HOW MANY AISLES MUST A NOM WALK DOWN?

TMZ published photos of the front and center seating arrangements at Staples Center for Sunday's Grammy Awards, dubbing it the “music biz power rankings.” (Funny, we didn’t see Bad Bunny on any other Power 100 lists.) TMZ missed a bigger point about how the seating may affect the show.

What TMZ does not seem to grasp, though, is that a log jam could be created in the aisles this year as a whole lot more seats will be occupied by nominees up front.

By pushing the number of nominees to eight in the Big Four categories, the Academy has to cough up a good number of prime seats to potential winners lest the show look like the Golden Globes, where tipsy TV winners seated in the back have to navigate their way through the tables occupied by film stars and execs.

This year, 12 individuals are nominated for Best New Artist, thanks to Greta Van Fleet being a band, vs. last year’s five. There are 37 people nominated for Song of the Year, as opposed to 26 a year ago.

In the Album and Record categories combined, 19 different artists are nominated this year, one of which is a duo (Grey). And don’t forget that the producers and engineers get to take the stage as well. And all these nominees get a plus-one.

Very nice that BTS has a good seat, but where will Dave Cobb be parked?