Male artists lead 2013 Grammy nominations

Little Big Town announces nominations during the Grammy Nominations Concert in Nashville, Tennessee December 5, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

Male artists led the nominations announced on Wednesday for the 2013 Grammys, as fun., Frank Ocean, Mumford & Sons, Jay-Z, Kanye West and Dan Auerbach from The Black Keys landed six nods each for music's biggest awards.

The nominations for New York-based indie-pop band fun. - made up of Nate Ruess, Andrew Dost and Jack Antonoff - included the four main categories for record, song and album of the year, and best new artist.

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fun., which also performed at the Grammy nominations concert with Janelle Monae, said it felt good to be recognized and "took pride" in its live performances.

"Tonight, all I wanted to do was get up and really give it our all ... receiving the nomination is amazing and a culmination of hard work the three of us have put into this band," lead singer Ruess told reporters backstage.

The group scored a huge hit with its first single, "We Are Young," and then followed that up with its successful album "Some Nights" and single of the same name.

Joining it in the album, record of the year and best new artist categories was hip hop artist Ocean.

The 25-year-old rapper-singer made waves earlier this year after revealing his first love was a man, a groundbreaking move in the hip hop industry, which has faced criticism in the past for being hostile toward gays.

His debut album, "Channel Orange" was a critical and commercial success, debuting at No 2 on the Billboard 200 album chart in July.