Last night, New Orleans rapper Lil Wayne, who sold 1 million copies of his third album, “Tha Carter III†in a single week in July, was rewarded with eight Grammy Award nominations including Album Of The Year. Lil Wayne kept fans in the fold during the months before the album’s release with a boatload of mix tapes distributed over the Internet. He broke ground with new ways of generating buzz when consumers’ overall excitement toward the record industry’s offerings continues to decline.
Recording Academy voters decide on nominated artists and recordings, and Grammy nominations aren’t limited by an artist’s sales or chart positions. Still, acts that continued to sell well and chart high during 2008 got the most nods. Coldplay is up for the three top categories of Record, Album and Song Of The Year from its smash album “Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friendsâ€. They received seven nominations; Kanye West, Jay-Z and Ne-Yo collected six apiece.
Adele, Duffy, the Jonas Brothers, Lady Antebellum and Jazmine Sullivan are competing for Best New Artist. Bluegrass virtuoso Allison Krauss and Led Zepplin’s Robert Plant surprised with 5 nominations for their “Raising Sand” collaboration, including a Record Of The Year nod for “Please Read The Letter”. Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” , M.I.A’s “Paper Planes” and Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Love” are up for the award as well.
Winners will be announced Feb. 8 in a ceremony that will be held at Staples Center and telecast on CBS-TV.