JAY-Z, Kendrick Lamar Lead 60th Grammy Nominations

JAY-Z came out on top at this morning’s Grammy nominations, earning a field-best eight including Album of the Year (4:44) and Song of the Year (“4:44”). This brings his career total to 74 nominations. He will very likely add to his current total of 21 wins.

Kendrick Lamar was right behind with seven and Bruno Mars with six, both making the cut for Album of the Year. Mars pulled off a neat trick with a different song nominated for Record of the Year (“24K Magic”) and Song of the Year (“That’s What I Like”).

Album of the Year is rounded out by multi-hyphenate and Emmy winner Childish Gambino (aka Donald Glover) for “Awake, My Love!” and Lorde for Melodrama, which strangely, was her only nomination. Country music couldn’t break into the top category this year where many thought Chris Stapleton (who was nominated here two years ago), Miranda Lambert or possibly Jason Isbell and the 400 Units would make the cut.

SZA was the most-nominated female artist with five, including Urban Contemporary Album and Best New Artist.

In snubland, Ed Sheeran was locked out of the General Field categories completely and relegated to the Pop Field, where he earned Pop Album and Pop Solo nominations. Lady Gaga and the return of Kesha were met with the exact same results; shut out of the General Field but earning Pop Album and Pop Solo nominations. While this was a breakout year for the solo acts of the now defunct New Directions, not a single Grammy nomination was earned by Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan or Louis Tomilinson.

The Grammy Awards will air live from New York’s Madison Square Garden, the first time they’ve been in New York City in 15 years, on January 28 on CBS.

Here are the nominees:

General

Record of the Year
“Redbone” – Childish Gambino
“Despacito” – Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber
“The Story of O.J.” – Jay-Z
“Humble.” – Kendrick Lamar
“24K Magic” – Bruno Mars

Album of the Year
“Awaken, My Love!” – Childish Gambino
4:44 – Jay-Z
Damn. – Kendrick Lamar
Melodrama – Lorde
24K Magic – Bruno Mars

Song of the Year
“Despacito” – Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber (Ramón Ayala, Justin Bieber, Jason “Poo Bear” Boyd, Erika Ender, Luis Fonsi and Marty James Garton, songwriters)
“4:44” – Jay-Z (Shawn Carter and Dion Wilson, songwriters)
“Issues” – Julia Michaels (Benjamin Levin, Mikkel Eriksen, Tor Hermansen, Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter, songwriters)
“1-800-273-8255” – Logic featuring Alessia Cara and Khalid
“That’s What I Like” – Bruno Mars (Christopher Brody Brown, James Fauntleroy, Philip Lawrence, Bruno Mars, Ray Charles McCullough II, Jeremy Reeves, Ray Romulus & Jonathan Yip, songwriters)

Best New Artist
Alessia Cara
Khalid
Lil Uzi Vert
Julia Michaels
SZA

Pop

Best Pop Solo Performance
“Love So Soft” – Kelly Clarkson
“Praying” – Kesha
“Million Reasons” – Lady Gaga
“What About Us” – P!nk
“Shape of You” – Ed Sheeran

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
“Something Just like This” – The Chainsmokers and Coldplay
“Despacito” – Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber
“Thunder” – Imagine Dragons
“Feel It Still” – Portugal. The Man
“Stay” – Zedd and Alessia Cara

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album
Nobody But Me (Deluxe Version) – Michael Bublé
Triplicate – Bob Dylan
In Full Swing – Seth MacFarlane
Wonderland – Sarah McLachlan
Tony Bennett Celebrates 90 – Various Artists; Dae Bennett, producer

Best Pop Vocal Album
Kaleidoscope EP – Coldplay
Lust for Life – Lana Del Rey
Evolve – Imagine Dragons
Rainbow – Kesha
Joanne – Lady Gaga
÷ – Ed Sheeran

Dance/Electronic Music

Best Dance Recording

“Bambro Koyo Ganda” – Bonobo featuring Innov Gnawa
“Cola” – Camelphat and Elderbrook
“Andromeda” – Gorillaz featuring DRAM
“Tonite” – LCD Soundsystem
“Line of Sight” – Odesza featuring WYNNE and Mansionair

Best Dance/Electronic Album

Migration – Bonobo
3-D The Catalogue – Kraftwerk
Mura Masa – Mura Masa
A Moment Apart – Odesza
What Now – Sylvan Esso

Contemporary Instrumental Music

Best Contemporary Instrumental Album

What If – The Jerry Douglas Band
Spirit – Alex Han
Mount Royal – Julian Lage and Chris Eldridge
Prototype – Jeff Lorber Fusion
Bad Hombre – Antonio Sanchez

Rock

Best Rock Performance

“You Want It Darker” – Leonard Cohen
“The Promise” – Chris Cornell
“Run” – Foo Fighters
“No Good” – Kaleo
“Go to War” – Nothing More

Best Metal Performance

“Sultan’s Curse” – Mastodon
“Invisible Enemy” – August Burns Red
“Black Hoodie” – Body Count
“Forever” – Code Orange
“Clockworks” – Meshuggah

Best Rock Song

“Atlas, Rise!” – Metallica
James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich
“Blood in the Cut” – K.Flay
Kristine Flaherty and Justin Daly
“Go to War” – Nothing More
“Run” – Foo Fighters
Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett
“The Stage” – Avenged Sevenfold

Best Rock Album

Emperor of Sand – Mastodon
Hardwired… to Self-Destruct – Metallica
The Stories We Tell Ourselves – Nothing More
Villains – Queens of the Stone Age
A Deeper Understanding – The War on Drugs

Alternative

Best Alternative Music Album

Everything Now – Arcade Fire
Humanz – Gorillaz
American Dream – LCD Soundsystem
Pure Comedy – Father John Misty
Sleep Well Beast – The National

R&B

Best R&B Performance

“Get You” – Daniel Caesar featuring Kali Uchis
“Distraction” – Kehlani
“High” – Ledisi
“That’s What I Like” – Bruno Mars
“The Weekend” – SZA

Best Traditional R&B Performance

“Laugh and Move On” – The Baylor Project
“Redbone” – Childish Gambino
“What I’m Feelin'” – Anthony Hamilton featuring The Hamiltones
“All the Way” – Ledisi
“Still” – Mali Music

Best R&B Song

“First Began” – PJ Morton, songwriter (PJ Morton)
“Location” – Alfredo Gonzalez, Olatunji Ige, Samuel David Jiminez, Christopher McClenney, Khalid Robinson & Joshua Scruggs, songwriters (Khalid)
“Redbone” – Donald Glover & Ludwig Goransson, songwriters (Childish Gambino)
“Supermodel” – Tyran Donaldson, Terrence Henderson, Greg Landfair Jr., Solana Rowe & Pharrell Williams, songwriters (SZA)
“That’s What I Like” – Christopher Brody Brown, James Fauntleroy, Philip Lawrence, Bruno Mars, Ray Charles McCullough II, Jeremy Reeves, Ray Romulus & Jonathan Yip, songwriters (Bruno Mars)

Best Urban Contemporary Album

Free 6LACK – 6LACK
“Awaken, My Love!” – Childish Gambino
American Teen – Khalid
Ctrl – SZA
Starboy – The Weeknd

Best R&B Album

Freduian – Daniel Caesar
Let Love Rule – Ledisi
24K Magic – Bruno Mars
Gumbo – PJ Morton
Feel The Real – Musiq Soulchild

Rap

Best Rap Performance

“Bounce Back” – Big Sean
“Bodak Yellow” – Cardi B
“4:44” – Jay-Z
“HUMBLE.” – Kendrick Lamar
“Bad And Boujee” – Migos featuring Lil Uzi Vert

Best Rap/Sung Performance

“PRBLMS” – 6LACK
“Crew” – Goldlink featuring Brent Faiyaz & Shy Glizzy
“Family Feud” – Jay-Z featuring Beyoncé
“LOYALTY.” – Kendrick Lamar featuring Rihanna
“Love Galore” – SZA featuring Travis Scott

Click here for the complete list of categories and nominations.

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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