“Birds” won Best Metal Performance for Turnstile at the 2026 Grammy Awards.
The winning recording came from Turnstile, the Baltimore hardcore band whose music blends punk intensity with broader rock and metal textures. The Recording Academy placed “BIRDS” among five nominees, alongside Dream Theater’s “Night Terror,” Ghost’s “Lachryma,” Sleep Token’s “Emergence,” and Spiritbox’s “Soft Spine.”
This result is easy to mix up with Turnstile’s other 2026 Grammy success: the band also won Best Rock Album for Never Enough. The two awards recognized different achievements, and “BIRDS” was the single or track entered in the metal-performance category rather than the album itself.
The category has long covered a wide range of heavy music, so its winners do not always fit one narrow subgenre. It was first presented at the 32nd Grammy Awards in 1990, making Turnstile’s win part of a category with a substantial history—and one that often sparks debate about how the Recording Academy defines metal.