Ryan Coogler’s horror film Sinners leads the 2026 Critics Choice Awards nominations with a whopping 17 bids, including best original score for Ludwig Göransson and best original song for “I Lied to You,” which Göransson co-wrote with Raphael Saadiq. The nominations were announced on Friday (Dec. 5).

Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another was runner-up, with 14 nods, including best original score for Jonny Greenwood.

Those two films were followed on the leaderboard by Frankenstein and Hamnet (11 nods each); Marty Supreme (eight); F1, Sentimental Value and Wicked: For Good (seven nods each), Train Dreams (five); and Jay Kelly         and Weapons (four nods each).

Competing with Göransson and Greenwood for best original score are Hans Zimmer (F1), Alexandre Desplat (Frankenstein); Max Richter (Hamnet) and Daniel Lopatin (Marty Supreme).

The other nominees for Best Song, joining “I Lied to You,” are “Drive” by Ed Sheeran, John Mayer and Blake Slatkin from F1; “Golden” by EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, Ido, 24 and Teddy from KPop Demon Hunters; “Clothed by the Sun” by Daniel Blumberg from The Testament of Ann Lee;“Train Dreams” by Nick Cave and Bryce Dessner from Train Dreams; and “The Girl in the Bubble” by Stephen Schwartz from Wicked: For Good.

On the television side, Netflix’s Adolesence led the way with six nominations, followed by Nobody Wants This with five; and All Her Fault, Death by Lightning, Ghosts, Hacks, Severance, and The Pitt, with four nods each.

Four new categories were introduced – three for films (best stunt design, best casting and ensemble, and best sound), and one for television (best variety series).

Saturday Night Live is nominated for best variety series, while SNL50: The Anniversary Special is nominated for best comedy special. The other nominees for best comedy special are stand-up specials by Brett Goldstein, Caleb Hearon, Leanne Morgan, Marc Maron and Sarah Silverman.

The 31st Critics Choice Awards, hosted by Chelsea Handler for the fourth consecutive year, will be broadcast live on Jan. 4 on E! and USA Network. The show will be held at Barker Hanger in Santa Monica, Calif.

One week later, on Jan. 11, the Golden Globes, hosted by Nikki Glaser for the second year in a row, will be broadcast live on CBS and stream on Paramount+. The show, which also covers both film and television (as well as podcasting as of 2026) will be held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Here’s the complete list of nominees for the 2026 Critics Choice Awards.

Film Awards

Best Picture

Bugonia

Frankenstein

Hamnet

Jay Kelly

Marty Supreme

One Battle After Another

Sentimental Value

Sinners

Train Dreams

Wicked: For Good

Best Actor

Timothée Chalamet, Marty Supreme

Leonardo DiCaprio, One Battle After Another

Joel Edgerton, Train Dreams

Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon

Michael B. Jordan, Sinners

Wagner Moura, The Secret Agent

Best Actress

Jessie Buckley, Hamnet

Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You

Chase Infiniti, One Battle After Another

Renate Reinsve, Sentimental Value

Amanda Seyfried, The Testament of Ann Lee

Emma Stone, Bugonia

Best Supporting Actor

Benecio del Toro, One Battle After Another

Jacob Elordi, Frankenstein

Paul Mescal, Hamnet

Sean Penn, One Battle After Another

Adam Sandler, Jay Kelly

Stellan Skarsgård, Sentimental Value

Best Supporting Actress

Elle Fanning, Sentimental Value

Ariana Grande, Wicked: For Good

Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Sentimental Value

Amy Madigan, Weapons

Wunmi Mosaku, Sinners

Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another

Best Young Actor / Actress

Everett Blunck, The Plague

Miles Caton, Sinners

Cary Christopher, Weapons

Shannon Mahina Gorman, Rental Family

Jacobi Jupe, Hamnet

Nina Ye, Left-Handed Girl

Best Casting/Acting Ensemble

Hamnet

Jay Kelly

Marty Supreme

One Battle After Another

Sinners

Wicked: For Good

Best Director

Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another

Ryan Coogler, Sinners

Guillermo Del Toro, Frankenstein

Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme

Joachim Trier, Sentimental Value

Chloé Zhao, Hamnet

Best Original Screenplay

Jay Kelly — Noah Baumbach, Emily Mortimer

Marty Supreme — Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie

Sinners — Ryan Coogler

Weapons — Zach Cregger

Sorry, Baby — Eva Victor

Sentimental Value — Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier

Best Adapted Screenplay

One Battle After Another — Paul Thomas Anderson

Train Dreams — Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar

No Other Choice — Park Chan-wook, Lee Kyoung-mi, Don Mckellar, Jahye Lee

Frankenstein — Guillermo del Toro

Bugonia — Will Tracy

Hamnet — Chloé Zhao, Maggie O’Farrell

Best Score

F1 – Hans Zimmer

Frankenstein – Alexandre Desplat

Hamnet – Max Richter

Marty Supreme – Daniel Lopatin

One Battle After Another – Johnny Greenwood

Sinners – Ludwig Göransson 

Best Song

“Drive” – Ed Sheeran, John Mayer, Blake Slatkin – F1

“Golden” – Ejae, Mark Sonnenblick, Ido, 24, Teddy – KPop Demon Hunters

“I Lied to You” – Raphael Saadiq, Ludwig Göransson – Sinners

“Clothed by the Sun” – Daniel Blumberg – The Testament of Ann Lee

“Train Dreams” – Nick Cave, Bryce Dessner – Train Dreams

“The Girl in the Bubble” – Stephen Schwartz – Wicked: For Good

Best Animated Feature

Arco

Elio

In Your Dreams

KPop Demon Hunters

Little Amélie or the Character of Rain

Zootopia 2

Best Comedy

The Ballad of Wallis Island

Eternity

Friendship

The Naked Gun

The Phoenician Scheme

Splitsville

Best Foreign Language Film

It Was Just an Accident

Left-Handed Girl

No Other Choice

The Secret Agent

Sirāt

Belén

Best Cinematography

F1

Frankenstein

Hamnet

One Battle After Another

Sinners

Train Dreams

Best Editing

A House of Dynamite

F1

Marty Supreme

One Battle After Another

The Perfect Neighbor

Sinners

Best Costume Design

Frankenstein

Hamnet

Hedda

Kiss of the Spider Woman

Sinners

Wicked: For Good

Best Production Design

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Frankenstein

Hamnet

Marty Supreme

Sinners

Wicked: For Good

Best Hair and Makeup

28 Years Later

Frankenstein

Sinners

The Smashing Machine

Weapons

Wicked: For Good

Best Visual Effects

Avatar: Fire and Ash

F1

Frankenstein

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning

Sinners

Superman

Best Stunt Design

Ballerina

F1

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning

One Battle After Another

Sinners

Warfare

Best Sound

F1

Frankenstein

One Battle After Another

Sinners

Sirāt

Warfare

TV Awards

Best Drama Series

Alien: Earth

Andor

The Diplomat

Paradise

The Pitt

Pluribus

Severance

Task

Best Actor in a Drama Series

Sterling K. Brown, Paradise

Diego Luna, Andor

Mark Ruffalo, Task

Adam Scott, Severance

Billy Bob Thornton, Landman

Noah Wyle, The Pitt

Best Actress in a Drama Series

Kathy Bates, Matlock

Carrie Coon, The Gilded Age

Britt Lower, Severance

Bella Ramsey, The Last of Us

Keri Russell, The Diplomat

Rhea Seehorn, Pluribus

Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

Patrick Ball, The Pitt

Billy Crudup, The Morning Show

Ato Essandoh, The Diplomat

Wood Harris, Forever

Tom Pelphrey, Task

Tramell Tillman, Severance

Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Nicole Beharie, The Morning Show

Denée Benton, The Gilded Age

Allison Janney, The Diplomat

Katherine LaNasa, The Pitt

Greta Lee, The Morning Show

Skye P. Marshall, Matlock

Best Comedy Series

Abbott Elementary

Elsbeth

Ghosts

Hacks

Nobody Wants This

Only Murders in the Building

The Righteous Gemstones

The Studio

Best Actor in a Comedy Series

Adam Brody, Nobody Wants This

Ted Danson, A Man on the Inside

David Alan Grier, St. Denis Medical

Danny McBride, The Righteous Gemstones

Seth Rogen, The Studio

Alexander Skarsgård, Murderbot

Best Actress in a Comedy Series

Kristen Bell, Nobody Wants This

Natasha Lyonne, Poker Face

Rose McIver, Ghosts

Edi Patterson, The Righteous Gemstones

Carrie Preston, Elsbeth

Jean Smart, Hacks

Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

Ike Barinholtz, The Studio

Paul W. Downs, Hacks

Asher Grodman, Ghosts

Oscar Nuñez, The Paper

Chris Perfetti, Abbott Elementary

Timothy Simons, Nobody Wants This

Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

Danielle Brooks, Peacemaker

Hannah Einbinder, Hacks

Janelle James, Abbott Elementary

Justine Lupe, Nobody Wants This

Ego Nwodim, Saturday Night Live

Rebecca Wisocky, Ghosts

Best Comedy Special

Brett Goldstein: The Second Best Night of Your Life

Caleb Hearon: Model Comedian

Leanne Morgan: Unspeakable Things

Marc Maron: Panicked

Sarah Silverman: PostMortem

SNL50: The Anniversary Special

Best Limited Series

Adolescence

All Her Fault

Chief of War

Death By Lightning

Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy

Dope Thief

Dying for Sex

The Girlfriend

Best Movie Made For Television

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy

Deep Cover

The Gorge

Mountainhead

Nonnas

Summer of ’69

Best Actor in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television

Michael Chernus, Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy

Stephen Graham, Adolescence

Brian Tyree Henry, Dope Thief

Charlie Hunnam, Monster: The Ed Gein Story

Matthew Rhys, The Beast in Me

Michael Shannon, Death by Lightning

Best Actress in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television

Jessica Biel, The Better Sister

Meghann Fahy, Sirens

Sarah Snook, All Her Fault

Michelle Williams, Dying for Sex

Robin Wright, The Girlfriend

Renée Zellweger, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy

Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television

Owen Cooper, Adolescence

Wagner Moura, Dope Thief

Nick Offerman, Death by Lightning

Michael Peña, All Her Fault

Ashley Walters, Adolescence

Ramy Youssef, Mountainhead

Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television

Erin Doherty, Adolescence

Betty Gilpin, Death by Lightning

Marin Ireland, Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy

Sophia Lillis, All Her Fault

Julianne Moore, Sirens

Christine Tremarco, Adolescence

Best Talk Show

The Daily Show

Hot Ones

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Late Night With Seth Meyers

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert

Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen

Best Variety Series

Conan O’Brien Must Go

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Saturday Night Live

Best Animated Series

Bob’s Burgers

Harley Quinn

Long Story Short

Marvel Zombies

South Park

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man

Best Foreign Language Series

Acapulco

Last Samurai Standing

Mussolini: Son of the Century

Red Alert

Squid Game

When No One Sees Us

Tekashi 6ix9ine is going back to jail.

According to a spokesperson for the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office, the rapper (Daniel Hernandez) was sentenced on Friday (Dec. 5) to three months in lockup for once again violating his probation from a blockbuster 2018 racketeering case. This time, Tekashi was caught with cocaine and MDMA and admitted to assaulting a man who taunted him about flipping on his former Brooklyn gangmates during a recent trip to the mall in Florida.

The sentence, imposed by Judge Paul A. Engelmayer in federal court, is the culmination of many run-ins between the rapper and the law. Back in 2018, he was arrested and pleaded guilty to nine racketeering, gun and drug charges related to his time in the Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods.

Tekashi admitted to being involved in a slew of violent incidents targeting rival rappers, including a 2017 assault of Trippie Redd, and he testified against his former gang associates at a high-profile trial in 2019. In exchange for that cooperation, Judge Engelmayer sentenced him to just two years in prison rather than the decades his charges carried. 

The rapper was released in 2020 after serving even less than those two years due to health risks from the then-novel COVID-19 pandemic. By the fall of 2024, Tekashi was just months away from concluding a five-year supervised release term when he was charged with a host of violations, including using methamphetamine, failing to appear for drug tests and traveling to Las Vegas without permission.

He admitted to these violations, and Judge Engelmayer sentenced him to 45 days in jail plus another year of supervised release. He got out last December, but was caught again in March for violating his probation by possessing cocaine and MDMA. Then came the Florida mall assault in August, which prosecutors classified as a misdemeanor. He’s been on house arrest since September.

In a sentencing recommendation last month, federal prosecutors said Tekashi had “violated the court’s trust” and needed to go back to jail so that cooperators would know they are “they are not above the law.” Tekashi’s lawyer, Lance Lazzaro, advocated instead for additional home detention.

Lazzaro did not immediately return a request for comment on Friday.

The 2025 edition of Spotify Wrapped arrived earlier this week, and it was impossible to miss. The annual listener recap attracted widespread news coverage that spanned the mainstream press (The New York Times, USA Today), the business press (Fast Company, Forbes), the tech press (Mashable, PC Mag) and local press (Peoria Journal Star, Cincinnati Enquirer). For its part, Spotify announced the launch of Wrapped with a slew of blog posts and a pre-release press conference. Even before that, articles about Wrapped’s launch began appearing in late November by publications eager to tap into listeners’ anticipation.  

Regardless of how Spotify users learned of Wrapped — the media attention, social media chatter or seeing it when they opened their Spotify app on Wednesday (Dec. 3) — they took part in a record-setting launch. Within approximately the first 24 hours, Wrapped drew more than 200 million engaged users, up 19% from the previous year, the company revealed on Thursday (Dec. 4). In 2024, Wrapped needed 62 hours to meet the 200 million user mark. What’s more, the number of times Spotify users shared their Wrapped experiences surpassed 500 million in 24 hours, a 41% increase year over year.  

But what’s most remarkable about Wrapped is its level of prominence in pop culture. To the extent Google search traffic reveals consumer interest, Wrapped appears to be in the same ballpark as some high-profile, closely watched cultural events. Take two of America’s biggest shopping days outside of the Christmas season, Amazon Prime Day and Cyber Monday. Wrapped generated more Google search traffic in the U.S. than Amazon’s Prime Day in 2024 and 2025, and it nearly matched Cyber Monday’s search traffic in 2024, though it slipped further behind the annual online shopping day this year. (The current week’s Google Trends data was preliminary as of Thursday.)

Coachella is another good point of comparison. The Southern California music festival is a cultural event that is closely followed for the desert-friendly fashion donned by attendees as much as the high-profile artists who perform. In 2024, Wrapped had about 50% more search traffic than Coachella, while this year, after the festival drew increased buzz and sold out in hours, the two events had nearly identical peak weekly traffic.

Wrapped was even in the same ballpark as the Met Gala, despite falling short of search traffic for that splashy event. While the fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute bested Wrapped by approximately a two-to-one margin in 2024 and 2025, when you consider that the Met Gala has written the book on how to build anticipation and drive consumer interest to a cavalcade of celebrities wearing designer clothing, the fact that Wrapped inspired even half the amount of search traffic is still impressive. Indeed, the Met Gala puts up ridiculous numbers: Within three days, this year’s editions had generated 1.2 billion views across Vogue’s website and YouTube channel.  

Many other major cultural and entertainment events don’t come close to Wrapped: This year, Fashion Week, Art Basel, the Cannes Film Festival and SXSW each generated a small fraction of Wrapped’s U.S. Google search traffic.  

More importantly, Wrapped dominates the annual listener recaps offered by its peers. This year, Wrapped had about four times the U.S. Google search traffic as Apple Music Replay, eight times the traffic of YouTube Recap and more than 80 times the traffic of both Amazon Music’s 2025 Delivered and SoundCloud Playback. Again, these are preliminary numbers, but the gaps between Wrapped and the others were equally wide in 2024.  

Aside from the obvious marketing value associated with intense media coverage, a popular product feature such as Wrapped has meaningful business implications. Notably, it’s a huge success for a business model that demands streaming platforms compete against one another on the strength of their programming and user experience. While video on-demand services have the luxury of competing against one another with exclusive content, diminishing the need to offer a sterling user experience and engagement-inducing features, music streamers — with the exception of SoundCloud, which is heavy with user-generated content — are largely limited to the same music catalog. Whether you’re a fan or detractor of the annual year-end exercise, Wrapped proves that in the music streaming wars, being hyper-focused on product features can give a major leg up on the competition. 

Parmalee earns its fifth No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart as “Cowgirl” gallops three spots to the top of the list dated Dec. 13. The song gained by 6% to 27.2 million audience impressions Nov. 28–Dec. 4, according to Luminate.

“Cowgirl” is the lead single from the four-man band’s eighth studio set, Fell in Love With a Cowgirl, released in April. Each of the band’s members — Barry Knox, Josh McSwain, Matt Thomas and Scott Thomas — shares co-writer credit on the song with five others, including longtime collaborator David Fanning, who also co-produced it.

“You’re talking about [trucks] and Levi’s and Bud Light, all the things that are country,” Fanning mused to Billboard of the song earlier this year. “But that’s the thing about country music. That stuff never does get old. It’s just, how are you gonna say it differently?”

By count of Country Airplay No. 1s dating to the band’s debut on the chart dated July 21, 2012, Parmalee ties Lady A for the third-most leaders among groups (of more than two members). Only Old Dominion (seven) and Zac Brown Band (six) have delivered more No. 1s among such acts in that time frame. Eli Young Band (three), The Band Perry, Little Big Town and Rascal Flatts (two each) follow in that stretch.

Parmalee links consecutive Country Airplay No. 1s for a second time, with “Cowgirl” the follow-up to “Gonna Love You,” which topped the Dec. 7, 2024, chart. The band previously ruled with back-to-back singles thanks to “Just the Way,” with Blanco Brown, for a week in March 2021 and “Take My Name” for two frames in June 2022.

The group first led Country Airplay with “Carolina” for a week in December 2013. That song became Parmalee’s second entry, after “Musta Had a Good Time,” which reached No. 38 in October 2012. All 11 of the quartet’s entries on the chart have hit the top 40, with eight reaching the top 10.

All charts dated Dec. 13 will update Tuesday, Dec. 9, on Billboard.com.

Kendrick Lamar‘s GNX could’ve been a lot longer than 12 tracks.

During a recent interview in Variety with Grammy-winning producers Sounwave, Jack Antonoff, and Mustard, it was revealed that the Compton MC recorded “between 80 and 100” songs for the project, according to Sounwave.

“We have such a specific language between us, me and Sounwave,” Antonoff told the outlet. “And then we developed our own thing, the three of us. You have it or you don’t with people. When you have it, it’s really magical; when you don’t, you go home.”

Apparently, Lamar started working on his sixth album right after dropping Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers in 2022. “The beginning of it was throwing paint on the wall,” Sounwave said of their process in the beginning. “And it started to form this massive funky West groove that we love because [Kendrick and I are] from Compton. And in that, I started to realize the people who we should bring in to push it even further, like the Mustards, the Jacks. … I was very fortunate to have these friends who are very talented to push it to the next level.”

When it came to Mustard’s contributions, especially the beat switch on “TV Off,” the producer said that he made sure to send Lamar unique beats and never asked who decided to put two of his instrumentals together. “I knew that I couldn’t send Kendrick normal Mustard beats,” he said. “I was sending all types of s—t, anything that I thought sounded like something that I’ve never made before. That’s what I was going for, because Kendrick is different.” In regards to “TV Off,” he said that he “never asked” about the two seperate beats that were used, but Sounwave disclosed that it was Kendrick’s idea. “I care, but I don’t care. I was just like, that was great,” Mustard added.

They also spoke on how the No. 1 record “Luther” came together with Sounwave referring to the process as “spiritual.”

GNX, “TV Off,” and “Luther” have been nominated for a combined seven Grammys during the upcoming 68th Grammy Awards.