The nominations are in for the 40th Annual Dove Awards, which honor the best in Christian and gospel music.

“Topping the list of nominees this year is current three-time Male Vocalist of the Year Chris Tomlin, with seven total nominations including Artist of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year and Song of the Year for “Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone).” Veteran artist Natalie Grant and newcomer Francesca Battistelli each received five nominations, as did Casting Crowns.”

“Christian and gospel music expresses itself in many different ways and we applaud all nominated artists for their unique contributions to the music landscape,” said John W. Styll, president of the Gospel Music Association (GMA). “The powerful messages of redemption, hope and joy found in the music of our Dove nominees come during a season in history when our country and the world need inspiration and encouragement.”

The complete list of nominations for the 40th Annual Dove Awards can he seen here.

You may not know of Jon Robert but you certainly have heard his songs on The Hills, The Real World, The Kardashians, Road Rules Challenge, Bad Girls, Gossip Girl, and Army Wives. Robert can also deliver a live show as he opened up sidestage exclusively for Nikon Jones Beach with James Taylor, John Mayer, Colbie Colet, and Maroon 5. He was also the Myspace “Rising Star” Celebrity Blog Spotlight Artist and featured in KOAR’s Soundcheck. He will be performing at Pianos (NYC) February 24th for some industry reps. Our favorite tracks are Myself In You and Meant To Be. For more information email legal.

The U2 album ‘No Line on the Horizon’ scheduled to be released on March 3rd. has leaked on the internet.

“Universal Australia, the Australian arm of Universal Music Group, began selling No Line on the Horizon as digital downloads for two hours before the tracks were pulled.” (Forbes)

A spokesman from Universal said that he was not aware of the leak, and calls to Interscope, the label that put out the record, were not returned.

“U2 either sees this as a colossal blunder–or a marketing ploy to get fans talking beforehand.”

New York rock act Me Talk Pretty signs to the The MGMT Company. Mike Plotnikoff (My Chemical Romance/Buckcherry) and Arun VenKatesh (Taking Back Sunday) produced the latest recordings. The band performed on several Warped Tour dates in 2008 while their recent performance at SXSW sparked interest from labels and publishing companies. Check out the track Flame and Survive. For more information contact info@metalkpretty.com

Until a few years ago, the Grammy Awards helped winners sell lots of records in the following week, but today, the spikes of album sales are much lower. For instance, award winners such as Robert Plant and Alison Kraus saw sales of 77,000 the following week compared to Norah Jones’s album “Come Away With Me” which moved 621,000 in 2003.

“The audience for the Grammys has been steadily decreasing over the last two decades; as recently as 2004 the show attracted 26.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen.” (The New York Times)

Ironically, Taylor Swift who wasn’t nominated for any awards cleaned house this week selling 92,000 copies of her latest album ‘Fearless’.