State Champ Radio Geffen Records
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The 2026 Grammy nominations were announced Friday (Nov. 7), with Bad Bunny, Sabrina Carpenter, Kendrick Lamar and Lady Gaga highlighting some of the biggest categories. Within the traditional Big Four categories — record of the year, song of the year, album of the year and best new artist — Interscope led all record labels with eight nominees among the 32 slots, giving parent company Universal Music Group (UMG) a commanding 21 of those 32 nods. What’s more, Interscope’s leadership structure means its total is even higher: Interscope Capitol includes Capitol (two nominations), Motown (two nominations) and the joint HYBE/Geffen partnership that signed KATSEYE (one nomination), meaning that Interscope Capitol led the way with 13 total nominations in those four categories.
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That marks the fifth time in the past eight years Interscope has led among labels. Interscope artists that received those nominations were Billie Eilish (record, song), Kendrick Lamar (record, song, album) and Lady Gaga (record, song, album). Capitol’s nominations were for Doechii (record, song), Motown’s came for Leon Thomas (album, best new artist) and KATSEYE’s nomination was for best new artist.
In second among labels with six nominations is Island Records, which achieved a few feats of its own. For the second year in a row, the label had two nominees for best new artist. This year, those two honorees are Olivia Dean and Lola Young, while last year, Carpenter and Chappell Roan were both nominated (Roan ultimately took home the award). Island — which led all labels last year, when Carpenter and Roan were both nominated in all of the Big Four categories — also saw additional nominations for Carpenter (record, song and album) and Roan (record), each of whom has received nominations in those categories for the second year in a row. Carpenter now joins Taylor Swift (who has done it twice) as the only artists to receive album of the year nominations in back-to-back years since the categories were expanded from five to eight nominees for the 2019 ceremony.
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Island is also part of a larger structure in REPUBLIC Collective, which encompasses Republic Records, Def Jam and more. REPUBLIC Collective, overall, received eight nominations, as “Golden” from the Kpop Demon Hunters soundtrack was nominated for song of the year for Republic Records and Justin Bieber’s SWAG album, released by Def Jam, was recognized for album of the year.
In third among labels is Atlantic, which got song and record nominations for ROSÉ and Bruno Mars’ “APT.,” as well as best new artist nominations for Alex Warren and The Marías. In fourth is Rimas, home to Bad Bunny, who saw his DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS album nominated for album of the year, while its title track “DtMF” got song and record nominations. Columbia also grabbed two nominations — album of the year for Tyler, The Creator’s CHROMAKOPIA and best new artist for Addison Rae — while Roc Nation Distribution got a nod for releasing Clipse’s album of the year-nominated Let God Sort Em Out and Warner Records kept its best new artist success alive with a nod for Sombr, marking the seventh best new artist nod the label has racked up in the past six years.
Among label groups, the aforementioned UMG dominated with 21 nominations, while Warner Music Group accounted for five, the indies collectively garnered four and Sony Music had two.
Geffen Records has a new dance label, Disorder. The label is being launched Thursday (Dec. 7) by Geffen in partnership with longstanding electronic music executive David Dollimore. Based in London, Disorder will sign DJs, producers, artists, brands and labels.
Dollimore has a long history as a dance music tastemaker, working at London’s lauded Ministry of Sound (where he started as an intern) for 15 years and helping develop the careers of artists including Eric Prydz, Duke Dumont, Axwell, Benny Benassi, MK and Avicii. When Ministry of Sound was acquired by Sony Music UK in 2016, Dollimore became president of RCA Label Group, which clocked dance hits from artists including CamelPhat, London Grammar and Jade Thirlwall during his tenure.
“Disorder will be an incubator for the future of dance music and redefine the landscape as we see it,” Dollimore said in a statement. “This label will be a portal to the underground club world, distilling future trends for mass consumption. We will be leading a generation forging alternative routes to the top, outside the confines of dated traditional structures. The Disorder artist will resonate in fashion, culture, lifestyle and entertainment, across multiple platforms, forming a newgen of future visionaries within the field.”
The first project from Disorder is WHP Records, an imprint created in collaboration with The Warehouse Project, the tastemaking Manchester-based dance events brand that’s been putting on shows in and beyond the city since 2006. Founded by Richard McGinnis and Sam Kandel, The Warehouse Project sells more than 300,000 tickets every winter season. WHP Records is intended to transmit the sounds of its events to the world.
“Having spent the last two decades dedicated to finding and breaking talent, we can’t believe it has taken us this long to make this jump but David was the one person we wanted do it with,” McGinnis and Kandel said in a joint statement. “Being able to work with artists in a whole new way, providing tangible support in the live space alongside equitable partnerships, with David and Tom who share our passion for this culture is an exciting new chapter for us.”
“Together,” added Dollimore, “[Geffen Records president] Tom March, Rich, Sam and the impressive team at The Warehouse Project and I, have the network, the platform and the global infrastructure with Universal to make this one of the most successful partnerships in dance music.”
March has his own storied history with electronic music, having started his career in dance music PR and working with artists including Avicci, Alesso, The Chemical Brothers, Tiesto, Deadmau5, Jax Jones, DJ Snake, Zedd, Meduza, Swedish House Mafia and Becky Hill.
“At Geffen we are always looking to partner with our industry’s most successful and innovative entrepreneurs,” March said in a statement. “I couldn’t be more excited to partner with David as he heads back to what I consider him to be the best in the world at — signing and A&R-ing dance music. Between us, we have worked with many of the great names in the last twenty years of electronic music. I am so happy to be joining forces with him now.”
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