The GRAMMY Awards are widely considered to be the pinnacle of the music industry, with the prestigious awards held to the highest regard forartists, and first-time nominees are dominating next year's list.

The nominations for the 2018 GRAMMY Awards have just been announced and it's good news for many of our favourite artists - both established and new - who are nominated for the first time.

SZA and Khalid are the most-nominated newcomers with an incredible five nominations each while Kesha, Cardi B, Julia Michaels and Alessia Cara are all up for at least two awards.

Kesha'sreturn to the music industry continues to be an absolute triumph as 'Praying' is nominated for Best Pop Solo Performance and'Rainbow'is up for Best Pop Vocal Album, which are surprisinglythe first GRAMMY nominations of her career.

SZA and Khalid are both up for five awards eachfortheir phenomenal debut albums,'Ctrl'and'American Teen', as well as Khalid's contributions to Logic's '1-800-273-8255', which is nominated for Song Of The Year.

Alessia Cara shares the Song Of The Year nomination with Khalid and Logic, bringing her total number of nominations to four.

Adding to the first-time joy is Cardi B who is nominated for two awards for her breakthrough hit 'Bodak Yellow', being the only female nominee in the Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance categories.

Julia Michaels is also up for two awards including Song Of The Year for her debut single 'Issues', which is simply incredible and oh so deserving.

First-time nominees aside, Jay-Z has the most nominations overall with a massive eight nods-including all three of the most prestigious:Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year'and'Song Of The Year - which is amazing.

Close behind the rap legend is Kendrick Lamar and Bruno Mars with seven nominations each, while Childish Gambino follows with five.

'Despacito' also strikes gold with three noms for Song Of The Year, Record Of The Year and Best Duo/Group Performance.

Lorde is nominated for Album Of The Year for 'Melodrama'(yay!), meanwhile Lady Gaga andEd Sheeran both have two more nominations to their names for Best Pop Pop Solo Performance and Best Pop Vocal Album.

Justin Bieber also receives two nominations -Song Of The Year and Record Of The Year - for 'Despacito', along with Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee.

Congratulations to all of the brilliant nominees! The GRAMMY Awards will be held on January 28th, 2018.

Words: Ross McNeilage

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