Chance The Rapper Receives 7 Grammy Nominations, Including 'Best New Artist'

Photo via Billboard's 2017 Grammy Preview Issue

Chance The Rapper has been nominated for seven Grammy Award nominations, most notably in the 'Best New Artist' category alongside 26-year old country singer Marren Morris, hip-hop rapper/producer Anderson .Paak, country singer Kelsea Ballerini and DJ duo The Chainsmokers. Despite its rarity, Chance is not the first independent artist to be nominated or win in this category. Last year - Australian singer/songwriter Courtney Barnett was nominated in the category but lost to Meghan Trainor. Chance The Rapper is the first Chicago-based nominee in the 'Best New Artist' category since Fall Out Boy in 2006 and Kanye West in 2005, both of whom did not win.

Chance is also nominated for Best Rap Performance for "No Problem" also featuring 2 Chainz and Lil Wayne, Best Rap/Sung Performance for "Ultralight Beam" in partnership with Kanye West, Best Rap Album for "Coloring Book" and has three nominations in the Best Rap Song category for "No Problem", "Ultralight Beam" and "Famous." It's worth noting - Nico 'Donnie Trumpet' Segal also receives a nomination for his work on "Ultralight Beam."

Although The Recording Academy denies it, Chance The Rapper (and his release Coloring Book) is viewed in the eyes of critics and fans alike as a major influence on allowing 'streaming-only' released albums to officially be allowed for consideration for The Grammy nomination process. Coloring Book was the first streaming only album to chart in the Billboard 200. A Change.org petition with tens of thousands of signatures surfaced a few months after the rule change was ruled internally. The rule changed announced on June 16th, 2016 - about one month after Coloring Book's Apple Music release.

Other Chicago-based Grammy nominations include 8 nods to Kanye West and 3 nominations for BJ The Chicago Kid including Best R&B Performance, Best Traditional R&B Performance and Best R&B Song.

Beyonce leads the entire Grammys in nominations with 9, Kanye West, Drake and Rihanna each have 8 and Chance The Rapper totals out at 7.

Chance The Rapper was featured on the cover of Billboard's official 2017 Grammy preview issue back in October 2016 alongside Alessia Cara and Marren Morris. Chance will perform on the final episode of SNL's 2016 season on December 17th with guest host Casey Affleck.

The Grammys air Sunday, February 12th on CBS at 7:00PM CST.