Grammys Nominations As the exhaustive list of Grammy nominations – there are a bum-numbing 83 categories in total – are slowly trickled out via an awkward press conference and the medium of Twitter, it’s clear already that the evening of 8 February 2016 will likely be a successful one for British balladeer Sam Smith.
Smith, as well as being nominated for the prestigious record of the year for his ubiquitous Stay With Me, also got a nod for the accompanying album In the Lonely Hour. The third-biggest-selling album of 2014 in the US, it is up for best pop vocal album, while Smith is also in the running for best new artist (alongside fellow UK act Bastille) and best pop solo performance. A gambler would probably say he was a shoo-in for best new artist, and the generally risk-adverse Grammy panel will likely see fit to give him an album of the year nod, a category to be announced at a concert tonight.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about the list of Grammy nominations, in any year, is the distinct lack of surprises. More so than the UK equivalent the Brits, the Grammys are a direct reflection of what’s happening on the charts, which may explain the lack of nominations so far for Lady Gaga’s Artpop. This phenomenon is shown most clearly in the record of the year category, which mirrors the recent female dominance of the Billboard top five with nominations – alongside Smith – for Iggy and Charli’s Fancy (No 1 for seven weeks), Sia’s Chandelier, Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off (No 1 for three weeks), and Meghan Trainor’s novelty ode to the larger bottom, All About That Bass (No 1 for eight weeks).