Will best be outcasts again?

Whew.

The Recording Academy dodged a bullet in this year’s Grammy nominations. In the least distinguished period in memory for mainstream bestsellers, the choices announced Thursday could have been pathetic. Instead, they were merely erratic.

First, the good news.

The academy voters, whose bad choices over the years are the stuff of which legends are made, sidestepped the “American Idol” trap.

Whatever the public fascination with these generally colorless singers, the voters ignored Clay Aiken, Kelly Clarkson, Justin Guarini and Ruben Studdard in the high-profile categories. If the voters had followed the public’s lead in rewarding Aiken and Clarkson for their commercial blockbusters, we might see anybody who enjoys TV celebrity stepping to the podium someday.

Joe Millionaire, anyone?

Even better news is that some truly great recordings were nominated for album of the year and record of the year.

Topping the list is OutKast, the imaginative Atlanta hip-hop duo, whose “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below” was nominated for best album and whose rock-minded “Hey Ya!” was nominated for best record.

In the album competition, OutKast will square off against an equally daring and accomplished rock work, the White Stripes’ explosive “Elephant.”

In the single record voting, OutKast faces a stiff challenge from Eminem’s uplifting “Lose Yourself,” the song from “8 Mile” that won an Oscar this year for best song written for a movie.

Now, the bad news.

History has shown that encouraging news on nomination day can end up being heartbreaking news on Grammy night.

The academy screening committee, which oversees nominations, has often isolated some cutting-edge choices only to see the full academy membership turn to conservative old favorites.

A chief example was in 2001, when voters ignored such outstanding works as Eminem’s “The Marshall Mathers Show,” Beck’s “Midnite Vultures” and Radiohead’s “Kid A” and honored Steely Dan’s “Two Against Nature.”

A year later, Bob Dylan’s “Love and Theft,” OutKast’s “Stankonia” and U2’s “All That You Can’t Leave Behind” were all bypassed in the final voting. The award went to the nice but hardly groundbreaking soundtrack album “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”

So who do we have to fear when the awards are announced Feb. 8 at Staples Center?

In the best album category, in addition to OutKast and White Stripes, there’s Missy Elliott, the much respected hip-hop innovator; Justin Timberlake, the former ‘N Sync star who has begun to shed some of his Michael Jackson echoes in a solo career that is showing promise; and Evanescence, a rock band whose Gothic stage show is striking but whose music is anything but.

A victory by any of these last three would be severely misguided.

In the record of the year balloting, Eminem and OutKast are up against Beyonce, Coldplay and Timberlake again, this time teamed with the Black Eyed Peas hip-hop outfit.

Coldplay, the British quartet that has emerged this year with an uplifting aura reminiscent of early U2, and Beyonce, the Destiny’s Child graduate who certainly has a major career ahead of her, made reasonable records but simply don’t belong in the Eminem/OutKast class this time out. The final entry is catchy, but another step down.

The best new artist category deserves special recognition for not biting the bait on such bland bestsellers as Aiken, but it also deserves a slap for not acknowledging one or more of such exciting rock arrivals as the Kings of Leon and the Libertines or such strong female arrivals as folk-country’s Kathleen Edwards, folk-rock’s Gemma Hayes or British hip-hop entry Ms. Dynamite.

On the positive side, classy rock veteran Fountains of Wayne got a nomination for best new artist and its main competition should be hard-core rapper 50 Cent.

The most distinguished nominees for song of the year are Warren Zevon’s beautifully tender “Keep Me in Your Heart” and Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.”

While it’s the nominees in these four, high-profile categories normally that set the tone for the year’s Grammy field, there are bright spots sprinkled through the pop and rock categories.

Among especially insightful nominations: Annie Lennox’s “Bare” (for best pop vocal album), Lucinda Williams’ “World Without Tears” (contemporary folk album), Mark Romanek’s brilliant treatment of Johnny Cash’s “Hurt” (short form music video) and OutKast again (producer, non-classical).

A win by any of these artists would bring a touch of class to Grammy Night.

But the real showdown is in the best album and best record categories, where the right nominees are in place but their chances of actually making it to the podium could be breathtakingly low.