Grammys 2011: Kanye, Adele, Foo Fighters Lead Nominations

Kanye West has a chance to expand his already-huge collection of 14 Grammys and that he's the top nominee for the 54th Annual Grammy Awards. Kanye picked up a leading seven nominations, while Adele, Bruno Mars and Foo Fighters are tied with six each.

Strangely, Kanye is only nominated in one of Grammys' four main categories: Song of the Year, for "All of the Lights." Conversely, Adele, Bruno and Foo Fighters appear in three of the Grammy's biggest categories: Album, Record and Song of the Year. Adele has landed nominations for Record and Song of the Year for "Rolling in the Deep" and Album of the Year for 21. Bruno Mars got nods for Record and Song of the Year for "Grenade," and Album of the Year for Doo-Wops and Hooligans, while Foo Fighters got an Album of the Year nod for Wasting Light.

Meanwhile, Lil Wayne and electronic musician Skrillex each are up for five awards -- Skrillex, whose birth name is Sonny Moore, got a surprise nomination for Best New Artist. Also up for Best New Artist: The Band Perry, Nicki Minaj, singer/songwriter Justin Vernon, who records under the name Bon Iver [bonn ee-VAIR], and R&B star J. Cole. In addition, Rihanna, Radiohead, Bon Iver, Drake and Mumford & Sons each received four nods.
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Among the most surprising nods were for Bon Iver's song "Holocene," a little-known track that somehow ended up in the Record and Song of the Year categories alongside hits like "Firework" and "Grenade." Another unexpected nominee in the Record and Song of the Year categories was Mumford & Sons' "The Cave."

The nominees for Album, Record and Song of the Year and Best New Artist were announced during a one-hour CBS special that featured performances by, among others, Lady Gaga, The Band Perry, Jason Aldean, Ludacris, Usher, Sugarland and, via satellite, Rihanna. One of the highlights came when Lady Gaga teamed up with Sugarland to perform the hit "You and I" -- Gaga and Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles had a ball trading verses and giving shout-outs to one another in the lyrics.

Gaga also opened the show by performing "Marry the Night" while wearing skeleton makeup and a blazer, black bra, panties and boots, while dancing on top of a heap of industrial garbage. Jason Aldean and Ludacris teamed up for Jason's hit "Dirt Road Anthem," and the Band Perry threw a bit of Tom Petty's "Free Fallin'" into their song "Independence." Usher paid tribute to late songwriters Jerry Lieber and Nickolas Ashford by singing their songs "Stand By Me" and "You're All I Need to Get By" respectively.

Notable Grammy snubs include Paul Simon, whose critically-acclaimed So Beautiful or So What album, which many predicted would score several nods, was ignored by Grammy voters. Former Album of the Year winner Taylor Swift received several nods, but not in any of the main categories. Except for her Best New Artist nod, Nicki Minaj was also ignored. Lady Antebellum, who swept the Grammys back in February, was relegated to the country categories.

2012 Grammy nominations: Adele, Kanye West, Bruno Mars, Foo Fighters lead the musical pack

In hard numbers, Kanye West earned the most nominations for this year’s Grammys (a whopping 7).

But in the categories that count — Album, Song and Record of the Year — it’s two other stars who have a chance to sweep.

To the surprise of no one, the year’s biggest selling artist, Adele, bagged nods in all the top slots: Song and Record for her smash “Rolling In The Deep,” and Album for her second CD, “21.”

The British singer earned six nods in all.

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She’ll go head to head with a less obvious, or favored, candidate: Bruno Mars, who tied her tally with six bids, including the Record and Song slots for “Grenade,” and Album for his debut, “Doo-Wops and Hooligans.”

Both stars represent a resurgence of pure singing chops in an age of theatrics and gimmickry.

The Foo Fighters — seen by many as the last popular gasp for respected rock — also got six nods (though just one in a top category: Album of the Year).

Rapper Lil Wayne and the dance music producer Skrillex, each got five, all in lesser genre slots. Similarly, West’s large tally includes just one in a major category: Song of the Year for “All Of The Lights,” from his album “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.”

Lady Gaga, a star expected to have as high a profile as Adele, only has one chance to compete in a pivotal slot: Album for “Born This Way.”