After a night in which newcomers reigned at the nominations announcement for the 56th Annual GRAMMYs, there were certainly some curious omissions (we mentioned some of them here), but there were immediately questions about the Best New Artist category.

Aside from the fact that critic and fan favorite Lorde was not included, even Ed Sheeran was genuinely shocked to hear his name called alongside the likes of Kendrick Lamar and Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. Although we're big fans of the British singer, his nomination raised questions because he was nominated last year for Song of the Year ("The A Team") and his debut album, +, was also eligible last year.

Following the announcement, Sheeran told CBS News, "I thought I was not eligible to be nominated." And he wasn't alone. Los Angeles Times' Todd Martens took issue with the Brit's inclusion, saying that "it’s hard to argue this is his breakout year."

The Best New Artist rules were changed in 2010 after Lady Gaga's exclusion because her single "Just Dance" had been nominated in 2009. The rules now state that an artist must have released, "as a featured performing artist," at least one album but not more than three. The rules also allow that an artist may be submitted for a Best New Artist nomination up to three times.

Considering the trickiness of Sheeran's appearance on this year's list, we reached out to the Academy for clarification. "His nomination last year was as a songwriter, not as a performer," Recording Academy Vice President of Awards Bill Freimuth told Variance. "If he'd been nominated as a performer, he would not have been eligible. In Best New Artist, as with many of our categories, one may enter an album one year and then enter a track/single from that album the next year, which is what he did."

Sheeran was featured on Taylor Swift's "Everything Has Changed," which was eligible in this year's race, and likely assisted his GRAMMY chances. But Best New Artist is always been a complicated category, since artists active for years are typically nominated simply because of having never had a mainstream hit (Bon Iver, anyone?).

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