Beyonce gets 9 Grammy nods
Drake, Rihanna, Kanye West each score 8 nominations
NEW YORK — Beyonce leads the 2017 Grammy Awards 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 and is the most nominated woman in Grammy history with 62 nods over the course of her career, is also the first artist to earn nominations in the pop, rock, R&B and rap categories in the same year.
Behind Beyonce are Drake, Rihanna and Kanye West, who scored eight nominations each.
Like Beyonce, Adele is also nominated for album, record and song of the year. For album of the year, Lemonade and 25 — which have sold 10 million copies in a year — will compete against Drake’s multi-hit Views, Justin Bieber’s redemption album Purpose and surprise nominee A Sailor’s Guide to Earth, the third album from country singer Sturgill Simpson.
Beyonce’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 Beyonce and Adele’s songs.
Beyonce’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).
Adele, who has five nominations, is up for best pop vocal album (25) and pop solo performance (“Hello.”)
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.
“I think this is beyond sort of the sympathy vote, because sometimes you’ll see those kinds of things happen just ‘cause people feel sorry about it. But listen to (his) album — it’s quite extraordinary,” Recording Academy CEO and President Neil Portnow said of Bowie.
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; singer-rapper Anderson Paak; and pop-EDM 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.
Simpson, who had been nominated for best Americana album at the 2015 Grammys, also sees his nine-track album nominated for best country album.
Simpson’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 co-writing 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.
Some well-known acts scored their first Grammy nominations Tuesday, including Solange, Blink-182 and Demi Lovato, who will compete against Adele, Bieber, Sia and Ariana Grande for best pop vocal album.
Outside of music, Amy Schumer earned two nominations, including best spoken word album and comedy album.
The Grammys will be presented in Los Angeles on Feb. 12, 2017.