Kanye West Tops 54th GRAMMY Nominations
14-time GRAMMY winner Kanye West earns seven nods; Adele, Foo Fighters and Bruno Mars each garner six nods; Lil Wayne and Skrillex each receive five nods

Full List of Nominations here: http://www.grammy.com/nominees

November 30, 2011 -- 1:19 pm
GRAMMY.com


Nominations for the 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards were announced tonight by The Recording Academy and reflected an eclectic mix of the best and brightest in music over the past year, as determined by the voting members of The Academy. For the fourth year, nominations for the annual GRAMMY Awards were announced on primetime television as part of "The GRAMMY Nominations Concert Live!! — Countdown To Music's Biggest Night," a one-hour special broadcast live on CBS from Nokia Theatre at L.A. Live.

Kanye West tops the nominations with seven; Adele, Foo Fighters and Bruno Mars each garner six nods; and Lil Wayne and Skrillex each are up for five awards. Drake; producers/songwriters Paul Epworth, Philip Lawrence and Ari Levine; Nicki Minaj; Mumford & Sons; Radiohead; Rihanna; and Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) each receive four nominations.

"Once again, it is most gratifying to see the GRAMMY Awards process produce a broad cross section of diverse and impressive nominees across multiple genres," said Neil Portnow, President/CEO of The Recording Academy. "This year's nominations truly reflect an exceptional and talented creative community that embodies some of the highest levels of excellence and artistry in their respective fields. Coupled with the fourth year of our primetime nominations special, the road to Music's Biggest Night, the 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards in February, is off to an exciting and appropriate start."

Following are the nominations in the General Field categories:

Record Of The Year:
"Rolling In The Deep" — Adele
"Holocene" — Bon Iver
"Grenade" — Bruno Mars
"The Cave" — Mumford & Sons
"Firework" — Katy Perry

Album Of The Year:
21 — Adele
Wasting Light — Foo Fighters
Born This Way — Lady Gaga
Doo-Wops & Hooligans — Bruno Mars
Loud — Rihanna

Song Of The Year:
"All Of The Lights" — Jeff Bhasker, Malik Jones, Warren Trotter & Kanye West, songwriters (Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi & Fergie)
"The Cave" — Ted Dwane, Ben Lovett, Marcus Mumford & Country Winston, songwriters (Mumford & Sons)
"Grenade" — Brody Brown, Claude Kelly, Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine, Bruno Mars & Andrew Wyatt, songwriters (Bruno Mars)
"Holocene" — Justin Vernon, songwriter (Bon Iver)
"Rolling In The Deep" — Adele Adkins & Paul Epworth, songwriters (Adele)

Best New Artist:
The Band Perry
Bon Iver
J. Cole
Nicki Minaj
Skrillex

Following is a sampling of nominations in the GRAMMY Awards' other 29 Fields:

For Best Pop Solo Performance, the nominees are "Someone Like You" by Adele; "Yoü And I" by Lady Gaga; "Grenade" by Bruno Mars; "Firework" by Katy Perry; and "F***in' Perfect" by Pink.

The nominees for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance are "Body And Soul" by Tony Bennett & Amy Winehouse; "Dearest" by the Black Keys; "Paradise" by Coldplay; "Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster The People; and "Moves Like Jagger" by Maroon 5 & Christina Aguilera.

For Best Dance Recording the nominees are "Raise Your Weapon" by Deadmau5 & Greta Svabo Bech; "Barbra Streisand" by Duck Sauce; "Sunshine" by David Guetta & Avicii; "Call Your Girlfriend" by Robyn; "Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites" by Skrillex; and "Save The World" by Swedish House Mafia.

For Best Alternative Music Album, the nominees are Bon Iver by Bon Iver; Codes And Keys by Death Cab For Cutie; Torches by Foster The People; Circuital by My Morning Jacket; and The King Of Limbs by Radiohead.

The nominees for Best R&B Album are F.A.M.E. by Chris Brown; Second Chance by El DeBarge; Love Letter by R. Kelly; Pieces Of Me by Ledisi; and Kelly by Kelly Price.

For Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, the nominees are "Party" by Beyoncé & André 3000; "I'm On One" by DJ Khaled, Drake, Rick Ross & Lil Wayne; "I Need A Doctor" by Dr. Dre, Eminem & Skylar Grey; "What's My Name?" by Rihanna & Drake; "Motivation" by Kelly Rowland & Lil Wayne; and "All Of The Lights" by Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi & Fergie.

For Best Country Solo Performance, the nominees are "Dirt Road Anthem" by Jason Aldean; "I'm Gonna Love You Through It" by Martina McBride; "Honey Bee" by Blake Shelton; "Mean" by Taylor Swift; and "Mama's Song" by Carrie Underwood.

The nominees for Best Americana Album are Emotional Jukebox by Linda Chorney; Pull Up Some Dust And Sit Down by Ry Cooder; Hard Bargain by Emmylou Harris; Ramble At The Ryman by Levon Helm; and Blessed by Lucinda Williams.

The nominees for Best Folk Album are Barton Hollow by the Civil Wars; I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive by Steve Earle; Helplessness Blues by Fleet Foxes; Ukulele Songs by Eddie Vedder; and The Harrow & The Harvest by Gillian Welch.

The Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical nominees are Danger Mouse, Paul Epworth, the Smeezingtons (Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine, Bruno Mars), Ryan Tedder, and Butch Vig.

This year's GRAMMY Awards process registered more than 17,500 submissions over a 12-month eligibility period (Oct. 1, 2010 – Sept. 30, 2011). GRAMMY ballots for the final round of voting will be mailed on Dec. 14 to the voting members of The Recording Academy. They are due back to the accounting firm Deloitte by Jan. 11, 2012, when they will be tabulated and the results kept secret until the 54th GRAMMY telecast.

The 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards will be held on Feb. 12, 2012, at Staples Center in Los Angeles and once again will be broadcast live in high-definition TV and 5.1 surround sound on CBS from 8–11:30 p.m. (ET/PT). The 54th Annual GRAMMY Awards are produced by AEG Ehrlich Ventures and John Cossette Productions for The Recording Academy. Ken Ehrlich is executive producer, and Louis J. Horvitz is director.

Kanye gets 7 noms; Adele, Mars, Foos get 6 each

By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY

Adele scored six Grammy nominations on Wednesday, including for record, song and album of the year, but the owner of the 2011's best-selling album with "21" wasn't the night's top nominee — and that wasn't the evening's only surprise.

Kanye West came away with a leading seven nominations, including a bid for song of the year for his all-star song "All of the Lights." However, the album from which it came — "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy," heralded by many critics as the best album of 2010 — was shut out of the best album category, and all of his other nominations were relegated to the rap fields.

Other notable omissions in the top categories included country phenomenon Taylor Swift and veteran crooner Tony Bennett.

Bruno Mars and the Foo Fighters tied Adele with six nominations each, including in the album of the year category. Critical-darling folky act Bon Iver scored four nominations, with two in the prestigious record and song of the year categories; and dubstep star Skrillex may have been the night's biggest surprise, getting five nominations, including a bid for best new artist.

The nominations were announced after the Recording Academy's fourth annual live concert special, which aired on CBS from the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. The hour-long event featured key nominees like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj and the Band Perry.

Even though Adele didn't get the lion's share of nominations, she got them where it counted: Her "21," the mournful post-breakup album that produced smash hits like the torch ballad "Someone Like You" — was nominated for album of the year. The searing groove "Rolling in the Deep," which spent seven weeks at No. 1 this past summer, got nominations for both record and song of the year. Only Mars got nominations in all three categories as well.

Other nominees in the record of the year category included Bon Iver's ballad "Holocene"; Mars' ballad "Grenade"; Mumford & Sons' "The Cave"; and Katy Perry's inspirational anthem "Firework." For song of the year, which honors the writers of the tune, contenders included "The Cave," ''Grenade, "Holocene" and Lady Gaga's "You and I."

The best album category was as noteworthy for who was excluded as it was for who was nominated. Lady Gaga garnered her third straight nod in the category for "Born This Way," while veteran rockers the Foo Fighters were nominated for "Wasting Light," along with Mars' debut album, "Doo-Wops & Hooligans," and Rihanna's steamy dance album "Loud."

Shut out were perceived favorites like 85-year-old Bennett, who became the oldest person to score a No. 1 debut when his "Duets II" album was released earlier this year, and the megawatt collaboration of Jay-Z and West with the heavily hyped "Watch The Throne."

The biggest snub may have been to Swift, who won in the category in 2010 and was considered by some critics to be a favorite for "Speak Now," which has sold 3.7 million copies. She did get three nominations, however, including for best country album.

Unlike the past two years, which saw Swift and fellow country act Lady Antebellum soar in the general categories, the only country act that got a mainstream nomination was the country sibling act The Band Perry. Best known for their poignant ballad "If I Die Young," they got a nomination for best new artist. Their competition also includes Bon Iver, Jay-Z rap protégé J. Cole, Skrillex and rapper-singer Nicki Minaj, who scored four nominations in total.

The 54th Grammys will be held Feb. 12 in Los Angeles. The ceremony will mark the first since the academy shaved its categories from 109 to 78 this year, amid some protest. Some of the more niched categories, like best Zydeco or Cajun music album, were eliminated.

In addition, men and women now compete together in vocal categories for pop, R&B and country, instead of having separate categories for each sex. This year, the category is best pop solo performance and Bruno Mars is the only man nominated for "Grenade." His competition includes Adele for "Someone Like You," Lady Gaga for "You and I," Pink for "(Expletive) Perfect" and Perry for "Firework."

Anyway, Kayne's record is much better than his previous efforts, but it's still not great, not to say what was nominated outside of Wasted Light are either. Never will understand the love for it.