Nominations for Grammy Awards 2010 Announced

On January 31, 2010, the music industry will celebrate its biggest and most successful artists of this year, as the Recording Academy will name the winners of the Grammy Awards 2010. The nominations have been announced only hours ago, and favorites include Beyonce, with ten noms, Taylor Swift, with 8, the Black Eyed Peas, 7 and Lady Gaga, 5, as Billboard can confirm.

This year’s nominations have been subject to a different set of rules as the award ceremony itself will take place on a different day than in previous years. The most important of them was that the eligibility period was cut short, from October 1, 2008 to August 31, 2009, so that the Grammy falls in the first, awards-heavy first months of the year.

With August 31 being the final date, Whitney Houston’s much-hyped comeback, “I Look to You,” rushed out on the same day, barely made it in time for the nominations. Yet it was completely overlooked, with neither Whitney nor the album making the cut for any category, the music-oriented publication points out. On the other hand, Beyonce is the strongest contender of the night, with nods in three major categories, including Album of the Year for “I Am... Sasha Fierce,” Song of the Year for “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It),” and Record of the Year for “Halo.”

Country singer and recently the entire world’s favorite artist Taylor Swift is not far behind, with eight nominations. Lady Gaga is also holding strong, as noted above, with five nominations, including three in the same top categories as Beyonce – which can only mean that competition will be stiff. Other heavy contenders are Kanye West and Maxwell (6 nominations each), and Jay-Z and David Guetta (5 nominations each).

Below are the nominations in all major categories. For the full list, please see the official Grammy page here.

Song of the Year

- “Poker Face” – Lady Gaga - “Pretty Wings” – Maxwell - “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)” – Beyonce - “Use Somebody” – Kings of Leon - “You Belong With Me” - Taylor Swift

Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals

- “I Gotta Feeling” – The Black Eyed Peas - “We Weren’t Born To Follow” – Bon Jovi - “Never Say Never” – The Fray - “Sara Smile” – Daryl Hall & John Oates - “Kids” – MGMT

Best Rock Album

- Black Ice – AC/DC - Live From Madison Square Garden – Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood - 21st Century Breakdown – Green Day - Big Whiskey And The Groogrux King – Dave Matthews Band - No Line On The Horizon – U2

Best Rap Solo Performance

- “Best I Ever Had” – Drake - “Beautiful” – Eminem - “D.O.A. (Death Of Auto-Tune)” – Jay-Z - “Day ‘N’ Nite” – Kid Cudi - “Casa Bey” – Mos Def

Record of the Year

- “Halo” – Beyonce - “I Gotta Feeling – The Black Eyed Peas - “Use Somebody” – Kings of Leon - “Poker Face” – Lady Gaga - “You Belong With Me” – Taylor Swift

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance

- Adele (for “Hometown Glory”) - Beyonce (for “Halo”) - Katy Perry (for “Hot N Cold”) - Pink (for “Sober”) - Taylor Swift (for “You Belong With Me”)

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance

- John Legend (for “This Time”) - Maxwell (for “Love You”) - Jason Mraz (for “Make It Mine”) - Seal (for “If You…”) - Stevie Wonder (for “All About The Love Again”)

Best New Artist

- Zac Brown Band - Keri Hilson - MGMT - Silversun Pickups - The Ting Tings

Album of the Year