2026 Polaris long list breakdown

Moneyballing genre, geography, gender and familiar faces

It’s that time of year! The Polaris Music Prize long list is here.

It was announced today at 6 p.m. The jury of more than 200 musicfolk from across Canada voted on 202 albums suggested by their peers. There is no qualification criteria other than Canadian citizenship / landed immigrant status, and the album must have been released between April 1, 2025 and May 1, 2026.

(This week’s live music listings are here.)

Jurors now vote on these 40 albums to compile a shortlist, announced July 10. Winner will be announced at the gala September 22.

Here’s my annual look at how the long list breaks down, demographically and otherwise. Last year’s was here. I’ve been doing some version of this for the past 20 years.

Mistakes are inevitable, corrections are welcome:

Familiar faces

Previous winners: 3, + 2 Heritage Prize winners

Dan Snaith (Daphni/Caribou), Beverly Glenn-Copeland (Heritage), Kaytranada, Peaches (Heritage), Tanya Tagaq

Former shortlisters: 13

The Beaches, Begonia, Bibi Club, Lou-Adriane Cassidy, Dominique Fils-Aimé (3x), Andy Shauf (Foxwarren), Holy Fuck, Les Louanges, Ouri, Pup (2x), Shad (5x, holding the record), Tobi (2x), Charlotte Day Wilson

Former longlisters: 10

Aquakulture, Mariel Buckley, Charlotte Cornfield, Home Front, JayWood, Rochelle Jordan, Men I Trust, Tami Neilson, Arielle Soucy, Propagandhi

New faces: 12

Angine de Poitrine, Baby Nova, Boy Golden, Ora Cogan, Cootie Catcher, Nadah El Shazly, Catherine Leduc, No Joy, Pony, Julianna Riolino, Slash Need, Katie Tupper

Geography:

International expats: 5 (Daphni in London, Kaytranada and Rochelle Jordan in L.A., Peaches in Berlin, Tami Neilson in New Zealand)

Montreal: 9. Montreal normally smokes Toronto in these rankings; this year they’d be tied, if I still counted L.A. resident Kaytranada as a Montrealer. But then I’d also have to count fellow Angelene Rochelle Jordan as a Torontonian, so…. yeah, this is complicated.

Toronto/GTA: 10. We’re claiming Tagaq and Polaris all-timer Shad, who’s been back here for a while now.

B.C.: 1 (Ora Cogan)

Quebec outside Montreal: 2 (Lou-Adriane Cassidy, Angine de Poitrine)

Prairies: 8. This might be the Prairies’ biggest-ever showing, including two from Saskatchewan (Foxwarren, Katie Tupper) and four from Winnipeg (Begonia, Boy Golden, JayWood, Propagandhi), which should finally alleviate some of that city’s sad-sack reputation at Polaris.

Atlantic: 3 (Aquakulture, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Baby Nova). UPDATE: BGC spent many recent years of his career renaissance in Sackville, and the band is East Coast, but he and his wife Elizabeth have been in Hamilton for a couple of years. Still count?

Ontario outside Toronto/GTA: 2 (Pony from Windsor, Julianna Riolino from Niagara Region)

Gender

Female-fronted: 23/40

Co-ed led: 2 (Bibi Club, Cootie Catcher)

Trans man: 1 (Beverly Glenn-Copeland)

New Canada:

No DNA tests involved here, but there are 8 acts of African-Canadian origin, two other acts with at least some melanin, and one self-identified Indigenous artist.

Genre

Genre is over! But here goes:

“Rock,” a.k.a. music centred around electric guitar: 7 (the Beaches, Bibi Club, Boy Golden, Cootie Catcher, Home Front, No Joy, Pony)

Art-y Polaris bait: 7 (Nadah El Shazly, Dominique Fils-Aimé, Foxwarren, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Catherine Leduc, Ouri, Tagaq)

R&B: 7 (Aquakulture, JayWood, Rochelle Jordan, Kaytranada, Les Louanges, Katie Tupper, Charlotte Day Wilson)

Pop-ish: 3 (Baby Nova, Begonia, Lou-Adriane Cassidy)

Aggressive/heavy: 4 (Angine de Poitrine, Propagandhi, Slash Need, Pup)

Folk-ish/singer/songwriter: 3 (Charlotte Cornfield, Ora Cogan, Arielle Soucy)

Electro: 3 (Daphni, Holy Fuck, Peaches)

Country-ish: 3 (Mariel Buckley, Tami Neilson, Julianna Riolino)

Rap: 2 (Shad, Tobi)

ASMR: 1 (Men I Trust)

Also notable: I believe the Tobi album is the first live album longlisted in the prize’s history. UPDATE: Leonard Cohen’s Live in London longlisted in 2009.

Linguistics:

Four artists sing exclusively in French; Bibi Club split between French and English.

Three instrumental albums: Angine de Poitrine, Kaytranada, Daphni

The Egyptian-born Nadah El Shazly sings in Arabic.

Popularity Contest:

Who’s going to make tomorrow’s headlines? In other words, who among this list of random Canucks actually register on the public consciousness?

Angine de Poitrine, obviously. I mean, even Billboard loves them.

Also the Beaches, who just got yet another viral bump after one of their performances was a major plot point in the hit Prime series Off Campus. Rochelle Jordan was a huge international critics’ favourite in 2025. Peaches seems to get more popular the older she gets, and of course is beloved in Berlin. And Men I Trust continue to be one of Canada’s hugest streaming success stories.

Other Canucks with enough international cred to make the wire stories include Charlotte Cornfield, Daphni, Bevery Glenn-Copeland, Kaytranada, Tami Neilson, No Joy, Propagandhi, Pup, Charlotte Day Wilson.

Age: Look who’s 40+!

At 82, Beverly Glenn-Copeland is one of only two octogenarians to ever make a Polaris longlist, after Leonard Cohen.

Then comes Peaches, who turns 60 this fall, and has been fending off ageist barbs since she dared to be a sexual being at (gasp) 33.

Somewhere in their 40s and 50s are: Bibi Club, Dan Snaith (Daphni), Holy Fuck, Tami Neilson, No Joy, Propagandhi, Shad, Tagaq.

The youngest is definitely, if you couldn’t guess by the name, Cootie Catcher, who in one interview said they were in high school in 2020, which makes them 24, tops. The deceptively named Baby Nova is 28.

Polaris Hall of Fame:

This extremely unofficial ongoing exercise awards 3 points for a win, 2 points for a shortlist, and 1 point for long list.

This year marks an affirmation of Polaris’s top two all-timers: tied for top spot in the Hall of Fame are Shad and Dan Snaith (Caribou/Daphni), with 11 each points each. Shad is notable for not ever having won, but for getting shortlisted for every record he’s put out. They were both longlisted this year, so they remain tied. Should one of them get shortlisted, or win, they’ll sit alone at the top. (FWIW I think that’s unlikely.)

(The next tier down has 9 points: Feist, Arcade Fire, Cadence Weapon, Basia Bulat, Snotty Nose Rez Kids.)

Former winners Kaytranada and Tagaq both inch up the list, now with 7 points each (joining them there are US Girls, Joel Plaskett, Patrick Watson, the Weeknd, Destroyer).

Two-time shortlisters Dominique Fils-Aimé, Pup and Tobi also all inch up a bit, to 6 points. (10 others are also at 6 points.)

Comeback of the year: Holy Fuck, who haven’t been on a longlist since 2010 (they were shortlisted in 2008) — 16 years ago. This beats Dan Mangan, who had an 11-year gap between longlisting, between 2012 and 2023. UPDATE: Also Sarah Harmer, who had a 14-year gap between shortlisting in 2006 and longlisting in 2020.

Heroes to zeroes:

There are many notable omissions this year: prominent Polaris alumni who did not make the long list. This is inevitable as the prize gets older — and the jury, as always, skews young — but what’s particularly surprising is how many recent names don’t appear on this 2026 list.

Notably absent: recent winners Debby Friday (2023), Cadence Weapon (2021) and Lido Pimienta (2017), who also shortlisted in 2020 and made her latest record with 2006 winner Owen Pallett.

As for big commercial names, global superstar Daniel Caesar did not make the cut for the first time: all his previous releases have shortlisted or longlisted. I didn’t expect former longlister Justin Bieber to make it, but his latest did have a lot of critical acclaim — outside Canada. And speaking of critical fame: former longlister William Prince continues to rack up accolades everywhere, but his latest is not on the list, and yet his producer, Boy Golden, somehow is.

Shortlisters of the last 10 years who didn’t make it on to this year’s longlist: Bambii (2024), Dan Mangan (2023, 2010), Status/Non-Status (2022 as one half of Ombiigizi), Leanne Betasamosake Simpson (2021), Witch Prophet (2020, longlisted in 2023), U.S. Girls (2020, 2018, 2016; also longlisted in 2023). Of those, only Simpson is the real shocker to me: she put out a great record to rave reviews.

Cult favourites Purity Ring (2013) came back, as did Mac DeMarco (2014), but neither made the cut. Longtime Polaris faves the New Pornographers (2006, 2015) didn’t make a longlist for only the second time. Was only slightly surprised another longtime Polaris fave, Kathleen Edwards (2008, 2012, longlisted in 2021) didn’t make it. Early Polaris faves Metric (2006, 2009) have a great new album, but it came out on the last day of eligibility; it will be eligible again next year.

Patrick Watson, who won in 2007, hasn’t longlisted since 2015 — though he’s doing just fine lately, thank you.

Shortlist prediction:

I usually get at least 5 correct, though never more than 7.

Angine de Poitrine, Aquakultre, Bibi Club, Charlotte Cornfield, Rochelle Jordan, Les Louanges, Men I Trust, No Joy, Pup, Arielle Soucy

Here’s the full list:

Nothing completely blew me away this Polaris season. I think 10 of these albums are really great, 5 are good, and the other 25 are either meh or I never need to hear again. Be your own judge!

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

Personal faves not on the long list:

Goldie Boutilier (reviewed here), Patche (reviewed here), The Dears (reviewed here), Absolute Losers (reviewed here), Terra Lightfoot (reviewed here)