The race for Canada’s biggest album prize is on. CBC and the Polaris Music Prize have revealed the 40-album Long List for 2026, the first major announcement of the Polaris season and the opening move toward the $30,000 awarded to the year’s best Canadian album, judged purely on artistic merit with no regard for genre or sales.
The list spans the full range of Canadian music, from The Beaches and PUP to Kaytranada, Men I Trust, Foxwarren, Charlotte Day Wilson, Shad, and Propagandhi. It includes 13 first-time nominees alongside three past winners, Kaytranada, Tanya Tagaq, and Daphni’s Dan Snaith, who took the prize as Caribou, plus two past Polaris Heritage Prize recipients in Beverly Glenn-Copeland and Peaches. In all, 202 albums were considered by the 205-member jury this season.
The Long List reveal was hosted by NXNE at their Artist House, with a number of current and past nominees on hand. From here, the season ramps up fast. The 10-album Short List arrives July 9, the SOCAN Polaris Song Prize unveils its 20-song Long List on June 25, and the Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize opens its critics-and-public vote campaign on August 5.
It all builds to the 2026 Polaris Concert & Award Ceremony, powered by FACTOR, where the Album Prize, Song Prize, and two Heritage Prize winners are announced. The event takes over Toronto’s iconic 132-year-old Massey Hall on Tuesday, September 22, marking the fourth straight year at the venue. Tickets are on sale now via the Massey Hall website, with 15% off using the code POLARIS15.
2026 Polaris Music Prize Album Long List:
Angine de Poitrine – Vol. II
Aquakultre – 1783
Baby Nova – Shhugar
The Beaches – No Hard Feelings
Begonia – Fantasy Life
Bibi Club – Amaro
Boy Golden – Best of Our Possible Lives
Mariel Buckley – Strange Trip Ahead
Lou-Adriane Cassidy – Triste animal
Ora Cogan – Hard Hearted Woman
cootie catcher – Something We All Got
Charlotte Cornfield – Hurts Like Hell
Daphni – Butterfly
Nadah El Shazly – Laini Tani
Dominique Fils-Aimé – My World Is The Sun
Foxwarren – 2
Beverly Glenn-Copeland – Laughter In Summer
Holy Fuck – Event Beat
Home Front – Watch It Die
JayWood – LEO NEGRO
Rochelle Jordan – Through The Wall
Kaytranada – AIN’T NO DAMN WAY!
Catherine Leduc – Les jours où il neige à tous les postes
Les Louanges – Alouette!
Men I Trust – Equus Caballus
Tami Neilson – Neon Cowgirl
No Joy – Bugland
Ouri – Daisy Cutter
Peaches – No Lube So Rude
PONY – Clearly Cursed
Propagandhi – At Peace
PUP – Who Will Look After the Dogs?
Julianna Riolino – Echo in the Dust
Shad – Start Anew
Slash Need – SIT & GRIN
Arielle Soucy – Passages
Tanya Tagaq – Saputjiji
TOBi – For Good Measure (at Dreamhouse Studios)
Katie Tupper – Greyhound
Charlotte Day Wilson – Patchwork