The nominees for the 2017 Grammy Awards have been announced and Beyonce is topping the list. The 35-year-old singer just bagged nine nominations, extending her lead as the most-nominated woman in Grammy’s history.
The “Single Ladies” hitmaker is nominated for the coveted Album of Year award for her visual album “Lemonade.” Her latest album tackles themes of race and female identity and has created a big bang this year in the music scene.
Beyonce’s single “Formation” is also a song up for Record of the Year, Music Video of the Year, and Song of the Year award categories.
The “Irreplaceable” singer is up against Adele in three major categories. Adele previously won the ceremony’s top three awards in 2012.
Adele and Queen Bey is also up against Justin Bieber and Lukas Graham for the Song of the Year and Album of the Year award categories.
Completing the contenders for Album of the Year award is Drake with “Views” and Sturgill Simpson’s “A Sailor’s Guide to Earth.”
Fans of Rihanna were shocked when her recent album “Anti” did not make the cut for the most coveted Grammy Award. It will be recalled that Riri shocked everyone in 2011 for being nominated under the same category for her album “Loud.”
Singers such as Frank Ocean, Lady Gaga, and A Tribe Called Quest didn’t get any nomination because their hyped-up releases were not eligible, either because they missed the September 30 deadline or they did not submit for consideration.
Beyonce now has 62 Grammy nominations across her work as a solo artist and as part of the girl group Destiny’s Child. She has won 20 trophies altogether.
Coming on the heels of Beyonce are Kanye West, Drake, and Rihanna, who all have earned eight nominations. Adele comes next with five nominations, most of which are major awards.
West, who is currently recuperating in the hospital after having an emotional breakdown prompting him to cancel the remainder of his Saint Pablo tour, all gained nominations in the rap categories for his latest album, “The Life of Pablo.”
Drake and Rihanna also have eight nominations, including three for their hit collaboration “Work” which is also running for the Record of the Year award.
Taylor Swift is evidently absent in this year’s nominations. However, fans can expect that she will be back next year as she is reportedly working on a new album, the follow-up to “1989′.
Also notably absent from major categories is David Bowie, who was tipped to win for his critically-acclaimed ‘Blackstar’ album. Bowie, who suddenly died in January this year, has earned four nominations.
Coldplay questionably received one nomination for Best Music Video award despite selling millions of copies of their latest album, “A Head Full of Dreams.”
Prince also received a posthumous nomination for his final album, “Hit N Run Phase Two” in the best engineered, non-classical category.
Prince was also recognized for his work and his impact during the recently held 2016 American Music Awards. It is expected that the awards show will also pay homage to the “Purple Rain” singer.
Fans also reacted to the fact that neither Shawn Mendes, Alessia Cara, nor former One Direction member Zayn Malik was not nominated under the Best New Artist award category.
However, the board clarified that Zayn is ineligible for the particular category because of a certain Recording Academy rule.
The nominations also gave a surprise, especially for first-time Grammy nominees. The band Blink 182, which has been making music for two decades now, finally earned a nomination for their song “California.”