Kendrick said it’d be “Aight” and was he ever right.
The rapper leads all 2016 Grammy nominees with 11 nods, including Album Of The Year for his critically-acclaimed opus, To Pimp A Butterfly. King Kendrick also scored nominees in the Song of the Year and rap categories.
Taylor Swift and The Weeknd both earned seven nominations, with each competing against Lamar, Christ Stapleton and the Alabama Shakes for the coveted Album of the Year.
Wiz Khalifa, Swift, Lamar, Little Big Town and Ed Sheeran will duke it out for the Song of the Year category, which honors the songwriters.
Kendrick also notched a nomination in the dance field, as his collaboration with Flying Lotus, “Never Catch Me,” is up for Best Dance Recording. The Chemical Brothers (“Go”), Above & Beyond with Zoë Johnston (“We’re All We Need”), Galantis (“Runaway”) and Jack Ü with Justin Beiber (“Where Are Ü Now”) are the fellow nominees in the category.
The Best Dance/Electronic Album category looks to be a slugfest as major releases by Caribou (Our Love), Disclosure (Caracal)and Jamie xx (In Colour) face off against Skrillex and Diplo’s Jack Ü project and The Chem Bros (Born In The Echoes).
Tame Impala’s Currents LP, Alabama Shakes’ Sound & Color, Björk’s Vulnicura, Wilco’s Star Wars and My Morning Jacket’s The Waterfall were nominated for Best Alternative Music Album.
The Weekend paces the Best Urban Contemporary Album field, thought newcomers were also nominated, including Kehlani (You Should Be Here), The Internet (Ego Death), in addition to Miguel (Wildheart) and Lianne La Havas (Blood).
The Best New Artist category will find Courtney Barnett, James Bay, Sam Hunt, Tori Kelly and Meghan Trainor compete for a gold trophy.
Along with Kendrick’s 11 nods, and The Weekend and Taylor Swift’s seven, Drake and engineers Tom Coyne, Serban Ghenea and John Hanes each earned five nominations and producer Max Martin scored six nominations.
Drake was nominated in the Best Rap Performance for “Back To Back,” where he’ll square off against himself as a part of Nicki Minaj’s “Truffle Butter,” Kanye West (“All Day”), J.Cole (“Apparently”), Kendrick Lamar (“Alright”) and Fetty Wap (“Trap Queen”).
Check out the full list of nominations here.