With his 10 nominations Eminem has the potential to sweep Sunday night's Grammy Awards as well as win that elusive album of the year trophy, a category for which he's had three nominations but never a win.

His favored "Recovery" was 2010's best-selling album of the year and marked a major comeback for Eminem, who had been addled by a prescription drug addiction and critical malaise.

But the gifted and twisted rapper might get tripped up by some fierce competition, including a song that rivals him for coarseness — Cee Lo Green's "(Expletive) You," which is in competition with Eminem's "Love The Way You Lie," featuring Rihanna, in the record and song of the year categories.

Also nominated in the album of the year category are Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs, Lady Gaga's "The Fame Monster," Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" and Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now."

"Need You Now" was the second best-selling album of last year, buoyed by the crossover success of its lovelorn title track. The country song is also nominated for record and song of the year.

Other nominees for record of the year include Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind," the New York native's anthem for his city featuring Alicia Keys, and rapper B.o.B's "Nothin' On You," with a melodious hook courtesy of Bruno Mars.

Although Mars is enjoying solo success on the charts now with "Just The Way You Are," which got him nominated for best pop male vocal performance, the bulk of his seven Grammy nominations come from his collaborative efforts. He is also a co-writer on "(Expletive) You" and his production group, the Smeezingtons, is up for producer of the year.

"(Expletive) You" is an unlikely hit — a retro groove with a vulgar rebuke to a former girlfriend and her new lover. Its popularity was boosted when the clean version of the hit, "Forget You," was performed by Gwyneth Paltrow on Fox TV's "Glee." Paltrow and Green are slated to sing the song on the Grammy telecast on Sunday, along with Jim Henson's puppets, completing an ironic family-friendly transformation of a wash-your-mouth-out-with-soap song.

The Green-Paltrow performance are among the many buzz-worthy moments the Recording Academy has planned for the Grammy telecast, which is performance packed and only doles out a tiny fraction of the academy's 109 categories. The rest are presented in a pre-show ceremony.

Mick Jagger — along with Raphael Saadiqis — is set to perform a tribute to the late soul great Solomon Burke, marking the first time Jagger has sung on the Grammy stage. Also featured on the show will be music legends Bob Dylan and Barbra Streisand. Ailing icon Aretha Franklin will be honored in absentia by Jennifer Hudson, Christina Aguilera and Martina McBride, Yolonda Adams, and Florence Welch of the best new artist nominee Florence and the Machine.

Another best new artist hopeful, Justin Bieber, is set to sing with his friend Jaden Smith (son of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith) and Bieber's mentor, Usher. Eminem is also slated to perform with his mentor, Dr. Dre.

Other artists expected to perform on Sunday's show include Bruno Mars, Arcade Fire, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Drake, Rihanna.

The Grammys will be broadcast on CBS from the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

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Eminem's Grammy wins are in the double digits, but despite a career that has been as commercially successful as it has been critically acclaimed, he's never won a trophy for album of the year on music's biggest night. On Wednesday, he might get another shot at it. The rapper is a leading favorite when Grammy nominations are announced at the Recording Academy's annual nominations special, broadcast live on CBS at 10 p.m. EST from Club Nokia in Los Angeles. The hourlong show hosted by LL Cool J will include performances from likely nominees Justin Bieber, Katy Perry and Miranda Lambert.

Eminem's "Recovery" is the top-selling album of the year so far, with almost three million copies sold. But more than a sales triumph, it's also a creative one, marking a return to form after years of battling prescription drugs, lags between albums, and sub par material with last year's "Relapse." There are no guarantees when it comes to the Grammys, but an album of the year nomination for "Recovery" is about as sure as it gets.

Eminem is also likely to get nominations for either song of the year, record of the year, or both, for hits "Love the Way You Lie," featuring Rihanna, and for "Not Afraid." He's also a virtual lock to be nominated in several rap categories, where he's won the majority of his 11 Grammys.

Lady Antebellum's sophomore album, "Need You Now," was almost as successful as "Recovery" and is the second best-selling album of the year. The country trio is likely to be nominated in their own genre category, but a nomination for song and record of the year for "Need You Now" is also a strong possibility. And they may get a nod in the album category as well. Country singer-songwriter Miranda Lambert may also find herself in the album of the year category for her "Revolver," which won top honors at the Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association awards this year.

Lambert rehearsed for the nominations concert late Tuesday at downtown L.A.'s Club Nokia, backed by a band that included a trio of guitarists as she performed her single "Only Prettier."

"I'm excited to do something for the Grammys," she said. "This is kind of a cool thing for me, an introduction to this world. There's other great artists on the bill, and it's not just country, it's across the board for music genres, and I'm just glad to be here representing country music." Taylor Swift took home the album of the year trophy for her multiplatinum "Fearless" at last season's Grammys. Could 2011 be another crossover year for country artists? "I hope so," Lambert said. "Country music right now, we have a great name for ourselves, and we've all worked real hard to get it out there and make it cool and I think it's working, so I'm glad to be part of it."

Sade is also a key contender for album of the year; her "Soldier of Love" received raves and was a best-seller when it was released in February, her first album in 10 years. Other possibilities for album of the year nominations include Arcade Fire for their CD "The Suburbs" and Jay-Z for "The Blueprint 3," which spawned the massive "Empire State of Mind," another top Grammy contender.

"Empire State of Mind," which features Alicia Keys, could get nominations for song and record of the year. Other possibilities for record of the year include Perry's summer sensation, "California Gurls"; Train for "Hey, Soul Sister"; and two from rapper B.o.B, who had two of the year's biggest hits with "Nothing on You" (featuring Bruno Mars) and "Airplanes" (featuring Eminem and Paramore's Hayley Williams). B.o.B may be nominated for best new artist; rapper Drake is another favorite, along with teen sensation Justin Bieber, a big winner at last month's American Music Awards.

Previous winners from last year, including the Zac Brown Band, Lady Gaga, and Kings of Leon, could also be among the overall nominees. While Eminem, Bieber and Jay-Z are among the biggest names as far as Grammy contenders, mainstream acts represent only a portion of the hundreds of nominees to be announced on Wednesday night in 109 categories ranging from pop to folk to polka to classical and gospel. The Grammys will be awarded Sunday, Feb. 13, at Staples Center in Los Angeles and broadcast live on CBS.

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