Adele scored six Grammy nominations on 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 folky 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. “That’s the song we worked the hardest on. That’s like our trophy right there. Of all the songs we’ve been fortunate enough to be a part of this year, we were most proud of that one.”

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.

Other nominees in the record of the year category included Bon Iver’s ballad “Holocene”; Mars’ ballad “Grenade”; Mumford & Sons’ “The Cave”; and Katy Perry’s inspirational anthem “Firework.” For song of the year, which honors the writers of the tune, contenders included “The Cave,” `’Grenade, “Holocene” and Lady Gaga’s “You and I.”

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.”

Shut out were perceived favorites like 85-year-old Bennett, who became the oldest person to score a No. 1 debut when his “Duets II” album was released earlier this year, and the megawatt collaboration of Jay-Z and West with the heavily hyped “Watch The Throne.”

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.

(Another blonde diva, Beyonce, merited just two nominations in lesser categories).

Unlike the past two years, which saw Swift and fellow country act Lady Antebellum soar in the general categories, the only country act that got a mainstream nomination was the country sibling act The Band Perry. Best known for their poignant ballad “If I Die Young,” they got a nomination for best new artist.

“It’s been an amazing evening,” said lead singer Kimberly Perry. “We got the good news yesterday that our debut album went platinum, it was certified yesterday, to so follow it with a nomination tonight is phenomenal. We’re just in the clouds, absolutely.”

Their competition also includes Bon Iver, Jay-Z rap protege J. Cole, Skrillex and rapper-singer Nicki Minaj, who scored four nominations in total.

The 54th Grammys will be held Feb. 12 in Los Angeles. The ceremony will mark the first since the academy shaved its categories from 109 to 78 this year, amid some protest. Some of the more niched categories, like best Zydeco or Cajun music album, were eliminated.

In addition, men and women now compete together in vocal categories for pop, R&B and country, instead of having separate categories for each sex. This year, the category is best pop solo performance and Bruno Mars is the only man nominated for “Grenade.” His competition includes Adele for “Someone Like You,” Lady Gaga for “You and I,” Pink for “(Expletive) Perfect” and Perry for “Firework.”

Kanye West took in Caroline’s on Broadway the other night and became the butt of a cheap Chris Brown joke. Slash-and-burn comic Geno Bisconte drew groans when he told the crowd: “You don’t hit women . . . you don’t hit ‘em hard, be cause if you hit them too hard they black out and then they lose the lesson.” Bisconte then pointed toward the rapper, ad monishing audience members: “It’s OK. You can laugh, it’s Kanye West, not Chris Brown!”

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Kanye West likes to hang out with ex-girlfriend Amber Rose, but he doesn’t appear to be a one-woman man. At Men.Style.Com’s “Women in Fashion” party at the Palace Hotel on Wednesday, West was getting cozy with model Chanel Iman, 19. “They were very chatty and laughed with each other as they nibbled on an order of fries,” says a spy. West, who gamely posed for photos with partygoers and hotel staffers before leaving with a gaggle of models, also appears to be one of the growing legion that finds American Vogue boring. Asked who his favorite fashionable woman is, he responded, “Carine Roitfeld” — the editor-in-chief of French Vogue, and a rumored replacement for Anna Wintour. Also at the party were New York Ranger Sean Avery, Rachel Roy, Charlotte Ronson and Julia Restoin-Roitfeld.

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For a newly single man, Kanye West sure is spending a lot of time with his ex-girlfriend Amber Rose. Despite his publicist’s claim to Page Six that they’re no longer a couple, Rose showed up at the rapper’s birthday party at the Spotted Pig Monday night, along with part owner Jay-Z, Young Jeezy, Ivanka Trump and Charlie Rose. She and West were also photographed shopping at an American Apparel on Broadway on Tuesday.

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While others may hold their tongues in the presence of greatness, Pink is making her thoughts about Kanye West perfectly clear.

The fur reportedly flew when Pink attended Stella McCartney’s Paris fashion show with the vice president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and Kanye. “The entire time Kanye is going, ‘They need more fur in this show,’” Pink told Britain’s The Sun. “He just wouldn’t shut up about how he loved fur. I mean, he’s saying this to me, the PETA guy, and Paul McCartney!”

The “So What” singer is an avid PETA supporter and didn’t hold back her feelings about the fashionable rapper. “Kanye West is the person pissing me off right now,” she said. “I was just so grossed out by him. I’m like, ‘You’re an idiot!’ There are so many people who I think are a waste of skin and he’s up there. I should wear him.”

Pink’s advice for Mr. West? “Go on, donate yourself Kanye. People can wear your fur.”

Accused camera basher Kanye West is softening his perspective on the paparazzi.

The rapper, who pleaded not guilty Friday to assaulting a paparazzo last year, actually heaped praise Wednesday on a “fresh” paparazzi shot of Rihanna taken this week on a New York street.

“Why can’t all paparazzi photos be this good?” he asked on his blog, complimenting the shot’s composition with the cityscape in the background.

“Sometimes the paps overexpose the lens or have the flash too high taking all the emotion out of the moment,” he wrote in his customary all-caps style. “Good job on this one.”

West, 31, pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor vandalism, battery and grand theft related to a September scuffle with paparazzi at LAX airport.

His lawyer Blair Berk entered the pleas on his behalf in a Los Angeles courtroom.

West was arrested for another dust-up with a photographer on Nov. 14 in Newcastle, England, but did not face any charges.

The rapper, who pleaded not guilty Friday to assaulting a paparazzo last year, actually heaped praise Wednesday on a “fresh” paparazzi shot of Rihanna taken this week on a New York street.

“Why can’t all paparazzi photos be this good?” he asked on his blog, complimenting the shot’s composition with the cityscape in the background.

“Sometimes the paps overexpose the lens or have the flash too high taking all the emotion out of the moment,” he wrote in his customary all-caps style. “Good job on this one.”

West, 31, pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor vandalism, battery and grand theft related to a September scuffle with paparazzi at LAX airport.

His lawyer Blair Berk entered the pleas on his behalf in a Los Angeles courtroom.

West was arrested for another dust-up with a photographer on Nov. 14 in Newcastle, England, but did not face any charges.

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Kanye West has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges stemming from a scuffle with a paparazzo last year.

Los Angeles City Attorney’s spokesman Nick Velasquez says West entered the plea through his attorney on Friday. The 31-year-old was not in court.

City prosecutors charged the rapper with misdemeanor battery, grand theft and vandalism. West was arrested on Sept. 11 after an incident in which he was shown breaking a paparazzo’s camera flash at Los Angeles International Airport.

West’s attorney, Blair Berk, declined to comment on the plea.

The next scheduled hearing in the case is July 15.

It’s a pose often favoured by inebriated students – a hand grasping a fellow reveller’s behind.

But at 50-years of age Madonna should know better.

The mother-of-three was pictured striking the unusual pose with fellow guests Amber Rose, the model girlfriend of Kanye West.

That were at the star-studded Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Ball earlier this month.

Of course, Madonna may have thought the photo would never be viewed by the general public. But Amber Rose was so pleased with it that she posted it on her Twitter page – sharing it with the world.

Yesterday Amber’s boyfriend Kanye, also in the Madonna picture, made it clear that he doesn’t share his girlfriend’s passion for the social networking page.

In a rant on his blog the rapper chastised those pretending to be him.

‘Why would I use Twitter?’ he wrote ‘I’m too busy actually being creative most of the time and if I’m not and I’m just lying on the beach I wouldn’t tell the world.

‘Everything that Twitter offers I need less of.’

Perhaps he should share his views with his girlfriend.

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Kanye West was never more polite and gracious than when he turned up at Vanity Fair’s Tribeca Film Festival kickoff dinner.

Perhaps “South Park” should get some of the credit. The cartoon skewered West for his inflated ego less than two weeks ago. But for whatever reason, the mega-rapper checked his self-importance at the door for the VF bash.

Arriving solo, West hung out with Spike Lee on the veranda at state Supreme Court downtown, noshing on salmon fish cakes. (See, “South Park”? He can take a joke!)

Soon he was even chatting animatedly with fans, telling one: “I don’t want to be an actor. I’m more into working on my fashion lines and focusing on music.”

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