Kendrick Lamar, Taylor Swift Lead Field at Grammy Nominations

But, the real story, which raised a few eyebrows is rapper Kendrick Lamar.

The Grammy Award nominations for 2016 have finally been announced, with Taylor Swift, The Weeknd and Kendrick Lamar predictably leading with a total of seven nods each.

Swift and the Weeknd tied for the next highest number of nods with seven apiece, including record and album of the year. Kendrick Lamar is nominated 11 times in nine categories. Three of Weeknd’s nominations are for Earned It, a song featured on the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack.

Chris Stapleton, a country artist who long worked in the shadows as a songwriter for Nashville’s big stars, was nominated for Album of the Year for his first full-length work, “Traveller”.

Stapleton’s main competition is Little Big Town, also down for Best Country Song for “Girl Crush” and Country Album for “Pain Killer”.

The Song of the Year prize is a songwriting award.

Death Cab for Cutie are up for Best Rock Album (against Muse, Highly Suspect, James Bay, and Slipknot).

In contrast, Lamar, 28, is also up for Record of the Year for his song “Alright”. Shankar, 34, has been nominated in the Best World Music Album category for her solo album Home, which is a pure Indian classical album showcasing the meditative and virtuosic qualities of the Indian raga. Amusing folks Louis C.K., a Newton native, and Amy Poehler, from Burlington, were nominated for best comedy album and best spoken-word album, respectively. Some stars just couldn’t handle feeling left out of the nominations. Stratford, Ontario’s Justin Bieber got one nod this year, in the best dance recording category, for Where Are Ü Now with Skrillex and Diplo. It came as a shock for fans of Rihanna that she and her album “FourFiveSeconds” have been left out of the nomination list this year.

We’re in the middle of award season for films but also for music, as the Grammy nominations were announced this morning.

Saxophonist Jimmy Greene, the father of one of the children killed in the Sandy Hook school shooting, earned two nominations for an album inspired by his late daughter Ana Mrquez-Greene.

The much-hyped music event ceremony will take place on February 15.