Grammys 2015: Beyonce, Taylor Swift lead Twitter rankings of nominees

The 2015 Grammy Awards ceremony is just around the corner, and speculation is growing about who will go home with the most honors. Twitter joined the conversation Thursday morning by releasing data ranking contenders in various categories based on how often they were tweeted about since nominations were revealed.

Considering how much the Recording Academy has embraced Twitter this year (the site was a key part of December’s nominations rollout, and Twitter mirrors will be stationed on Sunday’s red carpet and backstage), these rankings could prove to be telling ahead of the big show.

In the highly-contested song of the year category, Taylor Swift leads the pack with the most tweeted about song of the nominees, “Shake it Off.” Meghan Trainor’s “All About that Bass” came in second followed by Sam Smith’s “Stay with Me,” Sia’s “Chandelier” and Hozier’s “Take Me to Church.”

FULL COVERAGE: Grammy Awards 2015

Based on Twitter’s projections, Tim McGraw is the favorite in the country song category. His song “Meanwhile Back at Mama’s” bested Miranda Lambert, Glen Campbell, Kenny Chesney and Eric Church in the amount of tweet traffic it generated.

As for the performer who holds the record with the most Grammy nominations for a female -- 52 over her career -- Beyonce (with an assist from husband Jay Z) topped the R&B song category with “Drunk in Love.” Chris Brown’s “New Flame” came in a respectable second with Luke James, Usher and Jhene Aiko pulling up the rear.

If social media data are truly a precursor of the Grammy victor, the sole woman of the rap song category will reign supreme. Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda” was No. 1 in Twitter chatter, followed by Kendrick Lamar’s “I,” Kanye West’s “Bound 2,” Wiz Khalifa’s “We Dem Boyz” and Drake’s “0 to 100.”

GRAMMYS 2015: Complete list | Ballot | Top nominees | Guide | Timeline

Also of note from Twitter’s Grammy-related data is a map displaying the most popular genres of music across the world. Rap pretty much covers the U.S. with concentrations in Atlanta and Los Angeles.

As for which fan army rules social media among this year’s nominees, Swift’s Swifties, Miley Cyrus’ Smilers and Lady Gaga’s monsters have been the most active. The Rihanna Navy and Beyonce’s Beyhive also had high moments on the site.

The Grammy Awards will air Sunday on CBS at 8 p.m. Eastern and (tape-delayed) Pacific.

Follow the reporter on Twitter: @TrevellAnderson.