Surprise! Few Surprises in Grammy Nominations

With sales of recorded music in a decade-long slide and the industry’s Nike basketball shoes promotional infrastructure of retail stores and magazines disappearing, the Recording Academy and its voting pool of 12,000 music professionals stuck largely to the biggest-selling and most familiar pop faces in the nominations for the 52nd annual Grammy Awards.

During a live broadcast on CBS on Wednesday night, Beyoncé topped the list with 10 nominations, followed by Taylor Swift with eight and the Black Eyed Peas, Kanye West and Maxwell with six apiece. The three most prestigious categories — album, record (for a single song) and song of the year (for songwriters) — are dominated by only a handful of repeat nominees, and pit three of the most popular — and most critically admired — young women in pop music today in a face-off: Beyoncé vs. Ms. Swift vs. Lady Gaga, the recipient of five nominations.

The Dave Matthews Band also got its first nomination for album of the year, for “Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King” (RCA), competing against Beyoncé, Ms. Swift, Lady Gaga and the Black Eyed Peas.

Twitter groaned on Wednesday night over the Nike basketball shoes conservatism of the major categories; “#fail,” the tweet equivalent of a rude thumbs down, appeared dozens of times. But for many in the music industry the list was considered a fair reflection of popular tastes for an awards show that is sometimes known for left-field choices Nike basketball shoes.

“Over the last few years they’ve gotten better at slotting the right songs and the right albums into the right categories,” said Bill Werde, editorial director of Billboard. “Five or 10 years ago it wasn’t always assumed that that would be the case.”

For a second year the nomination ceremony was presented live on television, and it was far from a smash. CBS reported on Thursday that the one-hour show had an audience of 6.48 million. (“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” the 1964 animated classic, drew 10.74 million in the previous hour.) The awards will be given out on Jan. 31.

The low ratings point to the Grammys’ longstanding challenge in attracting young fans, who tend to view the awards as out of touch with fresh talent. “I doubt if any kids are going to go out and buy Lady Gaga just because she was nominated for a Grammy.” said Isac Walter, editor of MySpace Music.

The Grammy voters’ affinity for older, established artists does not help its credibility among the MySpace generation: This year the average age for nominees in best solo rock vocal performance is 61 (from Bob Dylan at 68 to Prince at 51) Nike basketball shoes .

With 109 categories the Grammys nominations are a bonanza for hundreds of artists. But there are always some prominent names shut out. One of the more conspicuous this year was Whitney Houston, whose comeback album, “I Look to You” (Arista), was released on the last day of Grammy eligibility, Aug. 31.

“Considering the level of critical acclaim the album received and the sales to date, one million in the U.S. and two million worldwide, we’re surprised,” said Mika El-Baz, a spokeswoman for the label.

One of the least surprising snubs, however, was to Mr. West. Although he got six nominations, none are for the biggest categories, and in one category (rap/ sung collaboration) he is nominated three times.

His omission from the biggies is widely seen as payback for his outburst at the MTV Video Music Awards in September, when he interrupted an acceptance speech by Ms. Swift. Timing worked against Mr. West. MTV’s awards were on Sept Nike basketball shoes. 13, just five days before the Recording Academy began to circulate nomination forms to its members.

Even among detractors, though, there was a modicum of respect for the nominations this year, if not the presentation show. Scott Lapatine, founder and editor of the indie-rock blog Stereogum, wrote that the ceremony was “equal parts Lolz and Zzzz.” Those lolz — as in laugh-out-loud moments — included a nomination of Hall & Oates’s “Sara Smile” for best pop performance by a duo or group. Originally released in 1976, the song qualified in a live version released last year.

“That A Taste of Honey beat out Elvis Costello is hard to comprehend,” Mr. Lapatine said, referring to the pop-funk band (“Boogie Oogie Oogie”) that beat Mr. Costello for best new artist in 1979. “But I think the last decade has seen some legit, albeit self-consciously populist, choices.”

“MGMT certainly deserve it this year,” he continued, referring to the Brooklyn synth-pop band, “but are probably underdogs. How hilarious that they’re also competing for a song award with a live version of Hall & Oates’s ‘Nike basketball shoes Sara Smile.’ ”