Beyonce Leads Grammy Noms

Beyonce

By Piya Sinha-Roy

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Beyonce became the most-nominated female artist in Grammy award history on Tuesday as she received a leading nine nods this year, followed closely by Drake, Rihanna and Kanye West with eight nominations each.

Beyonce's haul of nine included album, song and record of the year, the top three Grammy accolades, for her hit song "Formation" and visual album "Lemonade," a collection of songs about race, feminism and empowerment.

The R&B singer, 35, has been nominated 62 times in Grammy history and has won 20 Grammy awards over her career spanning two decades. Rapper Kanye West, who has eight nominations this year for his "The Life of Pablo" album, has notched 68 Grammy nominations over his career, and won 21 awards.

British singer Adele is also up for the top three awards with her hit ballad "Hello" and album "25" and has a total of five nominations. The singer previously swept all three top categories in 2012 with her "19" album.

Canadian pop star Justin Bieber's "Purpose," Canadian hip hop star Drake's "Views" and country music singer-songwriter Sturgill Simpson's "A Sailor's Guide To Earth" rounded out the contenders of album of the year.

The Grammy Awards are the top U.S. music honors and each year, members of the music industry choose nominees and winners across more than 80 categories.

This year's winners will be announced at a star-studded televised ceremony in Los Angeles on Feb. 12.

Other record of the year contenders include Lukas Graham's "7 Years," Rihanna's "Work" and Twenty One Pilots' "Stressed Out." Graham's "7 Years" is also nominated for song of the year alongside Mike Posner's "I Took a Pill in Ibiza" and Bieber's "Love Yourself."

Drake and Barbadian R&B singer Rihanna shared three of their eight individual nominations, two for their steamy duet on Rihanna's sultry "Work" and one for Rihanna as a featured artist on Drake's "Views."

Chance The Rapper landed seven nominations including the best new artist category, in which the 23-year-old Chicago native is up against pop duo The Chainsmokers, California rapper Anderson Paak and country music singers Kelsea Ballerini and Maren Morris.

Late British singer David Bowie, who died in January two days after the release of his final album "Blackstar," received four nominations including best alternative album.

Late music star Prince, who died in April, also landed one Grammy nomination for his final record, "Hit n Run Phase Two," in the best engineered non-classical album category alongside Bowie's "Blackstar."

The Grammys will be award February 12, 2017 on CBS-TV.




The following is a list of the nominees in key categories:

ALBUM OF THE YEAR

"25" — Adele

"Lemonade" — Beyoncé

"Purpose" — Justin Bieber

"Views" — Drake

"A Sailor's Guide To Earth" — Sturgill Simpson

RECORD OF THE YEAR

"Hello" — Adele

"Formation" — Beyoncé

"7 Years" — Lukas Graham

"Work" — Rihanna Featuring Drake

"Stressed Out" — Twenty One Pilots

SONG OF THE YEAR (Songwriters award)

"Formation" — Khalif Brown, Asheton Hogan, Beyoncé Knowles & Michael L. Williams II, songwriters

"Hello" — Adele Adkins & Greg Kurstin, songwriters

"I Took A Pill In Ibiza" — Mike Posner, songwriter

"Love Yourself" — Justin Bieber, Benjamin Levin & Ed Sheeran, songwriters

"7 Years" — Lukas Forchhammer, Stefan Forrest, Morten Pilegaard & Morten Ristorp, songwriters

BEST NEW ARTIST

Kelsea Ballerini

The Chainsmokers

Chance The Rapper

Maren Morris

Anderson .Paak

BEST POP VOCAL ALBUM

"25" — Adele

"Purpose" — Justin Bieber

"Dangerous Woman" — Ariana Grande

"Confident" — Demi Lovato

"This Is Acting" — Sia

BEST ROCK ALBUM

"California" — Blink-182

"Tell Me I'm Pretty" — Cage The Elephant

"Magma" — Gojira

"Death Of A Bachelor" — Panic! At The Disco

"Weezer" — Weezer

BEST URBAN CONTEMPORARY ALBUM

"Lemonade" — Beyoncé

"Ology" — Gallant

"We Are King" — KING

"Malibu" — Anderson .Paak

"Anti" — Rihanna


BEST COUNTRY ALBUM

"Big Day In A Small Town" - Brandy Clark

"Full Circle" - Loretta Lynn

"Hero" - Maren Morris

"A Sailor's Guide to Earth" - Sturgill Simpson

"Ripcord" - Keith Urban

BEST ALTERNATIVE MUSIC ALBUM

"22, A Million" — Bon Iver

"Blackstar" — David Bowie

"The Hope Six Demolition Project" — PJ Harvey

"Post Pop Depression" — Iggy Pop

"A Moon Shaped Pool" — Radiohead

BEST RAP ALBUM

"Coloring Book" - Chance The Rapper

"And The Anonymous Nobody" - De La Soul

"Major Key" - DJ Khaled

"Views" - Drake

"Blank Face" - ScHoolboy Q

"The Life Of Pablo" - Kanye West

PRODUCER OF THE YEAR, NON-CLASSICAL

Benny Blanco

Greg Kurstin

Max Martin

Nineteen85

Ricky Reed