Beyonce leads Grammys with 9 nominations; 8 nods each for Rihanna, Drake, Kanye

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Beyonce became the most-nominated female artist in Grammy award history as she received a leading nine nods for this year's awards.
Beyonce performs during a Get Out The Vote concert at Wolstein Center on Nov 4, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio. PHOTO: AFP

LOS ANGELES (REUTERS) - Beyonce became the most-nominated female artist in Grammy award history on Tuesday (Dec 6) as she received a leading nine nods this year, followed closely by Drake, Rihanna and Kanye West with eight nominations each.

Beyonce's haul of nine included album, song and record of the year, the top three Grammy accolades, for her hit song, Formation, and visual album Lemonade, a collection of songs about race, feminism and empowerment.

The R&B singer, 35, has been nominated 62 times in Grammy history and has won 20 Grammy awards over her career spanning two decades. Rapper Kanye West, who has eight nominations this year for his The Life Of Pablo album, has notched 68 Grammy nominations over his career, and won 21 awards.

British singer Adele is also up for the top three awards with her hit ballad Hello and album 25 and has a total of five nominations. The singer previously swept all three top categories in 2012 with her 21 album.

Canadian pop star Justin Bieber's Purpose, Canadian hip hop star Drake's Views and country music singer-songwriter Sturgill Simpson's A Sailor's Guide To Earth rounded out the contenders of album of the year.

The Grammy Awards are the top United States music honours and each year, members of the music industry choose nominees and winners across more than 80 categories.

This year's winners will be announced at a star-studded televised ceremony in Los Angeles on Feb 12. Other record of the year contenders include Lukas Graham's 7 Years, Rihanna's Work and Twenty One Pilots' Stressed Out. Graham's 7 Years is also nominated for song of the year alongside Mike Posner's I Took a Pill in Ibiza and Bieber's Love Yourself.

Drake and Barbadian R&B singer Rihanna shared three of their eight individual nominations, two for their steamy duet on Rihanna's sultry Work and one for Rihanna as a featured artist on Drake's Views.

Chance The Rapper landed seven nominations including the best new artist category, in which the 23-year-old Chicago native is up against pop duo The Chainsmokers, California rapper Anderson Paak and country music singers Kelsea Ballerini and Maren Morris.

Late British singer David Bowie, who died in January two days after the release of his final album Blackstar, received four nominations including best alternative album.

Late music star Prince, who died in April, also landed one Grammy nomination for his final record, Hit n Run Phase Two, in the best engineered non-classical album category alongside Bowie's Blackstar.

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