Despite releasing a 2013 album that failed to reach critical or consumer appeal, Jay Z led nominations for the 56th Grammy Awards by a wide margin at Friday’s nom announcements for his Magna Carta … Holy Grail album. The less prickish half of The Throne is up for nine awards, while fellow rappers Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Kendrick Lamar, each with seven nods, were among newcomers who took a strong cut of the major nominations – including best album and best new artist of the year. The other half of Jay Z’s luxury rap project, Kanye West, locked down two noms for his new Yeezus album in rap categories.
Macklemore also took center stage during the nominations TV special from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, that also included performances by nominees Taylor Swift, Lorde, Katy Perry and Robin Thicke. They opened the show with a colorful, high-energy version of their hit “Thrift Shop,” featuring Wanz, and immediately picked up a song of the year nomination for “Same Love.”
In addition to Lamar and Macklemore in the album of the year category were Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories, Sara Bareilles’ The Blessed Unrest and Taylor Swift’s Red. Meanwhile, James Blake and Ed Sheeran are the last stragglers in the best new artist category alongside Lamar and Macklemore and Lewis.
For record of the year, Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive,” Lorde’s “Royals” and Mars’ “Locked Out of Heaven” join “Get Lucky” and “Blurred Lines” on the noms list. The Lorde and Mars entries also are up for song of the year with Pink’s “Just Give Me a Reason,” Katy Perry’s “Roar” and “Same Love.”
Pharell Williams is up for producer of the year and is up for multiple awards in three categories, including record of the year for “Get Lucky” with Daft Punk and “Blurred Lines” with Robin Thicke, and album of the year entries “Random Access Memories” by Daft Punk and Lamar’s “good kid.”
As for rock nominations, the reunited Black Sabbath led nominees with three nods, including best rock album for 13, best rock song for “God Is Dead” and Best Metal Performance. Despite spawning two generations of imitators, Sabbath has won only one Grammy before, for best metal performance in 1999.
Queens of the Stone Age aims for their first Grammys with a pair of nominations, best rock album for ..Like Clockwork and best rock performance for single My God is the Sun.” Jack White’s up for two for “I’m Shakin’”: best rock performance and best music video categories.
Oddly, Led Zeppelin is up for best rock album with Celebration Day, a live set from the group’s 2007 reunion concert at London’s O2 Arena. “Kashmir” made the best rock performance list.
Don’t see your favorite 2013 record on the list? That may be due to the fact that the Grammy eligibility window is an odd run of Oct. 1, 2012-Sept. 30, 2013. Check out the full list of noms here.
