BEYONCE LEADS THE GRAMMY NOMINATIONS
Beyonce leads the Grammy Awards nominations list. PICTURE: Billboard Beyoncé leads this year's field of Grammy hopefuls with nine nominations, with Drake , Rihanna and Kanye West each garnering eight nods apiece. The awards show will air live from Los Angeles' Staples Center on February 12th. In the prestigious Album of the Year category, Beyoncé's Lemonade , Rolling Stone 's Best Album of 2016 , will face off against Adele 's 25 , Drake's Views , Justin Bieber 's Purpose and Sturgill Simpson 's A Sailor's Guide to Earth . Although 25 and Purpose were released in 2015, they arrived after the cut-off for this year's ceremony and thus became eligible for the 2017 awards. Neil Portnow, president and CEO of the Recording Academy, sees the major nominations as a reflection of musicians embracing new forms of expression. "Artists seem to be exe...