Nominations for the 65th annual Grammy Awards were announced Tuesday morning, with Beyoncé 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.
It’s a field in which there are few of the major surprises that have marked other Grammy nominations rollouts in recent years — either in terms of bad surprises, like the shutout for the Weeknd two years ago, or good ones, like Jon Batiste dominating the field last year.
Instead, the nominations generally went largely as predicted, with Beyoncé, Adele, Styles, Lamar and Lizzo being the five contenders who were each nominated in the top three all-genre catories: record, album and song of the year.
Among the artists who did better than predicted in those top categories are Mary J. Blige and ABBA, who both got put up 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,” something few other non-English-language albums have accomplished since the Grammys began in the 1950s. That was the good news; the bad news was that Bad Bunny landed only two nominations in all. There was also some thought that Rosalía might make it into one of the top categories, but that was not to be, as she landed just one nod, for best music film. Anitta did make it into the best new artist field, as expected.
It was not a landmark year for country music in the nominations, either, for that matter. Not a single country artist made it into the top four general categories. The controversial Morgan Wallen was shut out, despite being one of the two commercially biggest artists during the nominating period, along with Bad Bunny.
Other artists to contend in the top three categories are 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.
Gayle, surprisingly, did not field any further nominations beyond her song of the year nod for
“abcdefu.” She was left out of the best new artist category, which includes such expected names as Anitta, Omar Apollo, Latto, Muni Long, Maneskin and Wet Leg and the less predictable ones Domi & JD Beck, Samara Joy, Molly Tuttle and Tobe Nwigwe.
Beyoncé’s nine nominations put her in a tie for all-time Grammy nominations with her husband, Jay-Z.
Voting on the nominations will take place Dec. 14 through Jan. 4, with winners announced on the 65th annual telecast Feb. 5, 2023, to be broadcast live on CBS from L.A.’s Crypto.com Arena.
Here are the nominees in the order they were announced, climaxing with album of the year:
Field 1 – Pop
Best Pop Solo Performance
1. Easy On Me
Adele
2. Moscow Mule
Bad Bunny
3. Woman
Doja Cat
4. Bad Habit
Steve Lacy
5. About Damn Time
Lizzo
6. As It Was
Harry Styles
Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
1. Don’t Shut Me Down
ABBA
2. Bam Bam
Camila Cabello Featuring Ed Sheeran
3. My Universe
Coldplay & BTS
4. I Like You (A Happier Song)
Post Malone & Doja Cat
5. Unholy
Sam Smith & Kim Petras
Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album
1. Higher
Michael Bublé
2. When Christmas Comes Around…
Kelly Clarkson
3. I Dream of Christmas (Extended)
Norah Jones
4. Evergreen
Pentatonix
5. Thank You
Diana Ross
Best Pop Vocal Album
1. Voyage
ABBA
2. 30
Adele
3. Music Of The Spheres
Coldplay
4. Special
Lizzo
5. Harry’s House
Harry Styles
Field 2 – Dance/Electronic Music
Best Dance/Electronic Recording
1. Break My Soul
Beyoncé
Beyoncé, Terius “The-Dream” Gesteelde-Diamant, Jens Christian Isaksen & Christopher “Tricky” Stewart, producers; Stuart White, mixer
2. Rosewood
Bonobo
Simon Green, producer; Simon Green, mixer
3. Don’t Forget My Love
Diplo & Miguel
Diplo & Maximilian Jaeger, producers; Luca Pretolesi, Mixer
4. I’m Good (Blue)
David Guetta & Bebe Rexha
David Guetta & Timofey Reznikov, producers; David Guetta & Timofey Reznikov, mixers
5. Intimidated
Kaytranada Featuring H.E.R.
H.E.R. & Kaytranada, producers; Kaytranada, mixer
6. On My Knees
RÜFÜS DU SOL
Jason Evigan & RÜFÜS DU SOL, producers; Cassian Stewart-Kasimba, mixer
Best Dance/Electronic Music Album
1. Renaissance
Beyoncé
2. Fragments
Bonobo
3. Diplo
Diplo
4. The Last Goodbye
Odesza
5. Surrender
RÜFÜS DU SOL
Field 21 – Composing/Arranging
Best Instrumental Composition
1. African Tales
Paquito D’Rivera, composer (Tasha Warren & Dave Eggar)
2. El País Invisible
Miguel Zenón, composer (Miguel Zenón, José Antonio Zayas Cabán, Ryan Smith & Casey Rafn)
3. Fronteras (Borders) Suite: Al-Musafir Blues
Danilo Pérez, composer (Danilo Pérez Featuring the Global Messengers)
4. Refuge
Geoffrey Keezer, composer (Geoffrey Keezer)
5. Snapshots
Pascal Le Boeuf, composer (Tasha Warren & Dave Eggar)
Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella
1. As Days Go By (An Arrangement Of The Family Matters Theme Song)
Armand Hutton, arranger (Armand Hutton Featuring Terrell Hunt & Just 6)
2. How Deep Is Your Love
Matt Cusson, arranger (Kings Return)
3. Main Titles (Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness)
Danny Elfman, arranger (Danny Elfman)
4. Minnesota, WI
Remy Le Boeuf, arranger (Remy Le Boeuf)
5. Scrapple From The Apple
John Beasley, arranger (Magnus Lindgren, John Beasley & The SWR Big Band Featuring Martin Aeur)
Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals
1. Let It Happen
Louis Cole, arranger (Louis Cole)
2. Never Gonna Be Alone
Jacob Collier, arranger (Jacob Collier Featuring Lizzy McAlpine & John Mayer)
3. Optimistic Voices / No Love Dying
Cécile McLorin Salvant, arranger (Cécile McLorin Salvant)
4. Songbird (Orchestral Version)
Vince Mendoza, arranger (Christine McVie)
5. 2 + 2 = 5 (Arr. Nathan Schram)
Nathan Schram & Becca Stevens, arrangers (Becca Stevens & Attacca Quartet)
Field 7 – Rap
Best Rap Performance
1. God Did
DJ Khaled Featuring Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, John Legend & Fridayy
2. Vegas
Doj