Sabrina Carpenter May Match Adele’s Grammy Triumph

Alongside names like Lady Gaga, Kendrick Lamar, and Bad Bunny, Sabrina Carpenter ranks among the most nominated musicians at the 2026 Grammy Awards. The pop superstar, who became a winner for the first time a year ago, is headed into music’s biggest night with half a dozen new nods. Her full-length Man’s Best Friend is in the running for both Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album, while lead single “Manchild” will compete for Record of the Year and Song of the Year, as well as both Best Pop Solo Performance and Best Music Video.

Carpenter could make history in several manners if she comes out on top, and that’s certainly true in the Best Pop Solo Performance field, where “Manchild” might help the superstar match one of the most successful vocalists of all time.

Sabrina Carpenter’s Best Pop Solo Performance History

Carpenter is looking to become only the second artist to score back-to-back Best Pop Solo Performance Grammys. Her breakout smash “Espresso” beat tunes by Beyoncé, Charli XCX, Billie Eilish, and Chappell Roan at the 2025 ceremony, and she’s nominated again. This time around, “Manchild” stands alongside Lady Gaga’s “Disease,” Roan’s “The Subway,” Lola Young’s “Messy,” and Justin Bieber’s “Daisies” – making him the only male act included in the roundup.

Adele Made History as the First Back-To-Back Winner

Best Pop Solo Performance (as the category stands today) was introduced at the Grammy Awards in 2012. At the time, it combined three previously awarded verticals, including two that looked specifically at gender – Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance – as well as the largely forgotten Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

The first two years this trophy was handed out, Adele was named the winner. She first came out on top in 2012 with “Someone Like You,” and then the following ceremony with a live rendition of “Set Fire to the Rain.” She remains the only person to land back-to-back honors in this category.

Adele And Ed Sheeran Stand Alone in This Grammy Record

If Recording Academy voters select “Manchild” as the Best Pop Solo Performance of the Year, Carpenter will join an exclusive club of artists who have won this trophy more than once. So far, only two stars have managed to do so, but it won’t be long before a third is inducted into that strata.

Adele leads all acts with four of these Grammys. In addition to “Someone Like You” and “Set Fire to the Rain,” she returned and conquered in 2017 with “Hello,” and most recently back in 2023 with “Easy on Me.”

Ed Sheeran is the only other name to snag multiple Best Pop Solo Performance Grammys, and he nearly netted back-to-back wins. The British singer-songwriter’s “Thinking Out Loud” made him only the second male champion back in 2016. Two years later, “Shape of You” was deemed the top option by voters.

Sabrina Carpenter’s Best Pop Vocal Album Nomination

Carpenter is hoping to double up and claim repeat trophies in two pop categories at this year’s Grammys. In addition to Best Pop Solo Performance, she’s once again in the running for Best Pop Vocal Album with Man’s Best Friend. That set is up against Swag by Bieber, Something Beautiful by Miley Cyrus, Mayhem by Gaga, and I’ve Tried Everything but Therapy (Part Two) by Teddy Swims.

If Carpenter does land this honor, she’ll join Adele, Kelly Clarkson, and Taylor Swift as the only artists with multiple Best Pop Vocal Album wins.

Short n’ Sweet’s Grammy History

At the 2025 ceremony, Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet, which can be considered her breakout project, won Best Pop Vocal Album. The rising talent beat Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, Roan, and Swift, and she’s clearly hoping to do so again.

In the decades that the Recording Academy has handed out Best Pop Vocal Album – a category that initially launched in 1968, then disappeared for nearly 30 years, and which has been running since the mid-1990s – no musician has snagged back-to-back trophies. Carpenter could manage a first in Grammy history if Man’s Best Friend beats the tough competition, including Mayhem, which is also up for many of the most prestigious prizes.