What's the Difference Between Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift? A Whole Lotta Grammy Nods

Hannah Montana's alter ego gets shut out—plus, more nomination-night snubs and surprises

Miley Cyrus ain't no Taylor Swift. David Cook ain't no Carrie Underwood. Kanye West probably isn't happy. (What else is new?)

Here's a rundown of the shutouts, snubs and sparkly Twilight surprises from tonight's Grammy nominations, plus Michael Jackson's MIA status explained:

• Miley Cyrus started the year with a hit movie and hit soundtrack, rocked the summer with a new EP, and ended up with fewer Grammy nominations than Ed Asner, Liza Minnelli or Princess Leia, respectively. Translation: That means zero. Translation of the translation: That means eight fewer than country-pop peer Swift.

• Cyrus' "The Climb" did earn one nod (in a TV/film category, where it'll probably lose to Slumdog Millionaire's "Jai Ho"), but none for its singer (because the award is for the songwriters).

• Welcome to the real, cruel world, David Cook. The season seven American Idol winner got nothing for not growing up to become Taylor Hicks. Most notably, Cook came up empty in Best New Artist, the category fellow Idol alum Carrie Underwood won in 2007. 

• Demi Lovato and Justin Bieber likewise failed to get Best New Artist love, making it a bad night for teenagers not named Taylor Swift.

• Where to begin with Kanye West? Yes, the awards-show grinch netted six nods, but no big fish: no Album of the Year, no Record of the Year, no Song of the Year, etc. Plus, his favorite Beyoncé song, "Single Ladies," got shut out of the ultimate prize, Record of the Year.

• Can't stop hum-hum-humming Owl City's "Fireflies"? Grammy voters could. The song and Adam Young's alterna-outfit got zip.

• The Black Eyed Peas are so powerful that only the Black Eyed Peas can stop them, with "I Gotta Feeling" nabbing a Record of the Year nod over the group's just-as-ubiquitous "Boom Boom Pow." 

• Whitney Houston, we have a problem: Zero nominations for you and your comeback album, I Look to You.

• Michael Jackson, sit tight: This Is It, the soundtrack and the single, were absent from the nominations because the collection wasn't released until after the Aug. 31 eligibility cutoff date. 

• Britney Spears, happy 28th birthday: You nabbed one nod. And while it wasn't for a prime-time award—with apologies to the Best Dance Recording category—it was for an award.

• Miley Cyrus, consider the Colbie Caillat plan: Two of the singer-songwriter's four noms were for work with (who else?) Taylor Swift.

• Twilight actually earned some awards-show cred from an awards show that's not voted on strictly by teenagers and/or Robert Pattinson-tracking cougars. The movie figured in two Grammy nods: one for its soundtrack compilation and one for the Paramore track "Decode."

• Fancy meeting you here: Steve Martin (up for Best Bluegrass Album); and the aforementioned Ed Asner (Best Spoken Word Album for Children), Liza (Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album) and Princess Leia (aka, Carrie Fisher, up for Best Spoken Word Album).

• Fancy not meeting you here: Bruce Springsteen, U2 and Eminem were three heavyweights who didn't make the Album of the Year title match.