Polaris Music Prize 2026 long list revealed: Angine de Poitrine, The Beaches, and Peaches among 40 contenders

Two previous Polaris victors return: Kaytranada, who won in 2016 for the 99.9% record, is back with Ain’t No Damn Way!, while Tanya Tagaq’s 2014 winner Animism is followed up by Saputjiji. Caribou, the 2008 recipient, appears under his Daphni alias with Butterfly. The long list also nods to Heritage Prize alumni – Peaches (2015) is in the running with No Lube So Rude, and Beverly Glenn‑Copeland (2020) is listed for Laughter In Summer.

Jurors culled the 40 records from 202 eligible releases. The final ten-album shortlist lands on 9 July, and the winner will be crowned at a gala inside Toronto’s Massey Hall on 22 September.

The list leans into leftfield electronic and experimental territory, with Montreal’s No Joy securing a first-ever long-list spot for Bugland, Ouri for Daisy Cutter, and Egyptian-born, Montréal-based Nadah El Shazly for Laini Tani. Indie-rock and songcraft are well served by Charlotte Day Wilson’s Patchwork, Men I Trust’s Equus Caballus, and the Beaches’ No Hard Feelings, while Katie Tupper’s Greyhound, Boy Golden’s Best of Our Possible Lives and Julianna Riolino’s Echo in the Dust bolster a strong roots/alt-country showing. There are plenty of Quebecois voices represented, too, from Angine de Poitrine’s Vol. II and Catherine Leduc’s Les jours où il neige à tous les postes to Lou-Adriane Cassidy’s Triste Animal and Arielle Soucy’s Passages.

Also notable: Pony’s Clearly Cursed, Slash Need’s Sit & Grin, Foxwarren’s 2, Ora Cogan’s Hard Hearted Woman, Cootie Catcher’s Something We All Got, and Baby Nova’s Shhugar all notch first-time Polaris long-list appearances.