Kendrick Lamar led all artists in nominations for the 58th annual Grammy Awards, landing 11 nominations including Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rap Album, Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance.
Taylor Swift and The Weeknd were next with seven nominations each.
The Album of the Year category includes Lamar’s “To Pimp a Butterfly,” Swift’s “1989,” The Weeknd’s “Beauty Behind the Madness,” Alabama Shakes’ “Sound & Color” and the biggest surprise of the category, country singer Chris Stapleton’s “Traveller.”
Record of the Year nominees include The Weeknd’s “Can’t Feel My Face,” Swift’s “Blank Space,” Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk,” featuring Bruno Mars, and Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud.” D’Angelo also landed an unexpected nomination in the category with “Really Love,” a song from “Black Messiah,” his first release in 14 years.
Song of the Year nods went to “Blank Space,” “Thinking Out Loud,” Lamar’s “Alright” and Wiz Khalifa‘s “See You Again” – and, in place of “Uptown Funk” or Sia’s “Elastic Heart,” Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush.”
Voters for the Best New Artist category bypassed Hozier, Chris Stapleton, Leon Bridges and Fetty Wap to nominate James Bay, Sam Hunt, Tori Kelly and Meghan Trainor and the biggest longshot, Australian indie-rock singer Courtney Barnett.
While Swift was the only artist to place works under her name on the Album, Record and Song of the year categories, Sheeran is represented on the Record and Song lists, and also earned an Album of the Year nomination as a featured artist on The Weeknd’s nominated album.
The seven nominations bring Swift’s lifetime total to 27 nominations, including four Record of the Year and three Album of the Year nominations. Lamar now has 20 nominations, including two in the Album of the Year category.
Artists receiving six nominations included rapper Drake, mastering engineer Tom Coyne and engineers/mixers Serban Ghenea and John Hanes.
The nominations in the Grammys’ general field appear below. For nominations in all 83 categories, click here.
Album Of The Year
“Sound & Color” — Alabama Shakes
“To Pimp A Butterfly” — Kendrick Lamar
“Traveller” — Chris Stapleton
“1989” — Taylor Swift
“Beauty Behind The Madness” — The Weeknd
Record Of The Year
“Really Love” — D’Angelo And The Vanguard
“Uptown Funk” — Mark Ronson Featuring Bruno Mars
“Thinking Out Loud” — Ed Sheeran
“Blank Space” — Taylor Swift
“Can’t Feel My Face” — The Weeknd
Song Of The Year
“Alright” — Kendrick Duckworth, Mark Anthony Spears & Pharrell Williams, songwriters (Kendrick Lamar)
“Blank Space” — Max Martin, Shellback & Taylor Swift, songwriters (Taylor Swift)
“Girl Crush” — Hillary Lindsey, Lori McKenna & Liz Rose, songwriters (Little Big Town)
“See You Again” — Andrew Cedar, Justin Franks, Charles Puth & Cameron Thomaz, songwriters (Wiz Khalifa Featuring Charlie Puth)
“Thinking Out Loud” — Ed Sheeran & Amy Wadge, songwriters (Ed Sheeran)
Best New Artist
Courtney Barnett
James Bay
Sam Hunt
Tori Kelly
Meghan Trainor