2026 Oscar Shortlists: Snubs and Surprises

McRae has had a breakout year on the charts, landing her first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 and her first No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 (as the featured artist on Morgan Wallen’s “What I Want”), but she’ll have to wait at least another year for her first Oscar nomination. “Just Keep Watching,” which she co-wrote for F1, was passed over for the best original song shortlist. She co-wrote the song with Tyler Spry, Ryan Tedder and Amy Allen. Another F1 song, “Drive” by John Mayer, Ed Sheeran and Blake Slatkin, did make the shortlist.

The songwriter secured her usual position on the shortlist for best original song with “Dear Me” from the aptly-titled documentary about her career, Diane Warren: Relentless. This keeps her hopes alive of becoming the first songwriter in Oscar history to land nine consecutive nominations in that category. She is currently tied with the late Sammy Cahn with eight consecutive nominations each. A good sign for Warren’s chances: The film is shortlisted for best original score for composer Lesley Barber, a sign that that members of the music branch (whose votes determine the shortlists and nominations) have seen the film.

“Zoo,” which Shakira co-wrote with Blake Slatkin and Ed Sheeran for the box-office smash Zootopia 2, was expected to make the best original song shortlist but fell short. The Colombian superstar was hoping to become the first songwriter born in Latin America to be nominated in this category since Brazilians Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown were nominated in 2012 for a song from Rio. As noted above, Slatkin and Sheeran both made the shortlist with another song, “Drive” from F1, which they co-wrote with John Mayer.

K-pop fans are sure to be elated by the nomination for “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters for best original song. But they are doubtless disappointed that BTS ARMY: Forever We Are Young failed to make the shortlist for documentary feature film.

The 1980s rock icon made the shortlist for best original song with “Dying to Live,” which he co-wrote for the documentary Billy Idol Should Be Dead. Will the three-time Grammy nominee land his first Oscar nod? Stay tuned. One discouraging note: The film itself failed to make the shortlist for documentary feature film.

Not one music doc made the shortlist for documentary feature film. In addition to Diane Warren: Relentless, BTS ARMY: Forever We Are Young and Billy Idol Should Be Dead, music docs that failed to make the shortlist include Becoming Led Zeppelin, 14 Short Films About Opera, It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley, Janis Ian: Breaking Silence, Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery – The Untold Story, Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story (Liza Minnelli), One to One: John and Yoko (John Lennon and Yoko Ono), Selena y Los Dinos (Tejano star Selena Quintanilla), Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror, Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted, Viva Verdi! (about a retirement home for elderly opera stars) and Who in the Hell Is Regina Jones? (publisher of Soul newspaper).

Blumberg won the Oscar for best original score earlier this year for The Brutalist. His latest effort, The Testament of Ann Lee, wasn’t even shortlisted. Two other recent winners in that category also failed to make the shortlist – Volker Bertelmann, who won three years ago for All Quiet on the Western Front, was vying with Ballad of a Small Player; Michael Giacchino, who won in 2010 with Up, was competing with Fantastic Four: First Steps.

A$AP Rocky was competing in the best original song category with “Trunks” from Highest 2 Lowest. He co-wrote the song with Kelvin Krash. The film’s title song was shortlisted, but not Rocky’s song. Rocky also co-starred alongside Denzel Washington in the Spike Lee-directed film. Rocky’s partner, Rihanna, was nominated in this category three years ago for co-writing “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.

Not many pundits thought Brian Tyler’s Nuremberg or Aaron Zigman’s Truth and Treason would make the best original score shortlist, but both did. These would be the first nominations for both composers.

Shaboozey and Stephen Wilson Jr. failed to make the best original song shortlist with “Took a Walk,” which they co-wrote for The Long Walk. Shaboozey has received three Grammy nods in songwriting categories – song of the year and best country song for “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” and best country song for “Good News” at the upcoming Feb. 1 ceremony.

Few pundits listed “Our Love” from The Ballad of Wallis Island or “Sweet Dreams of Joy” from Viva Verdi! as strong contenders to make the best original song shortlist, but both songs made it. Tom Basden and Carey Mulligan co-wrote the former song; Nicholas Pike wrote the latter.