LOS ANGELES: Beyonce became the most-nominated female artist in Grammy award history on Tuesday 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.

This year’s winners will be announced at a star-studded televised ceremony in Los Angeles on Feb 12.

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.

Published in Dawn December 7th, 2016