Beyoncé leads Grammy nominations, Dua Lipa, Roddy Ricch and Taylor Swift score big

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Beyoncé is the one to beat at the 63rd Grammy Awards, snagging an eye-popping nine nominations.

The Recording Academy unveiled this year's nominees Tuesday via livestream.

The singer is up for record of the year for "Black Parade" as well as "Savage," her collaboration with Megan Thee Stallion. "Black Parade" also got a nod in the song of the year category. And "Brown Skin Girl" is a contender for best music video.

Beyoncé, who now has a lifetime 79 nominations and 24 wins, is the most-nominated female artist in Grammy history. She's tied with Paul McCartney for the second most-nominated artist of all time, trailing only her husband, Jay-Z (who received three nominations this year), and Quincy Jones – both with 80 career nominations.

If she takes home four gilded gramophones at the 2021 awards show in January, she'll become the female artist with the most Grammy wins. Eight trophies and she'll make history as the performer with the most Grammy wins of all time.

Beyoncé also led the 2017 Grammy nominations with nine for "Lemonade," winning two – for best urban contemporary album and music video ("Formation"). That she's once again on top shows that "she's awesome and she's been awesome for a long time," Harvey Mason Jr., interim CEO/president of the Recording Academy, tells USA TODAY. "The level of work that she does and the quality of what she creates has been very consistent. Our voters have loved what she's done for quite some time, and it's no different this year."

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In this video grab issued Sunday, June 28, 2020, by BET, Beyonce accepts the humanitarian award during the BET Awards.
In this video grab issued Sunday, June 28, 2020, by BET, Beyonce accepts the humanitarian award during the BET Awards.

Beyoncé's domination comes at a time when the Recording Academy has placed an emphasis on diversity. Earlier this year, interim president Mason outlined steps being taken, including hiring a diversity and inclusion officer and funding women in music organizations. The announcement came soon after Sean "Diddy" Combs used his Industry Icon award speech at the Clive Davis pre-Grammy Gala to criticize the academy's commitment to diversity.

"Truth be told, hip-hop has never been respected by the Grammys," he said. "Black music has never been respected by the Grammys to the point that it should be."

Invitations for the academy's 2020 member class went out to 2,300 diverse music professionals from wide-ranging backgrounds and genres, including "Old Town Road" artist Lil Nas X. New members identified as 48% women, 21% African American/African descent, 8% Hispanic and 3% Asian American/Pacific Islander descent.

Mason says diversifying academy membership is a "huge priority for us," and there's still work to be done so that it is "completely reflective of all the different genres and people who make up our membership, and make up all the different types of music that we represent."

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The 2021 awards also come after explosive allegations earlier this year by ousted CEO Deborah Dugan of sexual misconduct and vote-rigging. Mason declined to comment on the allegations, but says the academy recently started its search for a new CEO.

And even amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Grammys are moving ahead on an in-person ceremony Jan. 31 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The event will be broadcast on CBS and hosted by Trevor Noah of "The Daily Show."

"We're going to be doing as much as we can within reason and continue to be safe," Mason says. "We're really being respectful of what the medical professionals and political leaders are telling us, as far as what we can and cannot do." An audience is unlikely, he says, but expect live performances and awards-receiving portions.

Dua Lipa, Roddy Ricch and Taylor Swift trail Beyoncé with six nominations each.

Dua Lipa, who won best new artist at the 2019 awards, is a contender in the record of the year and song of the year categories for "Don't Start Now." Her "Future Nostalgia" is up for album of the year.

Ricch is this year's leading male nominee. He's nominated for record of the year with DaBaby for “Rockstar” and song of the year for "The Box." (Other record of the year contenders include "Colors" by Black Pumas, "Say So" by Doja Cat and "Circles" by Post Malone.)

Taylor Swift's "Folklore" is her eighth studio album.
Taylor Swift's "Folklore" is her eighth studio album.

Swift is up for album of the year for "Folklore" and song of the year for "Cardigan." If she wins album of the year, Swift will become the first female solo artist to win that honor three times. (She previously won for "Fearless" and "1989.")

Upon hearing the news, Swift tweeted an image of herself raising a glass on Zoom and FaceTime with friends. "ask us how our days been," she wrote.

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Also nominated for album of the year were "Chilombo" (Jhené Aiko), "Black Pumas" deluxe edition (Black Pumas), "Everyday Life" (Coldplay), "Djesse Vol. 3" (Jacob Collier), "Women In Music Pt. III" (Haim) and "Hollywood's Bleeding" (Post Malone).

This year's new artist hopefuls are Ingrid Andress, Phoebe Bridgers, Chika, Noah Cyrus, D Smoke, Doja Cat, Kaytranada and Megan Thee Stallion. "Circles" (Post Malone), "I Can't Breathe" (H.E.R.) and "If The World Was Ending" (JP Saxe featuring Julia Michaels) round out the list of best song hopefuls.

Brittany Howard has five nominations, while John Beasley, Justin Bieber, Phoebe Bridgers, DaBaby, Billie Eilish, David Frost and Megan Thee Stallion all had four. Eilish was nominated again for record of the year and song of the year — categories she won at the 2020 ceremony.

More than 11,000 academy members cast votes, according to the Recording Academy. There were 23,207 entries — a new record for most entries in a single year. The time period for eligible entries was Sept. 1, 2019, to Aug. 31.

Contributing: Cydney Henderson, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Grammy nominations: Beyoncé makes history, Dua Lipa and Swift score