Jon Batiste and Young Chart-Toppers Lead 2022 Grammy Nominations

Nominations for the 64th annual Grammy Awards, announced on Tuesday, recognized chart-topping pop stars like Justin Bieber, Olivia Rodrigo, Doja Cat and Billie Eilish. But the artist with the most chances to win is Jon Batiste, the composer and bandleader known for his work in television and film, who was nominated 11 times, including for his eclectic, soul-inflected album “We Are.”

Batiste, who also emerged last year as a voice of social protest, will face off in some of the most prestigious categories, like album and record of the year, as well as in an array of genre fields — including R&B, jazz, American roots and classical — at the ceremony, which is scheduled for Jan. 31 in Los Angeles, and will be broadcast by CBS.

The list of nominees is even more robust than usual this year, after the Recording Academy, which presents the awards, expanded the ballots for the top four categories — album, record and song of the year, and best new artist — to include 10 nominees, up from eight. As recently as four years ago, there were just five slots in those categories.

For album of the year, Batiste — perhaps best known as the musical director on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” on CBS — competes against Bieber (“Justice,” in a deluxe version), Doja Cat (“Planet Her”), Rodrigo (“Sour”), Eilish (“Happier Than Ever”), Taylor Swift (“Evermore”), Lil Nas X (“Montero”), Kanye West (“Donda”), H.E.R. (“Back of My Mind”), and Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga (“Love for Sale,” a tribute to Cole Porter).

Record of the year, which recognizes the recording of a single track, pits hits like Rodrigo’s “Drivers License,” Bieber’s “Peaches,” Doja Cat’s “Kiss Me More,” Lil Nas X’s “Montero (Call Me by Your Name)” and “Leave the Door Open” by Silk Sonic, the retro-soul project of Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, against Eilish’s “Happier Than Ever,” Brandi Carlile’s “Right on Time,” Bennett and Lady Gaga’s “I Get a Kick Out of You,” and “I Still Have Faith in You,” a comeback single by Abba — the Europop icons who were never nominated for a Grammy in their heyday of the 1970s and early ’80s.

For song of the year, a songwriter’s award, the nominees include “Drivers License,” “Happier Than Ever,” “Kiss Me More,” “Leave the Door Open,” “Peaches,” “Right on Time” and “Montero,” along with Ed Sheeran’s “Bad Habits,” Carlile and Alicia Keys’s “A Beautiful Noise,” and “Fight for You” by H.E.R., who won the prize last year for a protest anthem, “I Can’t Breathe.”

The new artist category is a mix of fresh pop stars and lesser-known acts. It includes Rodrigo, the singer and actress who rocketed to fame this year with hits like “Drivers License” and “Good 4 U”; the Kid Laroi, who has been ubiquitous on pop radio with “Stay,” featuring Bieber; and Saweetie, whose “Best Friend” featuring Megan Thee Stallion is another radio fixture; along with Finneas, Eilish’s producer brother; Japanese Breakfast, the alternative project led by Michelle Zauner, who has also won acclaim as a memoirist; the band Glass Animals; Arlo Parks; Baby Keem; Jimmie Allen; and Arooj Aftab.

Harvey Mason Jr., the chief executive of the academy, said in an interview that the decision to expand the ballot was in part driven by the rapid growth of the quantity of music released in the streaming age; according to