Beyoncé leads Grammy nominations
December 6, 2016
The 2017 Grammy Awards nominees were announced on Tuesday. Leading the pack with nine nominations is Beyoncé, who has been nominated 62 times over the years, making her the most-nominated woman in Grammy history.
With 20 Grammys already to her name, Beyonce is also making history as the first artist to be nominated in the pop, rock, R&B and rap categories in the same year. Her nominations for 2017 include album of the year with "Lemonade," and song and record of the year with "Formation."
"Artists are feeling emboldened and courageous and just wanting to step out of the predictable boundaries of what they have done. Of course, (Beyoncé) is the poster child for that," Recording Academy CEO and President Neil Portnow said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Just behind Beyonce are Drake, Rihanna and Kanye West, who all scored eight nominations each.
And the nominees are…
Clocking in with five nominations is Adele, who was nominated for album of the year for her release "25," which has sold 10 million copies this year, as well as for record and song of the year. She'll compete against Drake's "Views," Justin Bieber's "Purpose" and the surprise nomination of country singer Sturgill Simpson's "A Sailor's Guide to Earth."
Up for song of the year are "7 years" by Lukas Graham, "Love Yourself" by Justin Bieber (co-written by Ed Sheeran) and Mike Posner's "I Took a Pill in Ibiza" in addition to entries from Adele and Beyoncé.
It's the first year that the Recording Academy allowed streaming-only recordings released on platforms such as Spotify and Tidal to be eligible for nominations. That paved the way for Chance the Rapper to grab seven nominations, including one for best new artist.
Among the first time nominees this year are Solange, Blink-182 and Demi Lovato.
Also on this year's list with four nominations is David Bowie, who died from cancer in January. Bowie is up for several awards including best rock performance, rock song, alternative music album and engineered album, non-classical for his final album, "Blackstar."
The Grammy Awards will be presented in Los Angeles on February 12, 2017.
ct/ (dp, AP, AFP)