Rapper Kendrick Lamar looks set to dominate the 2016 Grammy Awards after receiving 11 nominations.

The hip-hop star has landed a nod for Album of the Year and Best Rap Album for To Pimp a Butterfly, Song of the Year and Best Rap Performance for Alright and Best Pop/Duo Performance for his appearance on Taylor Swift’s Bad Blood.

He is nominated twice in the Best Music Video category for Bad Blood and Alright, and twice for Best Rap Song for Alright and for his co-writing credit on Kanye West’s All Day.

Lamar also achieved nods for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for These Walls, and Best Dance Recording for his feature on Flying Lotus’ single Never Catch Me.

He is closely followed by Taylor Swift and The Weeknd, who have received seven nominations apiece. All three acts will compete for Album of the Year, with Swift’s 1989 and The Weeknd’s Beauty Behind the Madness featuring alongside Alabama Shakes (Sound & Color) and Chris Stapleton (Traveller).

Swift and The Weeknd also go head-to-head for Record of the Year for Blank Space and Can’t Feel My Face respectively. They are joined by Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud and Really Love by D’Angelo and The Vanguard.

Other Song of the Year nominees include Swift’s Blank Space, Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud, Little Big Town’s Girl Crush and See You Again by Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth.

Blank Space and Thinking Out Loud were also named in the Best Pop Solo Performance category, alongside Ellie Goulding’s Love Me Like You Do, The Weeknd’s Can’t Feel My Face and Kelly Clarkson’s Heartbeat Song.

Courtney Barnett, James Bay, Sam Hunt, Tori Kelly and Meghan Trainor are in competition for the Best New Artist prize.

The 58th annual Grammy Awards will be held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on 15 February (16).


The main nominees are as follows:

Record of the Year:

  1. D’Angelo and The Vanguard – Really Love
  2. Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars – Uptown Funk
  3. Ed Sheeran – Thinking Out Loud
  4. Taylor Swift – Blank Space
  5. The Weeknd – Can’t Feel My Face

Album of the Year:

  1. Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color
  2. Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp a Butterfly
  3. Chris Stapleton – Traveller
  4. Taylor Swift -1989
  5. The Weeknd – Beauty Behind the Madness

Song of the Year:

  1. Kendrick Lamar – Alright
  2. Taylor Swift – Blank Space
  3. Little Big Town – Girl Crush
  4. Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth – See You Again
  5. Ed Sheeran – Thinking Out Loud

Best New Artist:

  1. Courtney Barnett
  2. James Bay
  3. Sam Hunt
  4. Tori Kelly
  5. Meghan Trainor

Best Pop Solo Performance:

  1. Kelly Clarkson – Heartbeat Song
  2. Ellie Goulding – Love Me Like You Do
  3. Ed Sheeran – Thinking Out Loud
  4. Taylor Swift – Blank Space
  5. The Weeknd – Can’t Feel My Face

Best Pop Vocal Album:

  1. Kelly Clarkson – Piece by Piece
  2. Florence + The Machine – How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
  3. Mark Ronson – Uptown Special
  4. Taylor Swift – 1989
  5. James Taylor – Before This World

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance:

  1. Florence + The Machine – Ship to Wreck
  2. Maroon 5 – Sugar
  3. Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars – Uptown Funk
  4. Taylor Swift featuring Kendrick Lamar – Bad Blood
  5. Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth – See You Again

Best Rock Song:


  1. Alabama Shakes – Don’t Wanna Fight
  2. Elle King – Ex’s and Oh’s
  3. James Bay – Hold Back the River
  4. Highly Suspect – Lydia
  5. Florence + The Machine – What Kind of Man

Best Rock Album:


  1. James Bay – Chaos and The Calm
  2. Death Cab for Cutie – Kintsugi
  3. Highly Suspect – Mister Asylum
  4. Muse – Drones
  5. Slipknot – The Gray Chapter

Best Country Song:


  1. Lee Ann Womack – Chances Are
  2. Tim McGraw – Diamond Rings and Old Barstools
  3. Little Big Town – Girl Crush
  4. Brandy Clark – Hold My Hand
  5. Chris Stapleton – Traveller

Best Country Album:


  1. Sam Hunt – Montevallo
  2. Little Big Town – Pain Killer
  3. Ashley Monroe – The Blade
  4. Kacey Musgraves – Pageant Material
  5. Chris Stapleton – Traveller

Best R&B Song:


  1. Miguel – Coffee
  2. The Weeknd – Earned It (Fifty Shades of Grey)
  3. Jazmine Sullivan – Let It Burn
  4. D’Angelo and The Vanguard – Really Love
  5. Tyrese – Shame

Best Urban Contemporary Album:


  1. The Internet – Ego Death
  2. Kehlani – You Should Be Here
  3. Lianne La Havas – Blood
  4. Miguel – Wildheart
  5. The Weeknd – Beauty Behind the Madness

Best Rap Song:


  1. Kanye West – All Day
  2. Kendrick Lamar – Alright
  3. Drake – Energy
  4. Common & John Legend – Glory
  5. Fetty Wap – Trap Queen

Best Rap Album:


  1. J. Cole – 2014 Forest Hills Drive
  2. Dr. Dre – Compton
  3. Drake – If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late
  4. Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp a Butterfly
  5. Nicki Minaj – The Pinkprint

Best Dance/Electronic Album:


  1. Caribou – Our Love
  2. The Chemical Brothers – Born in the Echoes
  3. Disclosure – Caracal
  4. Jamie XX – In Colour
  5. Skrillex and Diplo – Skrillex And Diplo Present Jack U

Best Reggae Album:


  1. Rocky Dawuni – Branches of the Same Tree
  2. Jah Cure – The Cure
  3. Barrington Levy – Acousticalevy
  4. Luciano – Zion Awake
  5. Morgan Heritage – Strictly Roots

Best Alternative Music Album:


  1. Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color
  2. Bjork – Vulnicura
  3. My Morning Jacket – The Waterfall
  4. Tame Impala – Currents
  5. Wilco – Star Wars

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album:


  1. Tony Bennett & Bill Charlap – The Silver Lining: The Songs Of Jerome Kern
  2. Bob Dylan – Shadows in the Night
  3. Josh Groban – Stages
  4. Seth MacFarlane – No One Ever Tells You
  5. Barry Manilow (& Various Artists) – My Dream Duets

Best Music Video:


  1. A$AP Rocky – LSD
  2. The Dead Weather – I Feel Love (Every Million Miles)
  3. Kendrick Lamar – Alright
  4. Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar – Bad Blood
  5. Pharrell Williams – Freedom.