The nominations were announced after the Recording Academy’s fourth annual live concert special, which aired on CBS from the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. The hour-long event featured key nominees like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj and the Band Perry.

ADELE scored six Grammy nominations Wednesday, including for record, song and album of the year, but the owner of the 2011’s best-selling album with “21” wasn’t the night’s top nominee — and that wasn’t the evening’s only surprise.

Kanye West came away with a leading seven nominations, including a bid for song of the year for his all-star song “All of the Lights.” However, the album from which it came — “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” heralded by many critics as the best album of 2010 — was not in the best album category, and all of his other nominations were relegated to the rap fields.

Other notable omissions in the top categories included country phenomenon Taylor Swift and veteran crooner Tony Bennett.

Bruno Mars and the Foo Fighters tied Adele with six nominations each, including in the album of the year category. Lil Wayne had five nods and critical-darling folk act Bon Iver scored four nominations, with two in the prestigious record and song of the year categories. But dubstep star Skrillex may have been the night’s biggest surprise, getting five nominations, including a bid for best new artist.

“It feels incredible. Me and these guys, we locked ourselves in the studio not too far from here and worked on this album, especially ‘Grenade,’” Mars said after the nominations were announced.

The nominations were announced after the Recording Academy’s fourth annual live concert special, which aired on CBS from the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. The hour-long event featured key nominees like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj and the Band Perry.

Even though Adele didn’t get the lion’s share of nominations, she got them where it counted: Her “21,” the mournful post-breakup album that produced smash hits like the torch ballad “Someone Like You” — was nominated for album of the year. The searing groove “Rolling in the Deep,” which spent seven weeks at No. 1 this past summer, got nominations for both record and song of the year. Only Mars got nominations in all three categories as well.

The best album category was as noteworthy for who was excluded as it was for who was nominated. Lady Gaga garnered her third straight nod in the category for “Born This Way,” while veteran rockers the Foo Fighters were nominated for “Wasting Light,” along with Mars’ debut album, “Doo-Wops & Hooligans,” and Rihanna’s steamy dance album “Loud.”

The biggest snub may have been to Swift, who won in the category in 2010 and was considered by some critics to be a favorite for “Speak Now,” which has sold 3.7 million copies. She did get three nominations, however, including for best country album.

(SD-Agencies)