Los Angeles - Rapper Jay Z led all artists with nine Grammy nominations on Friday, but newcomers Lorde, Kendrick Lamar, and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis edged out industry heavyweights for nods in the top categories of the annual music awards.
Jay Z picked up nominations across nine categories in the pop and rap categories, including best pop duo performance for “Suit & Tie” with Justin Timberlake, and best rap album for his July release, “Magna Carta...Holy Grail.”
But the 44-year-old Brooklyn, New York-born rapper failed to land solo nods in the top Grammy categories for record, song and album of the year, scoring only one as a producer on Lamar's “Good Kid, M.A.A.D City” record, nominated in the album of the year category.
Lamar's album will face off against Sara Barielles' “The Blessed Unrest,” French electro-dance duo Daft Punk's “Random Access Memories,” Taylor Swift's “Red” and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' “The Heist” for album of the year.
Timberlake, 32, who made a return to the musical spotlight this year after a five-year hiatus with the two-part release of “The 20/20 Experience,” picked up seven nominations across the pop, R&B and rap categories, but also failed to make the top three categories.
The Grammy Awards are the music industry's top accolades and are voted on by members of the Recording Academy for more than 80 categories spanning all genres. To be eligible for nominations this year, artists had to release their music between Oct. 1, 2012, and Sept. 30, 2013.
The winners will be announced on Jan. 26 at a live televised ceremony in Los Angeles. Seattle rapper-producer duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis capped their stellar rise over the past year from the independent music scene into mainstream pop with seven nominations, including album of the year for “The Heist,” song of the year for “Same Love” featuring Mary Lambert, and the coveted best new artist category.
The duo will be facing off with Lamar, country music singer Kasey Musgraves and British singers James Blake and Ed Sheeran for the best new artist accolade, which has been won by Adele and FUN. in recent years.
In addition to album of the year and best new artist,lamar Lamar, 26, picked up five more nominations in the R&B and rap category, including best rap album.
The record of the uear category featured five songs that all achieved commercial and chart success this year; “Get Lucky” by Daft Punk, “Radioactive” by alt-rockers Imagine Dragons, “Royals” by Lorde, Bruno Mars' “Locked Out of Heaven” and “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke featuring T.I. and Pharrell.
Lorde, the 17-year-old New Zealand newcomer Lorde, whose real name is Ella Yelich O'Connor, is notable for writing her own songs, including the hit “Royals,” which picked up nods for record and song of the year, as well as best pop solo performance.
Also nominated with Lorde for song of the year, a songwriters' award, are “Just Give Me a Reason” by Pink and FUN.'s Nate Ruess, Mars' “Locked Out of Heaven,” Katy Perry's “Roar” and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' “Same Love.” - Reuters