#NEWMUSIC: JAY-Z LEADS 56TH ANNUAL GRAMMY NOMINEES

Nominations were announced tonight in Los Angeles at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live for the 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards, rung-in with a Concert from several potential Nominees.

Leading the way was Hip-Hop Impresario and Multimedia Mogul Jay-Z with an impressive nine nominations, while four Artists tie in second spot with seven nominations apiece – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Pharrell, Justin Timberlake and Kendrick Lamar.  Toronto’s Drake has us well-represented, nabbing a total five nominations.

Missing surprisingly in the category of Best New Artist  is New Zealand Teen Sensation Lorde, whom howmever is recognized in some of the more major categories.  After several comparisons between Sara Bareilles’ Brave and Katy Perry‘s Roar, many eyes will be on the Best Pop Solo Performance category as both are pitted against one another for Pop Music Glory.

See Perry‘s Toronto-recorded performance Roar acoustically at the Nominations Concert:

Nominees are as follows in some of the Evening’s most-watched categories:

Best New Artist
James Blake 
Kendrick Lamar 
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis 
Kacey Musgraves 
Ed Sheeran 

Album Of The Year
The Blessed Unrest — Sara Bareilles
Random Access Memories — Daft Punk
Good Kid, M.A.A.D City — Kendrick Lamar
The Heist — Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Red — Taylor Swift

Song of the Year

Just Give Me A Reason — Pink Featuring Nate Ruess
Locked Out Of Heaven — Bruno Mars
Roar — Katy Perry
Royals — Lorde
Same Love — Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Featuring Mary Lambert

Record Of The Year

Get Lucky — Daft Punk & Pharrell Williams
Radioactive — Imagine Dragons
Royals — Lorde
Locked Out Of Heaven — Bruno Mars
Blurred Lines — Robin Thicke Featuring T.I. & Pharrell Williams

View a complete list of Nominees here.

The 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards air Sunday, January 26, 2014 on CBS at 8:00 PM EST.

(Photo credit: Universal Music)