'Buena Vista Social Club,' 'Wicked' movie win 2026 Grammy Awards

Buena Vista continued an awards streak and a Grammy legacy, while Wicked stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande took home a prize for the blockbuster 2024 film.

Summary

• Buena Vista Social Club won the 2026 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album
• Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo won Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “Defying Gravity” from the 2024 Wicked movie musical

Buena Vista Social Club has won the 2026 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, beating out fellow nominees Death Becomes Her, Gypsy, Just In Time, and Maybe Happy Ending.

Buena Vista Social Club is a dramatized history of the same-named Cuban band whose landmark 1997 album, also titled Buena Vista Social Club, won a Grammy of its own in 1998 and brought global attention to Cuban dance music.

The Buena Vista Social Club musical premiered off Broadway in 2023 and transferred to Broadway in 2025, earning widespread acclaim for its renditions of the band's songs as performed by both the principal actors and the onstage band. The show was nominated for 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and won four, including Best Orchestrations and a special award for the band (Marco Paguia, David Oquendo, Renesito Avich, Gustavo Schartz, Javier Días, Román Diaz, Mauricio Herrera, Jesus Ricardo, Eddie Venegas, Hery Paz, and Leonardo Reyna).

Marco Paguia, Dean Sharenow, and David Yazbek are the individual recipients of the Buena Vista Broadway album's Grammy Award.

Buena Vista Social Club currently runs on Broadway at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre; all other of the category's nominees, except Gypsy, are also currently playing.

Additionally, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo won Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “Defying Gravity” from the Wicked movie musical released in late 2024. The film's soundtrack, featuring composer Stephen Schwartz's songs from the Broadway musical, was also nominated for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media and Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media.

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Photo credit: Buena Vista Social Club on Broadway. (Photo by Matthew Murphy)