David Bowie, Rihanna, Little Mix Score Nominations for 2017 Brit Awards

Rihanna
Rihanna

With three nominations each, Little Mix, Rihanna and Skepta are the frontrunners leading up to the 2017 Brit Awards, while the late British legend David Bowie and Canadian rapper Drake are in the chasing pack of artists with two nods apiece.

Nominations for this year’s awards were announced at a ceremony Saturday night (Jan. 14) and for the first time were broadcast in a primetime slot on free-to-air TV station ITV.

Little Mix, the pop act whose fourth album Glory Days is the current No. 1 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart (and has held top spot for five weeks), is up for British group and their hit “Shoutout To My Ex” is in the hunt for British single and British video.

Rihanna’s hat trick of nominations includes a chance in the categories for British single and British video for her collaboration with Calvin Harris, “This Is What You Came For,” and the Barbadian singer features in a loaded category for international female solo artist along with Sia, Christine and the Queens and the Knowles sisters, Beyoncé and Solange.

Skepta’s 2016 Mercury Music Prize-winning album Konnichiwa is in the running for the prestigious Brits Album of the Year honor, though it faces stiff competition from David Bowie’s Mercury-nominated final album Blackstar, The 1975’s I Like It When You Sleep…, , Kano’s Made in…