who was just six weeks past her 20th birthday in 2022 when she was nominated for cowriting the title song to No Time to Die, which won.
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Mixed Emotions: Bryce Dessner
Dessner received good and bad news within the space of about 10 minutes. He missed out on a nomination for best original score for his acclaimed work on Train Dreams, but then he turned around and landed a nod for best original song for the title song, which he cowrote with Nick Cave.
Incidentally, Cave is the third songwriter from Australia to be nominated for best original song, following John Farrar (for writing “Hopelessly Devoted to You” from Grease) and Peter Allen (for cowriting “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)” from Arthur, which won).
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Not a Surprise, But a Big Win: Ludwig Göransson
The Swedish composer is this year’s only individual who is nominated in both music categories — best original score for Sinners and best original song for “I Lied to You,” which he cowrote with Raphael Saadiq. This is a personal best for Göransson, who had never previously received more than one Oscar nod in any one year. He was nominated for (and won) best original score for Black Panther, was nominated for best original song for “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and was nominated for (and won) best original score for Oppenheimer.
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Snub: Hans Zimmer
F1 received four nominations, including a semi-surprise nod for best picture, but the film’s composer, Hans Zimmer, was passed over for a nod for best original score. Zimmer has received 12 nominations in this category, landing at least one in each of the last five decades and winning for The Lion King and Dune.
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A Sad Snub: Andrea Gibson
“Salt Then Sour Then Sweet,” which Gibson cowrote with Sara Bareilles and Brandi Carlile for the film Come See Me in the Good Light, was shortlisted but not nominated. Bareilles and Carlile executive-produced the film, a documentary about Gibson and her wife dealing with Gibson’s terminal illness. Gibson, who died of ovarian cancer in July 2025, would have been the first person to be posthumously nominated in this category since Howard Ashman, who received four nods (including one win) in the two years following his 1991 death.
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Future Snub Alert: “Golden”
Because “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters was the work of seven songwriters (EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seon and Teddy Park), they cannot all receive individual Oscar statuettes if they win on March 15. They will be given one statuette that they must somehow share. If the song wins, they will forever be known as Oscar winners, but they won’t have a shiny trophy to show off to their friends. (Memo to the Oscars: That policy needs review. It’s good to make sure all credited songwriters actually contributed meaningfully to the song, but don’t diminish their joy on one of the biggest nights of their lives.)
Incidentally, “Golden” is the second song with seven credited songwriters to be nominated for an Oscar. “Accidentally in Love” from Shrek 2, which was nominated in 2005, was cowritten by Adam Duritz, Charles Gillingham, Jim Bogios, David Immergluck, Matthew Malley, David Bryson and Daniel Vickrey.
