New faces of R&B and one of the genre's legends are among the leading nominees for top honors at the 47th annual Grammy Awards.
Innovative rapper Kanye West leads the field with 10 nods, followed by R&B sex symbol Usher and the soulful Alicia Keys with eight each. The legendary Ray Charles has seven nominations for his posthumously released all-star duet album Genius Loves Company.
Usher was expected to lead the nominations announced yesterday, so it was surprising to some industry insiders that West managed to slip by him. Usher's Confessions has sold more than 7 million copies, roughly three times as many as West's The College Dropout.
"That may be a battle cry for rappers to come up with something different than the violence, crime, money and misogyny that has been carrying that genre for years," said Chuck Taylor, managing editor for Billboard Radio Monitor. "He made a more thoughtful album, and critics and the public are reacting to that."
College Dropout will vie for best album against Genius Loves Company, Green Day's American Idiot, Keys' The Diary of Alicia Keys and Confessions.
Usher, Charles and Green Day also surfaced on the record of the year list: Usher for his collaboration with Ludacris and Lil Jon on "Yeah!"; Charles for his duet with Norah Jones on "Here We Go Again"; and Green Day for American Idiot's title track.
Rounding out that category was "Let's Get It Started" by the Black Eyed Peas and "Heaven" by Texas-based alt-country group Los Lonely Boys.
The nominees for best song, an award for songwriters, were "Daughters" (John Mayer); "If I Ain't Got You" (Alicia Keys); "Jesus Walks" (C. Smith and Kanye West); "Live Like You Were Dying" (Tim Nichols and Craig Wiseman); and Hoobastank's "The Reason" (Daniel Estrin and Douglas Robb).
In other categories, Gretchen Wilson's Here for the Party is up for best country album against Tim McGraw's Live Like You Were Dying, Tift Merritt's Tambourine, Keith Urban's Be Here and Loretta Lynn's Van Lear Rose. The latter, produced by Jack White of the White Stripes, got five nominations for the longtime country star.
Winners will be announced Feb. 13.
Charles, a 12-time Grammy winner who died in June at age 73, looks to be a strong sentimental favorite. Billboard's Taylor says the field is balanced enough that a Norah Jones-style sweep for one of the top nominees might be unlikely. He wouldn't bet against Usher, though.
