From PTA's first win to K-pop glory, Oscars 2026 rewrites the record books

The 98th Academy Awards was not just a great ceremony, it was a record-breaking one. Here are all the milestones achieved at the Dolby Theatre on March 15.

Sinners makes nomination history

Ryan Coogler's Sinners arrived at the Oscars with 16 nominations — the most in Academy Awards history, surpassing the previous record of 14 shared by All About Eve, Titanic, and La La Land. It also broke the record for the most Black individuals nominated for a single film, with ten.

Also Read: Oscars 2026 Live | ‘One Battle After Another’ wins the Oscar race

The genre-bending horror film, set in 1932 Mississippi Delta, follows twin brothers who return home to open a juke joint, only to find themselves besieged by vampires drawn to a young blues prodigy's extraordinary talent, a gripping allegory for the cultural appropriation of Black art.

The film was widely expected to sweep the Oscars, but PTA's One Battle After Another ended up taking home the most awards on the night. Yet Sinners had its own share of glory, winning four Oscars.

PTA's long-awaited first win

Paul Thomas Anderson entered the night with 14 nominations and zero wins — the most nominations without a win in Oscar history. He left with three. His wins for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Film made for one of the most emotional nights in recent Oscar memory. The film also won Best Casting, Best Supporting Actor and Best Film Editing — six in total, making it the big winner of the 98th Academy Awards.

After winning the Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, he said, “I wrote this movie for my kids, to say sorry for the housekeeping mess that we left in this world we're handing off to them, but also with the encouragement that they will be the generation that hopefully brings us some common sense and decency."

A barrier falls in cinematography

Autumn Durald Arkapaw made history as the first woman and the first woman of colour to win the Oscar for Best Cinematography for Sinners, a landmark moment for representation behind the camera.

In the history of the Best Cinematography category, only three women had been nominated before: Rachel Morrison for Mudbound in 2018, Ari Wegner for The Power of the Dog in 2021, and Mandy Walker for Elvis in 2022.

While accepting the award, she thanked women in the film industry and gave special mention to cinematographer Rachel Morrison, saying, "I have felt so much love from all the women on this whole campaign and gotten to meet so many people, and I just feel like moments like this happen because of you guys."

K-pop conquers the Oscars

"Golden" from K-pop Demon Hunters became the first K-pop song to ever win an Oscar for Best Original Song, having already made history as the first K-pop song to win a Grammy earlier this year.

A tearful EJAE, the singer of Golden, said in her acceptance speech: "Growing up, people made fun of me liking K-pop, but now everyone is singing our song and all of the Korean lyrics. I'm so proud. This award is not about success. It's about resilience, and I'm just so grateful to our team."

Casting gets its moment finally

The Best Casting category made its debut, the first new Oscar category introduced since Best Animated Feature in 2001, ending a 25-year wait for casting directors worldwide.

Also Read: What makes Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s film, It Was Just an Accident, a riveting watch

Winner Cassandra Kulukundis said, "I have to obviously thank the Academy for even adding this category and for the casting directors that fought tirelessly to make it happen despite everything in their way. I dedicate this to you and to the casting directors who never got a chance to get nominated, who didn't even get a chance to get their name on the movie. So this is for you guys."

And few more records for good measure…

The record-breaking did not stop there. In the Best Live Action Short category, history was made of a different kind: a tie between The Singers and Two People Exchanging Saliva, only the seventh such occurrence in the entire history of the Oscars.

And then there is Sean Penn, who won Best Supporting Actor for One Battle After Another without even bothering to show up. The win made him only the fourth male actor in history to earn three acting Oscars, joining an extraordinarily exclusive club. Presenter Kieran Culkin quipped that Penn "couldn't be here or didn't want to" before accepting on his behalf. Wherever Penn was that night, he was a three-time Oscar winner by the end of it.