The Current

Great Music Lives Here ®
Listener-Supported Music
Donate Now

Beyonce leads Grammy nominees

Beyonce in the 'Lemonade' visual album
Beyonce in the 'Lemonade' visual albumCourtesy of the artist/Screenshot by NPR

by Jay Gabler

December 06, 2016

The nominees for the 59th annual Grammy Awards were announced this morning, with Meghan Trainor appearing on CBS This Morning to make the announcement. Unsurprisingly, Adele and Beyoncé are among the top nominees; each earned nods for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Album of the Year.

Overall, Beyoncé leads the pack with nine nominations for her acclaimed Lemonade. Despite her nominations in the big categories, Adele only landed a total of five nominations — putting her beyond Drake (eight nominations), Rihanna (also eight), and Chance the Rapper (seven nominations). Both Drake and Chance earned nominations in all four rap categories.

Selected nominees are listed below; a full list of nominations in the other categories is now available at grammy.com.

Minnesota native — and Nobel laureate — Bob Dylan earned a nomination for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album with his standards collection Fallen Angels. Dylan's latest Bootleg Collection release, a massive collection spanning 1965-1966, was nominated for Best Historical Album. Prince's Hit N Run Phase Two, made at Paisley Park, was nominated in the Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical category.

Bon Iver, who surprised many with a Best New Artist win in 2012, are nominated in the Best Alternative Music Album category for 22, A Million — as well as for Best Recording Package (and that presumably doesn't even include the album's newspaper). St. Paul's Mint Condition scooped a Best R&B Album nod for Healing Season, and the Okee Dokee Brothers earned a Best Children's Album nomination for Saddle Up.

In addition to landing a Best New Artist nomination, Chance the Rapper made history when a new rule allowing streaming-only releases to be eligible for consideration let his Coloring Book make the list of Best Rap Album nominees.

Record of the Year nominees


(award for the recording)

Adele, "Hello"
Beyoncé, "Formation"
Lukas Graham, "7 Years"
Rihanna feat. Drake, "Work"
Twenty One Pilots, "Stressed Out"

Song of the Year nominees


(award for songwriting)

"Formation," written by Khalif Brown, Asheton Hogan, Beyoncé Knowles, and Michael L. Williams II
"Hello," written by Adele Adkins and Greg Kurstin
"I Took a Pill in Ibiza," written by Mike Posner
"Love Yourself," written by Justin Bieber, Benjamin Levin, and Ed Sheeran
"7 Years," written by Lukas Forchhammer, Stefan Forrest, Morten Pilegaard, and Morten Ristorp

Best New Artist

Kelsea Ballerini
The Chainsmokers
Chance the Rapper
Maren Morris
Anderson .Paak

Album of the Year

Adele, 25
Beyoncé, Lemonade
Drake, Views
Justin Bieber, Purpose
Sturgill Simpson, A Sailor's Guide to Earth

Best Rock Album

Blink-182, California
Cage the Elephant, Tell Me I'm Pretty
Gojira, Magma
Panic! At the Disco, Death of a Bachelor
Weezer, Weezer

Best Alternative Music Album

Bon Iver, 22, A Million
David Bowie, Blackstar
PJ Harvey, The Hope Six Demolition Project
Iggy Pop, Post Pop Depression
Radiohead, A Moon Shaped Pool

Best Rap Album

Chance the Rapper, Coloring Book
De La Soul, And the Anonymous Nobody
DJ Khaled, Major Key
Drake, Views
ScHoolboy Q, Blank Face LP

Best Music Video

Beyoncé, "Formation"
Leon Bridges, "River"
Coldplay, "Up & Up"
Jamie xx, "Gosh"
OK Go, "Upside Down & Inside Out"

The 59th annual Grammy Awards will take place on Feb. 12; lovable Carpool Karaoke star James Corden will host. To be eligible, recordings had to be released between Oct. 1, 2015 and Sept. 30, 2016.