Andy Greene
View all posts by Andy Greene October 8, 2026 Add us as a Google Preferred Source
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Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, and Foo Fighters are all possible contenders in the Best Rock Album Grammy race. Emma McIntyre/Getty Images; Karwai Tang/WireImage; Leon Bennett/Getty Images Leading up to the Grammy nominations on Nov. 16, Rolling Stone is breaking down 11 different categories. For each, we’re predicting the nominees, as well as who will (and who should) win on Grammy night.
There are some years where grizzled rock acts from days of yore release so few new albums that newer groups (relatively speaking) like Greta Van Fleet, Turnstile, Cage the Elephant, or Paramore get a chance to take home the award. That’s unlikely to be the case this year since there are new releases by the Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney, both produced by Andrew Watt, and there’s also one by the Foo Fighters, who have won this category a record five times. Throw in a record by the Strokes, five years after they won for The New Abnormal, and there’s little room for any group that formed after the turn of the millennium.
Geese are such a band, since the members weren’t even alive in 2000, and Getting Killed is a remarkable record likely to earn them Grammys. But the LP feels like a stronger contender for Best Alternative Music Album than Best Rock Album. Then again, the divide between those two categories is pretty blurry.
All of this makes it pretty hard to predict who will win. That said, we’re going to try and make some very educated guesses based on Grammy history and our own intuition, plus some expert voices.
Best Rock Album – Our Predictions
Foo Fighters, Your Favorite Toy Paul McCartney, The Boys of Dungeon Lane The Rolling Stones, Foreign Tongues The Strokes, Reality Awaits Alabama Shakes, I Must Be Dreaming
Who Will Win?
Paul McCartney, The Boys of Dungeon Lane Just two years ago, the Rolling Stones won Best Rock Album for Hackney Diamonds. The album not only racked up rave reviews, but it was also their first collection of original songs since 2005. It would be pretty impressive for the Stones to take it home again for Foreign Tongues, which is essentially a companion LP, but we don’t think that’ll happen. We instead think they’ll give it to some guy named Paul who played bass on a Foreign Tongues song, and used to be in some other 1960s rock band. Paul McCartney’s sole Best Rock Album nomination came in 2022 for McCartney III, but The Boys of Dungeon Lane is an even stronger effort. Somehow or another, Andrew Watt gets the best out of the Mount Rushmore figures of rock. “I thought it was the best McCartney album in a very long time,” says Jason Squires, program director of KFRR in Fresno, California. “It’s exactly what you’d want from Paul McCartney in 2026. He wasn’t trying to reinvent the wheel; just write good songs and put out good music.”
