Kanye West leads all artists with 10 Grammy Award nominations, as announced this morning in Los Angeles.

Usher and Alicia Keys follow with eight nominations each, Ray Charles has seven, Green Day received six, and Norah Jones, Loretta Lynn, Prince, and engineer Al Schmitt each earned five.

The Album Of The Year category sees 4 mainstream artists going up against a legend: Genius Loves Company by the late Ray Charles & Various Artists; American Idiot by Green Day; The Diary Of Alicia Keys by Alicia Keys; Confessions by Usher; and The College Dropout by Kanye West.

The Record Of The Year category is also one with newer artists against the legend: “Let’s Get It Started” (the Black Eyed Peas), “Here We Go Again” (Ray Charles & Norah Jones), “American Idiot” (Green Day), “Heaven” (Los Lonely Boys), and “Yeah!” (Usher).

The Best New Artist category will be one of the most unpredictable: Los Lonely Boys, Maroon 5, Joss Stone, Kanye West, and country artist Gretchen Wilson.

Song Of The Year includes hits from the past few months: John Mayer for “Daughters”; Alicia Keys for “If I Ain’t Got You”; C. Smith and Kanye West for “Jesus Walks”; Tim Nichols and Craig Wiseman for “Live Like You Were Dying” (performed by Tim McGraw); and Daniel Estrin and Douglas Robb for “The Reason” (performed by Hoobastank).

Five of West’s nominations are in rap fields, and two are in the same category: Best Rap Collaboration.

Best Pop Album will see: Genius Loves Company (Ray Charles & Various Artists), Norah Jones’ Feels Like Home; Sarah McLachlan’s Afterglow; Joss Stone’s Mind, Body & Soul; and Brian Wilson’s Brian Wilson Presents Smile, an album many years in the making.

Even Britney Spears came up with a rare nomination, in the Best Dance Recording category for “Toxic.”

The Grammys will be handed out February 13, 2005, in L.A.

A full list of nominees is available through grammy.com






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