Kendrick Lamar Leads Grammy Nominations

Kendrick Lamar continues a huge year as the leading nominee at the Grammy Awards — the rap superstar scooped up 11 nominations, the most of anyone.

Lamar scored an album of the year nomination for his “To Pimp a Butterfly,” along with a song of the year nomination for “Alright.” To no surprise,the rap categories this year are stacked with nominations for J. Cole, Drake, Nicki Minaj​, Kendrick, Dr. Dre, Fetty Wap, and more throughout the nominations. The “Rap Album of the Year” battle will go down between Cole’s 2014 Forest Hills Drive, Dre’s Compton, Drake’s If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late, Kendrick’s To Pimp a Butterfly, and Nicki Minaj’s the Pinkprint.

Behind Lamar, Taylor Swift followed with seven nods. Swift and Lamar also landed a couple of nominations (pop/duo vocal performance and music video) for their fiery collaboration on Swift’s “Bad Blood.”

The Weeknd tied Swift for seven nominations fueled by “Can’t Feel My Face,” one of the biggest songs of the year, which also led to an album nomination for “Beauty Behind the Madness.”

Here are the nominees in some of the major categories:

Album of the Year
Sound & Color — Alabama Shakes
To Pimp a Butterfly” — Kendrick Lamar
Traveller — Chris Stapleton
1989 — Taylor Swift
Beauty Behind the Madness — The Weeknd

Best New Artist
Courtney Barnett
James Bay
Sam Hunt
Tori Kelly
Meghan Trainor

Record of the Year
“Really Love” — D’Angelo and The Vanguard
“Uptown Funk” — Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars
“Thinking Out Loud” — Ed Sheeran
“Blank Space” — Taylor Swift
“Can’t Feel My Face” — The Weeknd

Song of the Year
“Alright” — Kendrick Lamar
“Blank Space” — Taylor Swift
“Girl Crush” — Little Big Town
“See You Again” — Wiz Khalifa feat. Charlie Puth
“Thinking Out Loud” — Ed Sheeran

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
“Ship To Wreck” — Florence + The Machine
“Sugar” — Maroon 5
“Uptown Funk” — Mark Ronson Featuring Bruno Mars
“Bad Blood” — Taylor Swift Featuring Kendrick Lamar
“See You Again” — Wiz Khalifa Featuring Charlie Puth

Best Pop Solo Performance
“Heartbeat Song” — Kelly Clarkson
“Love Me Like You Do” — Ellie Goulding
“Thinking Out Loud” — Ed Sheeran
“Blank Space”— Taylor Swift
“Can’t Feel My Face” — The Weeknd

Best Pop Vocal Album
Piece By Piece — Kelly Clarkson
How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful — Florence + The Machine
Uptown Special —Mark Ronson
1989 — Taylor Swift
Before This World — James Taylor

Best Rap Album
2014 Forest Hills Drive — J. Cole
Compton — Dr. Dre
If Youre Reading This Its Too Late — Drake
To Pimp A Butterfly — Kendrick Lamar
The Pinkprint — Nicki Minaj

Best Country Album
Montevallo — Sam Hunt
Pain Killer — Little Big Town
The Blade — Ashley Monroe
Pageant Material — Kacey Musgraves
Traveller — Chris Stapleton

Best Rock Album
Chaos And The Calm — James Bay
Kintsugi — Death Cab For Cutie
Mister Asylum — Highly Suspect
Drones — Muse
.5: The Gray Chapter — Slipknot

Best Rock Performance
“Don’t Wanna Fight” — Alabama Shakes
“What Kind Of Man” — Florence + The Machine
“Something From Nothing” — Foo Fighters
“Ex’s & Oh’s” — Elle King
“Moaning Lisa Smile” — Wolf Alice

Best R&B Performance
“If I Don’t Have You” — Tamar Braxton
“Rise Up” — Andra Day
“Breathing Underwater” — Hiatus Kaiyote
“Planes” — Jeremih Featuring J. Cole
“Earned It (Fifty Shades Of Grey)” —The Weeknd

Best Rap Performance
J. Cole, “Apparently”
Drake, “Back To Back
Fetty Wap, “Trap Queen”
Kendrick Lamar, “Alright”
Nicki Minaj featuring Lil Wayne, Chris Brown and Drake, “Truffle Butter”
Kanye West, “All Day”

Best Rap Song
Kanye West, “All Day”
Kendrick Lamar, “Alright”
Common and John Legend, “Glory”
Drake, “Energy”
Fetty Wap, “Trap Queen”

Best Rap Performance
J. Cole, “Apparently”
Drake, “Back to Back”
Fetty Wap, “Trap Queen”
Kendrick Lamar, “Alright”
Nicki Minaj, “Truffle Butter”
Kanye West, “All Day”

Rap/Sung Collaboration
Big Sean featuring Kanye West and John Legend, “One Man Can Change the World,”
Common and John Legend, “Glory,”
Jidenna, “Classic Man,”
Kendrick Lamar, “These Walls,”
Nicki Minaj, “Only”

Best Alternative Music Album
Sound & Color — Alabama Shakes
Vulnicura — Björk
The Waterfall — My Morning Jacket
Currents — Tame Impala
Star Wars — Wilco

Best Urban Contemporary Album
Ego Death — The Internet
You Should Be Here — Kehlani
Blood — Lianne La Havas
Wildheart — Miguel
Beauty Behind The Madness — The Weeknd

Best Jazz Instrumental Album
My Favorite Things — Joey Alexander
Breathless — Terence Blanchard Featuring The E-Collective
Covered: Recorded Live At Capitol Studios — Robert Glasper & The Robert Glasper Trio
Beautiful Life — Jimmy Greene
Past Present — John Scofield

Best Gospel Album
Destined To Win (Live) — Karen Clark Sheard
Living It — Dorinda Clark-Cole
One Place Live — Tasha Cobbs
Covered: Alive Is Asia [Live] (Deluxe) — Israel & Newbreed
Life Music: Stage Two — Jonathan McReynolds