Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar and Adele dominate Grammy Awards nominations

Beyoncé and Adele are the stars to beat at the 2023 Grammy Awards, and will go head-to-head for all the major prizes.

Both artists have been nominated for album of the year - Adele for her sumptuous fourth album 30, and Beyoncé for her dancefloor opus Renaissance.

Adele's single Easy On Me and Beyoncé's Break My Soul are each up for song and record of the year.

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British stars Harry Styles and Coldplay are also in the running for best album, alongside Swedish pop icons Abba.

The quartet have received their first ever album of the year nomination for last year's Voyage - which saw them emerge from a 39-year hibernation.

The nominations were announced on Tuesday, and Beyoncé leads the pack with nine overall - including nods in the dance and R&B categories.

She is now tied with her husband Jay-Z as the most-nominated artist in Grammy history, with a total of 88, overtaking Sir Paul McCartney and Quincy Jones.

However, the star has not won a prize in any of the three biggest categories (album, record and song of the year) since Single Ladies was named song of the year in 2010.

But if she collects four (or more) awards next February, she will beat conductor Sir George Solti's all-time record of 31 Grammys.

Kendrick Lamar is this year's second biggest nominee, with eight nods for his fourth album Mr Morale and the Big Steppers - a pensive rumination on the state of the world and his own moral failings - and the freestyle The Heart Part 5.

Adele and country star Brandi Carli are tied in third place, with seven nominations each.

Taylor Swift has received multiple nominations for her epic re-recording of 2012's All Too Well, but her latest album, Midnights, was released too late for inclusion in the 2023 field.

And Puerto Rican rapper and singer Bad Bunny has made history by landing the first ever album of the year nomination for a Spanish language album.

His record, Un Verano Sin Ti (A Summer Without You), dominated the US Billboard charts this summer, racking up 13 weeks at number one.

British artists have had a particularly strong year. Along with Adele, Harry Styles has nominations for album of the year (Harry's House) as well as record and song of the year (As It Was).

Ozzy Osbourne picks up several nominations in the rock categories for his solo record Patient Number 9; while the Isle Of Wight duo Wet Leg get a nod for best new act.

Albums withheld

Drake and The Weeknd, who would have been likely frontrunners in the main categories, withdrew their latest albums from consideration. Both artists have long maintained, with some justification, that the Grammys sideline black artists to genre-based categories.

Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, whose side project Silk Sonic also declined to submit their album. Rather than criticise the voters, however, Mars said it "would be crazy to ask for anything more" after winning song and record of the year for Leave The Door Open at this year's ceremony.

Last month, the rapper Nicki Minaj protested that her hit song Super Freaky Girl had been moved from rap to the pop categories during the shortlisting process. In the end, it failed to pick up any nominations.

Other snubs included Elton John, whose hit collaboration with Dua Lipa, Cold Heart, was expected to pick up a nomination for best pop duo/group performance; and Ed Sheeran, whose fifth album = was completely overlooked.

But the Grammys can be strangely cautious of mainstream success. At this year's ceremony, for example, Jon Batiste won album of the year for the handsome soul record We Are, beating big sellers like Olivia Rodrigo's Sour and Lil Nas X's Montero.

His victory reinforced the perception that Grammy voters care more about tradition and musical chops than innovation and commercial performance - something many former nominees have grumbled about.

However, that could change this year, after almost 2,000 new members joined the voting organisation, 44% of whom come "from traditionally underrepresented communities," according to the Recording Academy. "And almost 50% are under the age of 40," noted chief executive, Harvey Mason Jr.

The nominees were announced in a livestream from the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles by former winners including Olivia Rodrigo, Cyndi Lauper and John Legend.

Here's a rundown of the major categories, and who might stand to win at the ceremony on 5 February, 2023.

Album of the year