2012 GRAMMY NOMINEES ANNOUNCED

Nominations for the 54th Grammy Awards have been announced, with Kanye West leading with seven nods and Adele showing her stance with six nods; including album, record and song of the year.

Joining the brilliant Brit at six nods were Foo Fighters and Bruno Mars; Lil Wayne and Skrillex each received five nods and Nicki Minaj, Rihanna and Mumford & Sons rallied with four nominations.

Highlights from the nominations include the below. For a full list, visit the official site.

ALBUM OF THE YEAR:
"21" -- Adele
"Wasting Light" -- Foo Fighters
"Born This Way" -- Lady Gaga
"Doo-Wops & Hooligans" -- Bruno Mars
"Loud" -- Rihanna

RECORD OF THE YEAR:
"Rolling In The Deep" -- Adele
"Holocene" -- Bon Iver
"Grenade" -- Bruno Mars
"The Cave" -- Mumford & Sons
"Firework" -- Katy Perry

BEST NEW ARTIST:
The Band Perry
Bon Iver
J. Cole
Nicki Minaj
Skrillex

SONG OF THE YEAR:
"All Of The Lights" -- Jeff Bhasker, Malik Jones, Warren Trotter & Kanye West
"The Cave" -- Ted Dwane, Ben Lovett, Marcus Mumford & Country Winston
"Grenade" -- Brody Brown, Claude Kelly, Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine, Bruno Mars & Andrew Wyatt
"Holocene" -- Justin Vernon
"Rolling In The Deep" -- Adele Adkins & Paul Epworth

BEST POP SOLO PERFORMANCE:
"Someone Like You" -- Adele
"Yoü And I" -- Lady Gaga
"Grenade" -- Bruno Mars
"Firework" -- Katy Perry
"F***in' Perfect" -- P!nk

BEST POP DUO/GROUP PERFORMANCE:
"Body And Soul" -- Tony Bennett & Amy Winehouse
"Dearest" -- The Black Keys
"Paradise" -- Coldplay
"Pumped Up Kicks" -- Foster The People
"Moves Like Jagger" -- Maroon 5 & Christina Aguilera

BEST DANCE RECORDING:
"Raise Your Weapon" -- Deadmau5 & Greta Svabo Bech
"Barbra Streisand" -- Duck Sauce
"Sunshine" -- David Guetta & Avicii
"Call Your Girlfriend" -- Robyn
"Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites" -- Skrillex
"Save The World" -- Swedish House Mafia

BEST ROCK PERFORMANCE:
"Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall" -- Coldplay
"Down By The Water" -- The Decemberists
"Walk" -- Foo Fighters
"The Cave" -- Mumford & Sons
"Lotus Flower" -- Radiohead

BEST ALTERNATIVE MUSIC ALBUM:
"Bon Iver" - Bon Iver
"Codes And Keys" - Death Cab For Cutie
"Torches" - Foster The People
"Circuital" - My Morning Jacket
"The King Of Limbs" - Radiohead

BEST RAP/SUNG COLLABORATION:
"Party" - Beyoncé & André 3000
"I'm On One" - DJ Khaled, Drake, Rick Ross & Lil Wayne
"I Need A Doctor" - Dr. Dre, Eminem & Skylar Grey
"What's My Name?" - Rihanna & Drake
"Motivation" - Kelly Rowland & Lil Wayne
"All Of The Lights" - Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi & Fergie

BEST RAP PERFORMANCE:
"Look At Me Now" - Chris Brown, Lil Wayne & Busta Rhymes
"Otis" - Jay-Z & Kanye West
"The Show Goes On" - Lupe Fiasco
"Moment 4 Life" - Nicki Minaj & Drake
"Black And Yellow" - Wiz Khalifa

Adele and Katy Perry top Billboard's mid-year charts

Adele's outstanding album 21, and Katy Perry's collaboration with Kanye West, ET, take out the top selling album and digital track respectively in the US - according to Billboard's mid-year charts.

Since it's release in late February, 21 has sold in excess of 2.51 million copies - an outstanding feat for any artist. Coming in at second place is Lady Gaga's Born This Way with an impressive 1.54 million copies sold (much of which was moved in it's first week of release). Coming in at third place is Mumford & Sons with Sigh No More on 982,000 copies.

Other notable album mentions are:
+ Bruno Mars' soul-tastic Doo Wops & Hooligans at #5 with 686,000
+ Chris Brown rise to F.A.M.E at #7 with 646,000
+ Nicki Minaj's debut album Pink Friday at #9 with 609,000
+ Katy Perry's luscious Teenage Dream at #10 with 600,000
+ Rihanna's real Loud at #11 with 598,000
+ Britney Spears' return to the spotlight at #12 with Femme Fatale with 590,000

ET, Perry's fourth single to be lifted off her Teenage Dream album, has moved over a staggering 4.1 million downloads, and is followed closely by Adele's Rolling in the Deep on 4.08 million downloads. Coming in at third place is Cee Lo Green's masterpiece Fuck You (Forget You) with over 3.2 million copies sold.

Watch the videos for Perry's ET [VIDEO], Adele's Rolling in the Deep [VIDEO] and Green's Fuck You [VIDEO]

Other notable digital track mentions are:
+ Lady Gaga's return with Born This Way at #4 with 3.02 million
+ Rihanna's raunchiness with S&M at #5 with 2.7 millions
+ Jennifer Lopez's RedOne production with Pitbull, On The Floor at #6 with 2.6 million
+ Bruno Mars with two appearances - his explosive Grenade at #9 with 2.3 million, and The Lazy Song at #15 with 2 million

Billboard has reported that both album and digital singles are up year on year with an impressive 1% and 11% respectively. In addition, album sales are up from this point point last year for the first time since 2004! What's even more impressive is the volume of talented pop artists in both charts.

For the full article, including the full top twenty albums and digital sakes, view Billboards article online [WEBSITE]

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