Grammy nominations 2018 - live updates: Kendrick Lamar and Jay-Z dominate top categories
Surprise snubs for Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran in major categories suggest academy is attempting to improve its record on diversity
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Your support makes all the difference.The Recording Academy has announced nominees for the 60th Grammy Awards with Kendrick Lamar and Jay-Z dominating a male-heavy list of nominees.
Jay-Z leads with eight nominations including for Album, Song and Record of the Year.
Kendrick follows closely with seven nominations, while Ed Sheeran, despite being one of the hottest predictions for Album of the Year, was only nominated in two categories: Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Pop Vocal Performance ("Shape of You"). Sheeran released his third album ÷ [Divide] in March and broke several music industry records for sales and streaming.
Lorde received a nomination for Album of the Year for her record Melodrama, competing with Kendrick, Jay-Z, Childish Gambino and Bruno Mars.
See the complete list of nominations here.
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Taylor Swift appeared to be snubbed for her song "Look What You Made Me Do", but did receive a nod alongside Zayn Malik for "I Don't Wanna Live Forever", which featured in the film Fifty Shades of Grey. "Better Man", the song she penned for Little Big Town, also received a nomination for Best Country Song.
Artists reacted to the nominations on social media, with one of 2017's biggest new artists Khalid tweeting his delight at receiving five nominations. He noted how three years ago he had written about wanting to go to the Grammys in the future.
The 60th Grammy Awards take place in precisely two months time, on 28 January 2018.
Nominations for the 60th Grammy Awards are being made at 1.30pm GMT (8.30am ET/5.30am PT) on CBS.
Ed Sheeran and Kendrick Lamar are predicted to dominate nominations in several major categories.
Lamar's critically acclaimed album DAMN. was released on 14 April 2017 - The Independent recently named it among its top 10 best albums of the year.
Ed Sheeran released his third album ÷ [Divide] in March and broke several music industry records for sales and streaming.
One of the Grammys' most rewarded artists of the past decade is Taylor Swift, whose sixth album 'reputation' is not eligible for next year's ceremony. However her single "Look What You Made Me Do" could make it into the Song of the Year category, as could Little Big Town's "Better Man", which she wrote.
Here's a reminder of everyone who scooped an award at the 59th Grammys
This year there's a good chance at least one of One Direction's solo offerings may be nominated: Harry Styles and Niall Horan could both work for the best new artist category.
You could argue that neither Styles or Horan are exactly "new" given they're two of the most recognisable singers on the planet. BUT the industry probably doesn't see it that way. Horan won new artist of the year at this year's American Music Awards, and both were their debut records as solo artists. The Grammys is also famously flexible in its definition of a "new artist".
One of the big questions hovering over the 60th Grammy Awards is whether it will do more to address diversity in the music industry and acknowledge artists who have previously been snubbed in the past. Drake has already chosen to sit out the 2018 ceremony, reportedly not submitting his record-breaking album 'More Life' for consideration.
Drake has been a vocal critic of the Grammys, accusing the academy of being out of touch with contemporary music and suggestion this has a lot to do with its poor history of inclusion. His view has been echoed by artists including Frank Ocean, Kanye West, Jay-Z and Justin Bieber.
In February following the 59th awards night, Drake told a music show host:“I won two awards last night, but I don't even want them. I am apparently a rapper, even though 'Hotline Bling' is not a rap song. The only category they can manage to fit me in is a rap category.
“We've been conditioned that this is the true reward for our work, for our accomplishments, for our music,” Drake said of the Grammys.
“Thank God I stayed here and did what I was supposed to be doing [performing in Manchester], for the people who actually care about my music.”
If Sheeran and Lamar are both nominated for album of the year, we may be in for another fraught event - following the controversy that was Adele winning over Beyonce at the 59th awards. Sheeran beating Lamar would mark the fourth year in a row that a white singer has been picked for the award over a black artist.
Kendrick's last, universally acclaimed album To Pimp A Butterfly was snubbed in 2016 over Taylor Swift's fifth album 1989. In 2015, Beyonce lost out to another white artist: Beck was awarded Album of the Year for Morning Phase.
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