It’s Almost Time For The 2026 Reykjavík Grapevine Music Awards!

Get ready for a celebration of the best in music

With 2025 formally wrapped up, it’s a good time to take stock of the year in music. It’s almost time for the Grapevine to select the best of the best. Which artist destroyed in 2025? Who should you be looking out for in 2026? Those questions — and many more — will be answered at the 2026 Reykjavík Grapevine Music Awards in February.

The year in highlights

As the vice grips of the housing market clasped independent music venues tighter, 2025 saw the loss of yet more concert spaces. The much raved-about nightclub RADAR closed early in the year, and, in November, the no-frills bar BIRD shut down after just 18 months of operation.

For the first time, it seems as though public authorities have acknowledged the harsh economic conditions of music venues, establishing a task force meant to identify appropriate solutions.

But economic realities have seldom affected Icelandic musicians, whose international reputation boasts homegrown prolificness, focusing rather on the joy of creating than the need to profit off their work. In 2025, we welcomed a return of staple Reykjavík indie acts, such as múm and Ólöf Arnalds, putting out their first albums in more than a decade.

Despite some artists closing down their Spotify accounts in response to CEO Daniel Ek’s decision to pour millions into an AI military defence company, the streaming platform still reigned supreme. About 95 percent of Icelandic musicians’ total streaming revenue came from Spotify, according to Iceland Music. Rap and hip-hop continued to dominate the charts, with 15 of the 20 biggest songs of the year being Icelandic and including rap. At the same time, no Icelandic song in the top 20 bracket was written or performed by a female artist.

On February 5, The Reykjavík Grapevine invites you to Lemmy to celebrate the best of the best of Icelandic music in 2025. The winners in each category will be announced at the ceremony and our new issue — with the Reykjavík Grapevine Music Awards gracing the cover — will drop.

And the nominees are…

After poring over releases, listening and re-listening to albums, an A-team of people-in-the-know convened to draft this year’s list of nominees. The panel of judges includes DJ and music writer Alexander Le Sage De Fontenay, the Grapevine’s Ish Sveinsson Houle and Jóhannes Bjarkason, RÚV’s Lestin radio show host Kristján Guðjónsson, and musician and event manager Maria-Carmela Raso.

Without further ado, the following is a list of nominees for the 2026 Reykjavík Grapevine Music Awards.

Artist of the year

Alaska1867

Knackered

múm

Páll Óskar & Benni Hemm Hemm

Album of the year

Birnir — Dyrnar

múm — History of Silence

RAKEL — a place to be

Spacestation — Reykjavík Syndrome

Song of the year

Alaska1867 — “SMS”

Páll Óskar & Benni Hemm Hemm — “Eitt af blómunum”

digital ísland — “eh plan?”

Kusk + Óviti — “HJÁ MÉR”

Best Visual Representation

Birnir — Dyrnar album artwork, produced by Þórsteinn Svanhildarson, Ragnhildur Stefánsdóttir, and Völundur Hafstað

Flesh Machine — “Taking My Time”, directed by Snæfríður Sól Gunnarsdóttir

Ólafur Arnalds & Loreen — SAGES, directed by Thora Hilmarsdottir

Kári Egils — “Midnight Sky”, animated by Didda Flygenring

Best Music Event

Norðanpaunk

Sátan

Kárahátíð by Spider Network

quean : kven : queen by Sóley Stefánsdóttir and Samantha Shay

Best Live Act

Flesh Machine

Knackered

symfaux

Unfiled

Best Kept Secret

Emma — Halidome

Godchilla — psionic dreams

Oh Mama — Dagskrá

Woolly Kind — Í hringi

Ones To Watch

BKPM

digital ísland

Fríd

Julian Civilian

Shout Out

marvaða

Ólátagarður

Óli Dóri

Reykjavík Record Shop

The Reykjavík Grapevine Music Awards happens at Lemmy on February 5 at 20:00. Expect laughs, tears, warm embraces and general jubilations.