The Hit Music Academy

#2011 #GRAMMY #Predictions: Record of the Year & Album of the Year

Posted: 01 Dec 2010 06:57 PM PST

Record of the Year

Eminem f. Rihanna, "Love the Way You Lie"

Florence + the Machine, "Dog Days Are Over"

Jay-Z & Alicia Keys, "Empire State of Mind"

Lady Antebellum, "Need You Now"

Lady Gaga, "Bad Romance"

Whereas the Song of the Year category solely recognizes lyrical content, Record of the Year is all about the overall production of a given track (vocals, instrumentation, etc.). When predicting this category, it's also important to take things such as chart performance, cultural impact and social relevance into account as well.

With that being said, Billboard Hot 100 chart toppers "Love the Way You Lie" and "Empire State of Mind" are frontrunners that meet these criteria. The latter record in particular got the "Glee" stamp of approval along with "Bad Romance" (proving that Lady Gaga is no one trick pony when it comes to crafting addictively fresh pop music).

While expecting second and third nods for Em, RiRi, Jay, Alicia and Gaga, new blood will likely come in the form of Florence +the Machine and Lady Antebellum. Country records that crossover to pop have done extremely well here, boding well for "Need You Now". Also, "Dog Days Are Over" has made quite a splash without mainstream radio support to be included in the mix.

Although they didn't make it into these predictions, don't count out "Nothin' on You" (B.o.B f. Bruno Mars), "California Gurls" (Katy Perry f. Snoop Dogg) or veteran act Sade ("Soldier of Love").

Album of the Year

Arcade Fire, The Suburbs

Eminem, Recovery

Jay-Z, The Blueprint 3

Lady Antebellum, Need You Now

Sade, Soldier of Love

Vying for the Grammys' top prize, I suspect the aforementioned efforts will occupy the Album of the Year category. The Suburbs has given Arcade Fire continued critical acclaim as well as their first time topping the mainstream albums chart.

Eminem proved that he's still a major force in music with the success of his latest studio release, Recovery.

In the 14 years of his illustrious career, Jay-Z has never graced this category and is positioned to make his debut appearance with The Blueprint 3.

Also poised to receive their first AOTY year nominations are breakthrough country act Lady Antebellum and R&B heavyweight Sade. As the second best selling album of 2010 so far, Need You Now has rivaled the achievement of last year's biggest country album (Taylor Swift's Fearless) and Soldier of Love illustrated Sade's relevance 10 years after their last release (Lovers Rock).

Although I wouldn't be surprised if it made it here, I'm suspecting Grammy voters will wait for Lady Gaga to come out with her second studio effort and skip over The Fame Monster (an EP).

Also, don't be shocked if Miranda Lambert's Revolution is featured here due to the fact that it's one of the best reviewed albums of the eligibility period.

How do you feel about our GRAMMY predictions? Write us on Twitter @dBRYJmusic or leave a comment below =)

Posted by Brian Buchana.
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The Hit Music Academy | 2010

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Tagged: Album of the Year, GRAMMY, GRAMMY Awards, GRAMMYs, predictions, Record of the Year