Frank Ocean is among the standout artists in a six-way tie for most GRAMMY nominations.  On Wednesday night (December 6) the nominations were announced at the GRAMMY Nominations Concert — LIVE!! hosted by Taylor Swift and LL Cool J.

Ocean stands with Kanye West, Jay-Z, The Black Keys‘ Dan Auerbach, fun., and Mumford & Sons as the six artists who have six nominations each, to top all other artists.

Of the top six, fun. and Ocean are the only newcomers who also received New Artist nominations. In addition, both appeared in the Album of the Year category, along with The Black Keys (El Camino), Mumford & Sons (Babel), and Jack White (Blunderbuss).

Ocean earned nominations for Record of the Year (“Thinkin’ Bout You”), Album of the Year (Channel Orange), Best Urban Contemporary Album, Best Rap Sung Collaboration (“No Church in the Wild” with Kanye West and Jay-Z), Best Short Form Music Video (“No Church in the Wild”), and Best New Artist.

Days before Ocean’s soulful, and boundary-bending Channel Orange was released, Ocean revealed via Tumblr that he once had a love affair with a man. The revelation received a storm of support from celebrities and fans who congratulated him for having the courage to come out.

In a recent interview with GQ, however, Ocean steered away from the talk of his sexuality.

“I’ll respectfully say that life is dynamic and comes along with dynamic experiences…” he said. “I’m in this business to be creative—I’ll even diminish it and say to be a content provider. One of the pieces of content that I’m for f**k sure not giving is porn videos. I’m not a centerfold. I’m not trying to sell you sex.”

Aside from Ocean’s multiple nominations outside of R&B, the R&B field looked like this: Robert Glasper Experiment’s Black Radio; Anthony Hamilton’s Back To Love; R. Kelly’s Write Me Back; Tamia’s Beautiful Surprise; and Tyrese’s Open Invitation.

The Best Rap Album category includes Drake’s Take Care; Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album, Pt. 1; Nas’ Life Is Good; The Roots’ Undun; Rick Ross’ God Forgives, I Don’t; and 2 Chainz’s Based On A T.R.U. Story.

See full list of nominees here.  

-Erik Parker, CBS Local