The 2026 Polaris Long List Is Here
From Angine de Poitrine's global takeover to new records from Kaytranada, PUP, and Charlotte Day Wilson, these are the nominees.
by Glenn Alderson
- Published on
Every June, the Polaris Music Prize Long List arrives with the same energy as checking a festival poster after two beers: excitement, confusion, validation, and at least three moments of, “Wait, how did they fit all these names on here?”
The 2026 Polaris Long List is officially here, unveiled tonight at NXNE in Toronto, and as always, it serves as both a snapshot of where Canadian music is right now and a prediction of where it’s headed next. This year’s list feels particularly loaded.
You’ve got former winners like Kaytranada, Tanya Tagaq, and Dan Snaith (appearing under his Daphni moniker), returning to remind everyone that artistic longevity isn’t just possible in Canada, it’s thriving. Meanwhile, veterans like our recent cover star Peaches, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, and Shad continue proving that reinvention beats nostalgia every time.
Then there are the records that seem impossible to escape.
Take Angine de Poitrine’s Vol. II. Somewhere between math rock, post-punk absurdism, and a fever dream involving black-and-white photocopiers, the Montreal band’s presence has grown from underground curiosity to international obsession. The funny hats. The monochrome visuals. The gloriously chaotic live shows. Whether you’ve seen them opening festivals, melting brains on social media, or popping up in publications that normally wouldn’t know a blast beat from a bagel, their ascent has been one of the most entertaining stories in Canadian music over the past year.
Elsewhere, Polaris is once again rewarding records that pushed beyond genre boundaries. Men I Trust’s dreamy Equus Caballus continues the band’s quiet march toward global indie royalty. Charlotte Day Wilson‘s Patchwork finds one of Canada’s most distinctive voices operating at peak confidence. Kaytranada’s AIN’T NO DAMN WAY! reminds us that no matter how many times he turns down our interview requests, the master beatmaker is not going anywhere.
The rock contingent is equally strong. PUP‘s Who Will Look After the Dogs? arrives with exactly the kind of existential panic the band has built their career on. Edmonton’s Home Front continue their rise as one of the country’s most exciting post-punk exports with Watch It Die. And Propagandhi‘s At Peace proves that you can still openly smash the state and sound good doing it.
Perhaps the biggest victory, though, is the sheer diversity of the list itself. French-language records sit alongside experimental electronics. Country shares space with hardcore. Jazz, hip-hop, indie pop, folk, and music that defies categorization altogether all find room at the same table.
In a cultural landscape increasingly driven by algorithms, Polaris remains one of the few places where artistic merit still gets to throw its weight around. And yes, every year somebody gets snubbed. That’s part of the fun though, right?
Here is the full list of nominees:
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
The Polaris Music Prize Short List, featuring the final 10 albums, will be revealed on July 9, with the ultimate winner announced during the Polaris Concert & Award Ceremony at Toronto’s Massey Hall on September 22. The winning artist will receive $30,000, but perhaps more importantly, they’ll earn a permanent place in one of Canadian music’s most fascinating ongoing conversations.
By Melissa Brassard
From avant electronica to orchestral film scores and live reinterpretations of cult classics, VIFF Live is pushing cinema beyond the screen.
By Glenn Alderson
To celebrate the release of Nouveaux Langages, we asked the artists who helped shape her new double album to ask the questions.
By Sofia Dawson
Daughter From Hell finds the songstress twisting the knife deeper.
By Sebastian Buzzalino
The Vernon quartet’s new album Rat Bastard is a fiercely alive mix of post-punk, dub, techno and basement-show energy.
By Kenna Clifford
Driven by the centuries-old sound of the shamisen, the Berlin-based quintet is deconstructing Japanese folk music and rebuilding it for new audiences around the world.
By Izzy Petraglia
The decade-spanning pop star held an immersive, phone-free experience for devout listeners to celebrate her new album, Music, Fashion, Film.
By Neil Jefferies
Alone Together finds the New York trio navigating grief, fatherhood and the uneasy distance between trust and suspicion.
By Sebastian Buzzalino
The Vancouver punk band bottle their chaotic live energy into a blistering black-and-white session filmed at Phony! Records.
By Cam Delisle
Paring alt-R&B back to its foundations, new avatar gives equal weight to songwriting, distance, and one of the genre's defining voices.
By RANGE
Peaches, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Tanya Tagaq and Bibi Club are among the 10 artists competing for this year’s $30,000 prize.
