A joint effort between The Recording Academy and Sony BMG's Strategic Marketing Group, 2006 Grammy Nominees is a compilation of twenty one of the most celebrated Grammy Nominated songs for 2006 as well as the most popular songs of the year. The selections cross several categories and are quite a diverse mix of music.

The nice thing about a compilation like this is there are twenty-one songs that not only did well on the charts, but were deemed worthy enough to get a nod from The Recording Academy. Even though there is a wide cross-section of music, this is most likely the only place you'll find Paul McCartney and Beck on the same CD, it's all good. Of course there are a few that I still hit the skip button on, but that is mostly because of how they were overplayed on the radio this year, with some time and distance, they will return to the "most popular" playlist on the iPod I'm sure.

Included are some of the obvious, Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", Bruce Springsteen's "Devils's and Dust, and Mariah Carey's "It's Like That." What's surprising, however, is some of the tracks that are missing. With Kanye West receiving eight nominations and Gwen Stefani receiving five it's a bit unnerving that "Gold Digger" or "Hollaback Girl" are oddly absent for the compilation. The liner notes, which feature the breakdown and details of the categories, has a placeholder that credits the albums of the missing song and the declaration that "Track not available."

The liner notes themselves are a nice little souvenir of the year in music. Featuring the top categories and the nominations in each with the credits for the given song included. It's a comprehensive look at a glance at what will be included in this year's awards. It also includes a list of The Recording Academy's Executive Council.