Beyoncé leads Grammy noms with 9 — Kanye, Rihanna have 8
The Grammy Awards are sipping all of Beyoncé’s lemonade.
The pop star is the leader of the 2017 Grammys with nine nominations, including bids for album of the year with “Lemonade,” and song and record of the year with “Formation.” The singer, who already has 20 Grammys, is also the first artist to earn nominations in the pop, rock, R&B and rap categories in the same year.
Behind Beyoncé are Drake, Rihanna and Kanye West, who scored eight nominations each.
Like Beyoncé, Adele is also nominated for album, record and song of the year. For album of the year, “Lemonade” and “25” — which has sold 10 million copies in a year — will compete against Drake’s multihit “Views,” Justin Bieber’s redemption album “Purpose” and surprise nominee “A Sailor’s Guide to Earth,” the third album from respected and rebellious country singer Sturgill Simpson.
Beyoncé’s “Formation” and Adele’s “Hello” are up against Rihanna and Drake’s “Work,” twenty one pilots’ “Stressed Out” and Lukas Graham’s “7 Years” for record of the year. “7 Years” is also up for song of the year — a songwriter’s award — battling Bieber’s “Love Yourself,” co-written with Ed Sheeran, Mike Posner’s “I Took a Pill In Ibiza,” as well as Beyoncé and Adele’s songs.
Beyoncé’s nine nominations include best rock performance (“Don’t Hurt Yourself” with Jack White), pop solo performance (“Hold Up”), rap/sung performance (“Freedom” with Kendrick Lamar) and urban contemporary album (“Lemonade”). With 62 nominations over the years, Beyoncé is the most-nominated women in Grammy history.
Adele, who has five nominations, is up for best pop vocal album (“25”) and pop solo performance (“Hello.”) The Grammys will be presented in Los Angeles on Feb. 12, 2017.
David Bowie, who died from cancer in January, earned four nominations for his final album “Blackstar,” including best rock performance, rock song, alternative music album and engineered album, nonClassical.
This year the Recording Academy allowed streaming-only recordings — released on paid-subscription platforms like Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal but not for sale on iTunes — to be eligible for nominations, giving Chance the Rapper a fair chance. The breakout performer scored seven nominations including best new artist, pitting him against country singers Maren Morris and Kelsea Ballerini; singerrapper Anderson Paak; and popEDM duo the Chainsmokers, whose recent hits include “Closer” and “Don’t Let Me Down.”
Chance the Rapper earned three nominations for best rap song: His hit, “No Problem,” is nominated, and he has writing credit on the Kanye West songs “Famous” and “Ultralight Beam.” West will compete with himself in three categories: best rap song, rap performance and rap/sung performance.
Chance’s “Coloring Book” and West’s “The Life of Pablo” are nominated for best rap album along with Drake’s “Views,” De La Soul’s “And the Anonymous Nobody,” DJ Khaled’s “Major Key” and Schoolboy Q’s “Blank Face LP.”
Sturgill, who had been nominated for best Americana album at the 2015 Grammys, also sees his ninetrack album nominated for best country album. Sturgill’s album is up against Loretta Lynn’s “Full Circle,” Keith Urban’s “Ripcord,” Morris’ “Hero” and Brandy Clark’s “Big Day In a Small Town.”
Lori McKenna, who won a Grammy this year for cowriting Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush,” is nominated for best country song for penning Tim McGraw’s “Humble and Kind.” She also scored nominations for best Americana album, American Roots performance and American Roots song for her own work.