Mariah's Grammy Whammy

The emancipation of Mariah Carey from all things that Glitter seems complete.

The songbird soared with eight Grammy nominations Thursday, including an Album of the Year nod for her comeback statement, The Emancipation of Mimi.

"I felt that I was doing a record that was really unique," a beaming Carey told E! Entertainment shortly after the nominations (which she helped announce) were unveiled in New York City. "[Mimi] was an entire piece of work that really came from my heart."

Kanye West was responsible for an eye-popping 20 nominations--eight for the social-minded rapper who avoided the sophomore slump with Late Registration, eight for his R&B protégé John Legend and four more for Common's Be, which will compete against Late Registration for Best Rap Album.

"Oh, man, I don't even know what to say," Legend told E!

Befitting his status as a Best New Artist nominee, Legend is a newcomer to the big-time Grammy stakes. West and Carey, by comparison, know of the highs and lows: Last year, West led the Grammy field with 10 nominations on the strength of his solo debut, The College Dropout, but converted only on three wins; the 35-year-old Carey hasn't won a Grammy since she was a 20-year-old who had yet to crash and burn with the Glitter album-movie fiasco.

"2001 was bleak," concurred Carey on E!, noting that she felt "blessed" and "thankful" for Mimi.

Get the complete list of contenders

No act scored more nominations than Carey, West and Legend. The other top multiple nominees, with six each, were 50 Cent, Beyoncé Knowles, 22-time winner Stevie Wonder and the Black Eyed Peas' Will.i.am, who also lent an assist to Legend, cowriting the piano man's hit, "Ordinary People."

Carey and West will vie for bragging rights in the all-important Album of the Year category, where Mimi and Late Registration are pitted against Gwen Stefani's Love, Angel, Music, Baby, U2's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and, easily the biggest surprise, Paul McCartney's Chaos and Creation in the Backyard.

A bit of a critical whipping boy as a solo act, McCartney hasn't won a Grammy for being McCartney, as opposed to being a Beatle, since 1979, an honor he shared with Wings.

Historical Grammy favorites shut out in the album race include Eminem, Coldplay and Bruce Springsteen, who despite his legend status has never won an Album of the Year Grammy--no, not even for Born to Run--and won't win one for his sparse Devils & Dust.

Springsteen had better luck in the Song of the Year category, nominated as a songwriter for the new album's title track. The other contending cuts are: Carey's "We Belong Together," Legend's "Ordinary People," Rascal Flatts' "Bless the Broken Road" and U2's "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own."

TOP CONTENDERS
Artist
Noms
Mariah Carey
8
John Legend
8
Kanye West
8
50 Cent
6
Beyoncé Knowles
6
Will.i.am
6
Stevie Wonder
6
Missy Elliott
5
Alicia Keys
5
Bruce Springsteen
5
Gwen Stefani
5
U2
5

In the race for Record of the Year, ostensibly awarded to the year's best single, Carey's summertime hit "We Belong Together" and West's 007-sampling "Gold Digger" are nominated alongside Stefani's "Hollaback Girl," Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," and Gorillaz's "Feel Good Inc."

Going where the Archies only dreamed, the all-animated Gorillaz drew on the talent of Blur's Damon Albarn and deejay Danger Mouse to notch four overall nominations.

If the Recording Academy showed the love to a cartoon band, then it also showed the respect to American Idol acts. Season-three winner Fantasia claimed three nominations, including a Best R&B Album nod for her Free Yourself debut; season-one winner Kelly Clarkson was a double nominee on the strength of Breakaway hit, "Since U Been Gone," a Best Female Pop Vocal hopeful. (The album itself, Clarkson's second, is a Best Pop Vocal Album contender.)

Where Lindsay Lohan was concerned, the Grammys didn't help the Mean Girls star earn artistic points as a pop star. Her 2004 debut Speak wasn't heard from. And instead of Lohan basking in the glory of a Best New Artist nomination, Legend, Ciara, Fall Out Boy, Keane and SugarLand each is.

In a way, not getting nominated, like a Lohan, seems a tougher task that getting nominated. The upcoming Grammys, after all, will hand out awards in 108 far-flung categories. A drilling down:

Former Grammy queen Norah Jones showed versatility, scoring shared nods for work with the Foo Fighters (up for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "Virginia Moon") and Willie Nelson (up for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals for "Dreams Come True").
System of a Down might have had two chart-topping albums in 2005, but it scored only one Grammy nod, a Best Hard Rock Performance commendation for "B.Y.O.B."
If Oscar winner Jamie Foxx wins the Grammy for Best R&B Male Performance (for "Creepin'" from So Amazing: An All-Star Tribute To Luther Vandross), he'll only be an Emmy and a Tony behind Rita Moreno.
If Oscar-winner Sean Penn wins the Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album (for reading aloud Bob Dylan's Chronicles: Volume One), he, too, will be but one Emmy and one Tony behind Moreno. But first, he'll have to take out U.S. Senator Barack Obama, a nominee for his audiobook version of Dreams from My Father.
Winning two Oscars for Million Dollar Baby wasn't enough for Clint Eastwood--he's out for a Grammy as the film's composer in the Best Score Soundtrack category. (And, yes, Eastwood conceivably could pull a Rita Moreno, too, provided he got busy--and learned to project.)
Anti-Rita Moreno Martin Scorsese (he's never won an Oscar, an Emmy, or a Tony, much less a Grammy) could start his collection with a win for directing Best Long Form Video nominee, No Direction Home: Bob Dylan.
Nicole Kidman's country friend Keith Urban was nominated (for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for "You'll Think of Me"); Ren�e Zellweger's estranged country husband Kenny Chesney wasn't.
Damian Marley, Bob Marley's youngest son, honored the family business with a Best Reggae Album nomination for Welcome to Jamrock.
No longer a top-paid sitcom star, Ray Romano is now but a humble Best Spoken Word Album for Children nominee for his rendering of Raymie, Dickie and the Bean: Why I Love and Hate My Brothers.
It's red state versus blue state in the Best Comedy Album race, where Larry the Cable Guy's The Right to Bare Arms goes up against Chris Rock's Never Scared.

With so many nominees, it could be said that if you aren't a contender, you aren't breathing, but that would be incorrect. Ray Charles hasn't been breathing since June 2004, and he's now a posthumous contender for the second year running. This time, Charles is up for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Ray.

The 48th annual Grammy Awards are scheduled to be presented in a live CBS telecast on Feb. 8 from Los Angeles' Staples Center.

Here's a rundown of the top categories:

Record of the Year: "We Belong Together," Mariah Carey "Feel Good Inc.," Gorillaz "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," Green Day "Hollaback Girl," Gwen Stefani "Gold Digger," Kanye West

Album of the Year: The Emancipation of Mimi, Mariah Carey Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, Paul McCartney Love, Angel, Music, Baby, Gwen Stefani How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, U2 Late Registration, Kanye West

Song of the Year (songwriter's award): "Bless the Broken Road," Bobby Boyd, Jeff Hanna & Marcus Hummon (Rascal Flatts) "Devils & Dust," Bruce Springsteen (Bruce Springsteen) "Ordinary People," William Adams (aka, Will.i.am) & John Stephens (John Legend) "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own," U2 (U2) "We Belong Together," Johnta Austin, Mariah Carey, Jermaine Dupri & Manuel Seal (Mariah Carey)

New Artist: Ciara Fall Out Boy Keane John Legend SugarLand

Pop Vocal Album: Extraordinary Machine, Fiona Apple Breakaway, Kelly Clarkson Wildflower, Sheryl Crow Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, Paul McCartney Love, Angel, Music, Baby, Gwen Stefani

Rock Album: X&Y, Coldplay In Your Honor, Foo Fighters A Bigger Bang, Rolling Stones How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, U2 Prairie Wind, Neil Young

R&B Album: Illumination, Earth, Wind and Fire Free Yourself, Fantasia Unplugged, Alicia Keys Get Lifted, John Legend A Time to Love, Stevie Wonder

Rap Album: Be, Common The Cookbook, Missy Elliott Encore, Eminem The Massacre, 50 Cent Late Registration, Kanye West

Country Album: Fireflies, Faith Hill Lonely Runs Both Ways, Alison Krauss and Union Station Time Well Wasted, Brad Paisley All Jacked Up, Gretchen Wilson Jasper County, Trisha Yearwood

Complete list of nominations.