Grammy Nominations: Who Got Snubbed? Who Didn’t?

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Sozufe Adeleri / Retna / Corbis

Taylor Swift

Maybe Beyonce will have to pull a Kanye at this year’s Grammy Awards.

While Foo Fighters, Bruno Mars, and Adele are “Rolling in the Deep” with six Grammy nominations each (they were announced last night), the acts were not this year’s top nominee. Kanye West had seven nominations, including a song of the year nod for “All of the Lights,” but last December’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was overlooked in the best album category, which it most very well should not have been. It’s hard to call seven nominations a snub, but as Kanye would say, “Imma let you finish, but…”

This year’s Album of the Year picks are a deserving if predictable lot. The nominating committee seemed to hold their surprises for who wasn’t chosen. Like perennial Grammy favorite Taylor Swift, for her album Speak Now, and veteran crooner Tony Bennett, who should have been at least a sentimental favorite for his No.1 album Duets II. The absence of these two albums along with the omission of Kanye’s critically-acclaimed and much-heralded disc is a bit of a head scratcher. Add to that the fact that Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” was not nominated for Song of the Year, despite having been absolutely everywhere, and you have a slightly perplexing main Grammy field.

(MORE: TIME Grades the 2010 Grammy Award Performances)

Not that head-scratching is new territory for the Grammy Awards. Anyone who saw Esperanza Spalding upset millions of Beiber-fever addled tweens by winning Best New Artist last year knows that the Grammys Awards don’t always take the easy route. (Only most of the time) The chance of an upset is what makes the award show fun to watch. That’s why I’m rooting for The Decemberists in the best rock performance category against Coldplay, Radiohead and Foo Fighters. You just never know when it comes to the Grammys. However if dubstep star Skillrex (who won five nominations last night) wins Artist of the Year over Nicki Minaj or The Band Perry, people may start to wonder what’s in the water over at Grammy Award HQ.

(MORE: The All-TIME 100 Songs)

The 54th Grammys will be held Feb. 12 in Los Angeles.

Here are some of the main nominees:

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, songwriters (Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi & Fergie)

“The Cave” — Ted Dwane, Ben Lovett, Marcus Mumford & Country Winston, songwriters (Mumford & Sons)

“Grenade” — Brody Brown, Claude Kelly, Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine, Bruno Mars & Andrew Wyatt, songwriters (Bruno Mars)

“Holocene” — Justin Vernon, songwriter (Bon Iver)

“Rolling In The Deep” — Adele Adkins & Paul Epworth, songwriters (Adele)