Singer Beyonce leads Grammy 2023 nominations with nine nods

The needle is set over the ridges of vinyl records as the nomination for the 65th annual Grammy Awards have been announced, with Beyonce leading the field with nine nods, Kendrick Lamar close behind with eight, and Adele and Brandi Carlile tied with seven. Four contenders enter the race with six nominations apiece: Future, Harry Styles, Mary J. Blige, DJ Khaled and Randy Merrill. The nominations were largely as predicted, with Beyonce, Adele, Styles, Lamar and Lizzo being the five contenders, who were each nominated in the top three all-genre categories: record, album and song of the year. Among the artistes who did better than predicted in those top categories are Mary J. Blige and ABBA, who were nominated for record of the year and album of the year, but not song. For Blige, it has been 16 years since she last landed nods for record and album.The currently very hot Steve Lacy also landed in two of those three categories, being put into contention for both record and song for the recently chart-topping Bad Habit. Latin music did not have the breakthrough presence in the general categories that some expected. Bad Bunny was nominated for what many consider the top prize, album of the year, for his blockbuster Un Verano Sin Ti. It was not a landmark year for country music in the nominations. Not a single country artiste made it into the top four general categories. The controversial Morgan Wallen was shut out, despite being one of the two commercially biggest artistes during the nominating period, along with Bad Bunny. Zach Bryan, one of the great breakouts of 2022, was limited to one nomination, and it was not best new artiste, something for which he was almost universally predicted. Other artistes to contend in the top three categories will be Taylor Swift (whose All Too Well (10-Minute Version) is nominated for song of the year), Doja Cat (up for the single Woman after her smash album was in the mix last year), Coldplay, DJ Khaled, Gayle and, making a surprise return, ‘90s Grammy queen, Bonnie Raitt. Meanwhile, BTS has received a historical three nominations in a single year. One of their Korean songs is up for a Grammy for the first time.