And the GRAMMY Nominees Are: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Jay Z, Kendrick Lamar and Justin Timberlake
The nominees for the 2014 GRAMMYs are in and Jay Z tops the list with nine nominations for his latest album, Magna Carta... Holy Grail, and his recent team-up with Justin Timberlake. Kendrick Lamar, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Pharrell Williams, and Timberlake all tied for the second most nominations this year, with seven nods a piece.
Related: GRAMMY Nominees 2014: The Full List
This year's GRAMMY Nominations Live!!! Concert revealed the nominees for six of the 82 categories, focusing primarily on the major categories (Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Best New Artist). The hour-long CBS broadcast, hosted by LL Cool J, also included performances from some of this year's nominees like Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Robin Thicke with T.I. and Earth, Wind & Fire, and Keith Urban with Miguel, who performed a twangy duet of Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine."
Photo Gallery: GRAMMY Nominations Concert 2014
Watching the show, it wasn't clear that Jay Z earned the most nominations since he earned noms in mostly unannounced categories like Best Rap Performance, Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (where he's nominated for "Part II (On The Run)" with Beyonce and for "Holy Grail" with Justin Timberlake), Best Rap Song and Best Rap Album. In the particularly strong rap album category, Hova finds himself up against friends, collaborators and mentees including Kanye West, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' The Heist.
