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Kendrick Lamar And Taylor Swift Killing It With Grammy Nominations

By Anna Johansson
Published on: 05:15 PST, Dec 7, 2015

Both Kendrick Lamar and Taylor Swift are killing it with Grammy nominations. Lamar is leading the way with a total of 11 nominations, but Swift isn’t far behind with seven. Swift is also down for three of the four biggest categories, namely Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year. The R&B singer, songwriter, and producer The Weeknd also has seven nominations.

Let’s take a look at some of the nominations for this year’s Grammy Awards.

Album of the Year

All three singers have been nominated for the Album of the Year award, for Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly, Swift’s 1989, and the Weeknd’s Beauty Behind the Madness. Others who have been nominated for the award include Alabama Shakes for their album Sound & Color, and Chris Stapleton for his debut album, Traveller.

Taylor Swift has been nominated for 22 Grammys in the past. This year's nominations will bring her up to 29. She has won seven, including Album of the Year and Best Country Album for "Fearless" and Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song for her single "White Horse."
Taylor Swift has been nominated for 22 Grammys in the past. This year’s nominations will bring her up to 29. She has won seven, including Album of the Year and Best Country Album for “Fearless” and Best Female Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song for her single “White Horse.”

Record of the Year

Swift is also up for Record of the Year for her song, “Blank Space,” and she’s going head-to-head with other major hits including the Weeknd’s “Can’t Feel My Face,” D’Angelo’s “Really Love,” Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk,” and Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud.”

Song of the Year

The Grammy nominations for Song of the Year include Swift’s “Blank Space,” Lamar’s “Alright,” Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush,” Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth’s “See You Again,” and Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud.” All of these songs received billions of downloads, views on YouTube, and listens on streaming services.

Best New Artist

Nominees for the Best New Artist award include some now-familiar faces, including the Australian rocker Courtney Barnett (“Avant Gardener”), country singer Sam Hunt (“Leave the Night On”), James Bay (“Hold Back the River”), Tori Kelly (“Should’ve Been Us”), and Meghan Trainor, who has since been widely recognized for her songs “All About That Bass,” and “Lips Are Movin’.”

Rapper Drake has also scored five nominations for the best new artist of the year, which comes just after he broke records for the most simultaneous tracks on Billboard’s Hot 100 lists. There were also several producers, engineers, and songwriters nominated, including Tom Coyne, Serban Ghenea, Max Martin, and John Hanes.

Other Notable Nominations

Here are some of the other notable nominations made this year.

Best Alternative Album: Wilco, Star Wars, featuring John Legend

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration: Common, “Glory”

Best American Roots Performance and Blues Album: Buddy Guy, Born to Play Guitar

Best Blues Album: Shemekia Copeland, Outskirts of Love

Best American Roots Performance: Mavis Stapes, “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean”

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album: Josh Groban, Stages

Best Pop Vocal Album: Kelly Clarkson, Piece By Piece

Best Country Song: Tim McGraw, “Diamond Rings and Old Barstools”

Celebs Feeling Left Out

Not all Grammy nominations went as expected, however. There were several major celebrities who didn’t receive any nominations, even though they performed exceptionally well this year. Among those omissions include Rihanna, which was surprising, since her song, “FourFiveSeconds,” featured Paul McCartney and Kanye West, making it perfect for a nomination for cross-genre.

It’s also surprising that Mumford & Sons didn’t receive any nominations, especially after they received eight in 2014 for Album of the Year. Even though their latest album, “Wilder Mind,” topped the Billboard album chart this year, it was largely ignored by nominators.

Celebs Share Their Reactions

Many of the artists up for a Grammy award this year took to Twitter to share their excitement for the nominations. See what they posted below.

The 58th Grammy Awards will air on February 15, 2016 at 8/7 central on CBS. It will take place live at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Tune in to see which Grammy nominations turn into Grammy awards.

[Photo by Getty Images]

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