CBS
Five artists got a nice Christmas present Friday night at the end of the CBS special A Very Grammy Christmas: a Grammy nod for Album of the Year.
After rolling out 82 out of 83 categories in all on Friday, the nominees for the most prestigious category were unveiled at the end of the special, which featured musical performances by Maroon 5, Mary J. Blige, Ariana Grande, Tim McGraw, Pharrell Williams and Sam Smith. Conveniently, those last two artists were nominated.
The Album of the Year nominees are:
G I R L, Pharrell Williams
In the Lonely Hour, Sam Smith
Morning Phase, Beck
X (Multiply), Ed Sheeran
Beyonce, Beyonce
"Oh my gosh, dream come true!" exclaimed Sam after host LL Cool J read the nominees. Sam is now the first male artist in 34 years -- and the first male U.K. artist ever -- to be nominated in all of the "Big Four" Grammy categories: Record, Song, Album of the Year and Best New Artist.
Sam Smith and Beyonce extend their Grammy nominations lead: they now each have six Grammy nominations, and so does Pharrell. Iggy Azalea, Beck, Eric Church, Drake, Jay Z, Miranda Lambert, Sia, Usher, and Jack White each have four nominations.
The special featured Christmas and Grammy reminiscences from Mary, Ariana, Tim, Pharrell and Adam Levine, who admitted that even though he's Jewish, Christmas is a special time of the year for him, too. Tim related the story of how, as a kid searching for Christmas presents one year, he found his birth certificate, which revealed that his real father was baseball legend Tug McGraw.
The artists performed the following numbers:
Maroon 5 -- A cover of John Lennon's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" and a medley of "This Love" and "Animals"
Ariana Grande -- "Santa Tell Me" and "Best Mistake," the latter of which she performed with her boyfriend, Big Sean
Mary J. Blige -- Her cover of U2's "One" and "When You're Gone"
Tim McGraw -- "Live Like You Were Dying" and "Overrated"
Pharrell Williams -- "Please Come Home for Christmas" and "Lost Queen"
Sam Smith -- "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"
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