The Recording Academy announced the list of nominees for the 59th Grammy Awards on Tuesday morning, with the biggest names in music vying for statues in 84 categories.
The list of most-nominated stars is relatively unsurprising this year: Beyoncé leads the pack with nine nominations, followed by a three-way tie between Rihanna, Drake, and Kanye West, who are each up for eight golden gramophones. Chicago’s Chance The Rapper, an independent artist who still managed to nab seven nominations this year, comes in right behind that group.
With such a well-known list of frontrunners, there are some pretty interesting contests at this year’s awards.
The Best Album category features five extremely varied and massively popular releases. Adele’s smash hit 25 will go up against Beyoncé’s Lemonade, Drake’s Views, Justin Bieber’s Purpose, and Sturgill Simpson’s A Sailor’s Guide To Earth.
The Best New Artist contest pits two of hip-hop’s most exciting stars — Chance The Rapper and Anderson .Paak — against smash pop success The Chainsmokers.
Recently released gems from Leonard Cohen and A Tribe Called Quest will have to wait until next year for any potential nods; The Grammys stick to a cutoff date of September 30 each year to make judging easier, which is why Adele’s 25, which came out in late 2015, was available for nominations this time around.
Frank Ocean’s Blonde, which was widely considered one of the best albums of the year, will not ever be considered for a statue, as the artist famously did not submit himself for consideration this year.
The 59th Grammy Awards will air at 5 p.m. PT on Sunday, February 12, on CBS. The full list of nominees for each of the 84 categories can be found on the Grammy Awards’ website.
