The 2011 Grammy Nominations—Well, The Good Ones At Least

Below are just some of the nominations for the 2011 Grammys, which will be aired live on CBS on February 13. Raise your hand if you didn't think "Love The Way You Lie" and "Need You Now" (which, okay—I actually like that one) were going to get Song and Record Of The Year notices.

As usual, the Dance categories are the most exciting, as Goldfrapp and La Roux are each up for Best Dance Recording and Best Electronic/Dance Album. Robyn got a sparing nod in the former for "Dancing On My Own."

I'm also happy Florence + The Machine got a nod in the Best New Artist category, though shocked "Dog Days Are Over" was overlooked in all other categories. Another surprise: Sade, who's Soldier Of Love was one of the year's best-selling albums, only got two nominations (Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals and Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals).

And don't even get me started on Katy Perry getting an effing Album Of The Year nomination. Album Of The Year! She had maybe one-and-a-half good songs on Teenage Dream, max—and of those, she can't sing a damn one of them live with out sounding like someone's grandma gargling with Clorox.

Perhaps the biggest joke is that Cee Lo Green's excellent hit single—which rightfully got noticed in the Song and Record Of The Year categories—had to be labeled as "The song otherwise known as 'Forget You'" on last night's live Grammy nominations concert.

It's easy to say, Grammy. Fuck you.

THE 2011 GRAMMY NOMINATIONS

SONG OF THE YEAR
“Beg Steal Or Borrow” – Ray LaMontagne & The Pariah Dogs
“Forget You” (aka "Fuck You") – Cee Lo Green
“The House That Built Me”- Miranda Lambert
"Love The Way You Lie" – Eminem feat. Rihanna
“Need You Now” – Lady Antebellum

RECORD OF THE YEAR
“Nothin’ On You” – B.o.B feat. Bruno Mars
“Love The Way You Lie” – Eminem feat. Rihanna
“Forget You” (aka “Fuck You”) – Cee Lo Green
“Empire State Of Mind” – Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys
“Need You Now” – Lady Antebellum

ALBUM OF THE YEAR
The Suburbs, Arcade Fire
Recovery, Eminem
Need You Now, Lady Antebellum
The Fame Monster, Lady Gaga
Teenage Dream, Katy Perry

BEST NEW ARTIST
Justin Bieber
Drake
Florence + The Machine
Mumford & Sons
Esperanza Spalding

BEST FEMALE POP VOCAL PERFORMANCE
“King of Anything” – Sara Bareilles
“Halo (Live)” – Beyoncé
“Chasing Pirates” – Norah Jones
“Bad Romance” – Lady Gaga
“Teenage Dream” – Katy Perry

BEST MALE POP VOCAL PERFORMANCE
“Haven’t Met You Yet” – Michael Bublé
“This Is It” – Michael Jackson
“Whataya Want From Me” – Adam Lambert
“Just The Way You Are” – Bruno Mars
“Half Of My Heart” – John Mayer

BEST POP COLLABORATION WITH VOCALS
“Airplanes II” – B.o.B, Eminem & Hayley Williams
“Imagine” – Herbie Hancock, Pink, India.Arie, Seal, Konono No. 1, Jeff Beck & Oumou Sangare
“If It Wasn’t For Bad” – Elton John & Leon Russell
“Telephone” – Lady Gaga & Beyoncé
“California Gurls” – Katy Perry & Snoop Dogg

BEST PERFORMANCE BY POP DUO OR GROUP
“Don’t Stop Believin’ (Regionals Version)” – “Glee” Cast
“Misery” – Maroon 5
“The Only Exception” – Paramore
“Babyfather” – Sade
“Hey, Soul Sister (Live)” – Train

BEST POP VOCAL ALBUM
My World 2.0 – Justin Bieber
I Dreamed A Dream – Susan Boyle
The Fame Monster – Lady Gaga
Battles Studies – John Mayer
Teenage Dream – Katy Perry

BEST DANCE RECORDING
“Rocket” – Goldfrapp
“In For The Kill” – La Roux
“Dance In The Dark” – Lady Gaga
“Only Girl (In The World)” – Rihanna
“Dancing On My Own” – Robyn

BEST ELECTRONIC/DANCE ALBUM
These Hopeful Machines – BT
Further – The Chemical Brothers
Head First – Goldfrapp
Black Light – Groove Armada
La Roux – La Roux

BEST ROCK SONG
“Angry World” – Neil Young, songwriter (Neil Young)
“Little Lion Man” – Ted Dwane, Ben Lovett, Marcus Mumford & Country Winston, songwriters (Mumford & Sons)
“Radioactive” – Caleb Followill, Jared Followill, Matthew Followill & Nathan Followill, songwriters (Kings Of Leon)
“Resistance” – Matthew Bellamy, songwriter (Muse)
“Tighten Up” – Dan Auerbach & Patrick Carney, songwriter (The Black Keys)

BEST FEMALE R&B VOCAL PERFORMANCE
“Gone Already” – Faith Evans
“Bittersweet” – Fantasia
“Everything To Me” – Monica
“Tired” – Kelly Price
“Holding You Down (Going In Circles)” – Jazmine Sullivan

BEST MALE R&B VOCAL PERFORMANCE
“Second Chance” – El DeBarge
“Finding My Way Back” – Jaheim
“Why Would You Stay” – Kem
“We’re Still Friends” – (Kirk Whalum &) Musiq Soulchild
“There Goes My Baby” – Usher

BEST R&B PERFORMANCE BY A DUO OR GROUP
“Take My Time” – Chris Brown & Tank
“Love” — Chuck Brown, Jill Scott & Marcus Miller
“You’ve Got A Friend” – Ronald Isley & Aretha Franklin
“Shine” – John Legend & The Roots
“Soldier Of Love” – Sade

BEST RAP SOLO PERFORMANCE
“Over” – Drake
“Not Afraid” – Eminem
“How Low” – Ludacris
“I’m Back” – T.I.
“Power” – Kanye West

BEST RAP/SUNG COLLABORATION
“Nothin’ On You” – B.o.B Featuring Bruno Mars
“Deuces” – Chris Brown, Tyga & Kevin McCall
“Love The Way You Lie” – Eminem & Rihanna
“Empire State Of Mind” – Jay-Z & Alicia Keys
“Wake Up! Everybody” – John Legend, The Roots, Melanie Fiona & Common

BEST RAP SONG
“Empire State Of Mind” – Shawn Carter, Angela Hunte, Burt Keyes, Alicia Keys, Jane’t “Jnay” Sewell-Ulepic & Alexander Shuckburgh, songwriters (Sylvia Robinson, songwriter) (Jay-Z & Alicia Keys)
“Love The Way You Lie” – Alexander Grant, Skylar Grey & Marshall Mathers, songwriters (Eminem & Rihanna)
“Not Afraid” – M. Burnett, J. Evans, Marshall Mathers, L. Resto & M. Samuels, songwriters (Eminem)
“Nothin’ On You” – Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine, Bruno Mars & Bobby Simmons Jr., songwriters (B.o.B Featuring Bruno Mars)
“On To The Next One” – Shawn Carter, J. Chaton & K. Dean, songwriters (G. Auge & X. De Rosnay, songwriters) (Jay-Z & Swizz Beatz)

BEST RAP ALBUM
The Adventures Of Bobby Ray, B.o.B
Thank Me Later, Drake
Recovery, Eminem
The Blueprint 3, Jay-Z
How I Got Over, The Roots

U.S. Chart Roundup: Brace Yourselves—'Glee' Is A Hit Or Something

The main activity on the Billboard Hot 100 this week comes from the songs that appeared in the Season 2 premiere of Glee. The singing troupe of TV dorks see their following covers hit the chart: "Empire State Of Mind" (#21), "Telephone" (#23), "Billionaire" (#28) [Note: for the record, I fucking hate this song], "Listen" (#38) and "What I Did For Love" (#51).

Elsewhere, all does not seem lost just yet for Selena Gomez & The Scene's moody dance-pop jam "A Year Without Rain." After dropping from #35 to #65 last week, the single now jumps up to #53. Her same-named album debuts on the Top 200 album chart at #4. (Is it any good? I've only heard a few clips—seems decent enough?)

That brings us to Florence + The Machine, whose "Dog Days Are Over" sadly falls from #21—where it flew to after Flo's stellar MTV VMAs performance the other week—to #73. Over on the Top 200, FATM's Lungs has a less dramatic plunge from #14 to #28.

And we'll end with these two final notes—first up, Brandon Flowers' Flamingo, which debuted at #8 last week, drops to #30. I actually made it the whole way through this album twice. It's not bad. It's just...there.

And at least Christina Aguilera can be happy that she's finally #1 again somewhere. Her Bionic single "You Lost Me" has topped the Dance/Club Play Songs chart. Triumph!

The U.S. Top 10:

1. "Just The Way You Are" - Bruno Mars" *2 weeks*
2. "Teenage Dream" - Katy Perry
3. "Love The Way You Lie" - Eminem feat. Rihanna
4. "DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love" - Usher feat. Pitbull
5. "Dynamite" - Taio Cruz
6. "Like A G6" - Far*East Movement 
7. "Just A Dream" - Nelly
8. "Only Girl (In The World)" - Rihanna
9. "I Like It" - Enrique Iglesias feat. Pitbull
10. "Club Can't Handle Me" - Flo Rida feat. David Guetta

Bruno Mars And Far*East Movement Get The Charts Completely Wasted

So we have a new #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week in the form of "Just The Way You Are," the first official single by Bruno Mars. Of course, Bruno's celebrating will be dampened by the fact that he got busted for carrying cocaine around last weekend in Las Vegas. (Did he learn nothing from wise sage/music legend Paris Hilton?)

And then at #10 we have the sizzurp-slurping Far*East Movement, whose "Like A G6" makes me feel like drowning myself in a tub full of grain alcohol. Hey, kids—getting fucked up is fun! And so is getting arrested! Paaaaaaaarty!

Moving on to classier trash, two singles jump 72 positions this week—Rihanna's "Only Girl (In The World)" (up from #75 to #3) and Florence + The Machine's "Dog Days Are Over" (#93 to #21). RiRi's jam benefits from being added to iTunes last week, while Flo performed on the MTV VMAs two Sundays ago.

FATM's LP Lungs also makes an impressive leap, from #44 to #14, on the Top 200 album chart. Not faring as well is Robyn's Body Talk Pt. 2, which drops from last week's debut position of #41 to #200. Ouch. At least Brandon Flowers managed a #8 debut with solo album Flamingo. (Two weeks ago he landed the album at #1 in the UK.)

And in slightly Sophie Ellis-Bextor-related news, Armin Van Buuren's Mirage, which contains their collaboration "Not Giving Up On Love," debuts at #148. I'm playing their jam this very moment in celebration of this momentous triumph.

The U.S. Top 10:

1. "Just The Way You Are" - Bruno Mars" *1 week*
2. "Love The Way You Lie" - Eminem feat. Rihanna
3. "Only Girl (In The World)" - Rihanna
4. "Teenage Dream" - Katy Perry
5. "DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love" - Usher feat. Pitbull
6. "Dynamite" - Taio Cruz
7. "I Like It" - Enrique Iglesias feat. Pitbull
8. "Just A Dream" - Nelly
9. "Club Can't Handle Me" - Flo Rida feat. David Guetta
10. "Like A G6" - Far*East Movement

Robyn's 'Body Talk Pt. 2' Becomes Her Highest-Charting Album In The U.S.

Robyn's Body Talk Pt. 2 had a much better debut (#41) on this week's Billboard Top 200 album chart than Pt. 1 did (#97) back in June. Chalk it up to her recent tour here with Kelis—and it's probably a good thing for the upcoming Pt. 3 that she's touring here in the States again in November.

Body Talk Pt. 2 has now become Robyn's highest-charting album in the States, a title that previously belonged to her 1997 debut Robyn Is Here (which peaked at #57, but ultimately went Platinum).

Sadly, Robyn's excellent jam "Hang With Me" was released this week in England and isn't performing as well as "Dancing On My Own" did there (the latter charted at #8 on the UK chart in June). Currently, "Hang With Me" is #92 on UK iTunes.

Over on the Hot 100 singles chart, Katy Perry is #1 for a second week with "Teenage Dream," while Adam Lambert climbs to a new high of #31 with "If I Had You."

Meanwhile, it's a big week for debuts: Selena Gomez & The Scene go in at #35 with "A Year Without Rain," Rihanna cracks the chart at #75 with "Only Girl (In The World)"—but expect it to make a huge leap next week since it went on sale this week at iTunes, where it's currently #1—and Florence + The Machine's "Dog Days Are Over" debuts at #93 (that one will jump up, too, as it's at #6 on iTunes after Flo's MTV VMAs performance).

The U.S. Top 10:

1. "Teenage Dream" - Katy Perry *2 weeks*
2. "Love The Way You Lie" - Eminem feat. Rihanna
3. "Just The Way You Are" - Bruno Mars
4. "Dynamite" - Taio Cruz
5. "I Like It" - Enrique Iglesias feat. Pitbull
6. "DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love" - Usher feat. Pitbull
7. "Just A Dream" - Nelly
8. "Take It Off" - Ke$ha
9. "Club Can't Handle Me" - Flo Rida feat. David Guetta
10. "Mine" - Tayler Swift

MTV VMAs 2010: The Highlights—Including Lady Gaga Announcing New Album 'Born This Way'

I literally just finished live-blogging the MTV Video Music Awards over on Idolator, and really three things stuck out tonight (aside from the fact that Robyn's performance with Deadmau5 was cut off after 30 seconds):

1. Florence + The Machine's performance of "Dog Days Are Over" (which won for Best Art Direction In A Video) was unmatched. Yes, last year at some point I said here on Chart Rigger something along the lines of "Hey, Florence—Tori Amos wants her pussy back." But that was then! I was young an naive!



2. Upon winning Video Of The Year for "Bad Romance"—just one of her eight wins in the 13 categories she was nominated for—Lady Gaga announced the name of her third album. It's called Born This Way. By the way, fucking Cher presented Gaga her award, while wearing her "If I Could Turn Back Time" thong!



3. Chelsea Handler = Best VMA host ever. After her opening monologue, she straddled Rick Ross atop a motorcart and rode off into the audience. Just one of her classy lines from the evening: “Get your tongues ready because I want one shoved where it’s not supposed to be.”

2010 MTV VMAs

Video Of The Year: Lady Gaga, "Bad Romance"
Best Male Video: Eminem, "Not Afraid"
Best Female Video: Lady Gaga, "Bad Romance"
Best New Artist: Justin Bieber, "Baby"
Best Pop Video: Lady Gaga, "Bad Romance"
Best Rock Video: 30 Seconds To Mars, "Kings And Queens"
Best Hip Hop Video: Eminem, "Not Afraid"
Best Dance Video: Lady Gaga, "Bad Romance"
Best Collaboration: Lady Gaga/Beyonce, "Telephone"
Breakthrough Video: The Black Keys, "Tighten Up"
Best Direction: Lady Gaga, "Bad Romance"
Best Choreography: Lady Gaga, "Bad Romance"
Best Special Effects: Muse, "Uprising"
Best Art Direction: Florence + The Machine, "Dog Days Are Over"
Best Editing: Lady Gaga, "Bad Romance"
Best Cinematography: Jay-Z/Alicia Keys, "Empire State Of Mind"
Tr3s Latino Artist Of The Year: Aventura