Rosalía has received Spain's National Award for Current Music for LUX. The four-act album uses 13 languages, orchestral production and global collaborations, earning the 2026 prize and its €30,000 award.
The Ministry of Culture announced the decision in Madrid on 7 October 2026. Rosalía received Spain's National Award for Current Music, officially titled Premio Nacional de las Músicas Actuales, for LUX. INAEM administers the prize, which includes €30,000.
The award puts a hard-to-classify record at the centre of Spain's official recognition of current music. It also shows how far LUX moved beyond the usual pop album format.
The 2026 National Award for Current Music is administered through INAEM and includes a cash prize of €30,000.
The ministry called LUX an ambitious, innovative and transformative musical proposal that expands creative limits. Its assessment also pointed to recognition from critics and the public. The jury's decision therefore covered both the album's experimentation and its reach.
LUX is split into four acts, with Rosalía singing in 13 languages. That structure sets it apart from a standard album and gives the record the scale of a composed work rather than a set of unrelated songs.
The album brings together Sílvia Pérez Cruz, Carminho, Björk and Estrella Morente. Rosalía also made it with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Londres. The orchestra adds another layer to a project already built around several languages and contrasting musical traditions.
The jury also highlighted Rosalía’s contribution to promoting Spanish music internationally and her ability to bring together different performers and creative contributions in the making of her music. The award therefore recognises both the album and the collaborative cultural reach behind it.
A year of carefully sustained promotion came before the release. Rosalía turned a presentation in central Madrid into a major public event, then filled the internet with clues and speculation before LUX came out on 5 November.
The campaign matched music that resisted easy labels. Rosalía did not follow one dominant style or copy the most visible stars of the moment. Instead, she used the album to build a wider artistic language.
The jury linked LUX to an international career shaped by research, risk and the search for a personal sound across genres, styles and eras. RTVE described the award as recognition of the album's artistic significance and transformative ambition.
The honour also ties LUX to an earlier winner. Sílvia Pérez Cruz, who appears on the album, received the same National Award for Current Music in 2022.
The honour followed the release of LUX in 2025 and came after Rosalía's world concert cycle. Spanish press reports put that tour between March and September 2026. The wider context of Rosalía's award was reported earlier while attention focused on the album's place in Spain's music scene.
Spain's Ministry of Culture has now singled out a record built around four acts, 13 languages, international collaborators and orchestral production. EFE reported that the jury saw LUX as an ambitious and innovative project with recognition from critics and the public.
