Charlotte Cardin, The Weeknd, Justin Bieber lead 2022 Juno Award nominees

In an eclectic year that includes nominations for an indie band founded just after Facebook to a kid barely older than the pandemic, Charlotte Cardin topped the list of nominees for the 51st annual Juno Awards on Tuesday.

With six nods Cardin beat out even the Weeknd and Justin Bieber at what will be the first in-person Junos event since the awards were cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"This feels unreal," Cardin said in an interview with CBC News. "I can't stop smiling. I'm getting so many messages from my mom and dad and friends. They're freaking out."

The Montreal singer's album Phoenix, released in April 2021, helped her become the first female artist to spend multiple weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard charts since Céline Dion in 2016. 

It also afforded her nominations for album of the year, artist of the year and single of the year (for Meaningless) only four years after her first Juno nomination for breakthrough artist of the year in 2018.

Cardin is also set to perform at the show and will take the stage alongside seven-time Juno winners Arkells, pop/punk icon Avril Lavigne and singer, songwriter and poet Mustafa. The awards will be hosted by Marvel star and Kim's Convenience actor Simu Liu. 

Meanwhile, superstars the Weeknd and Bieber aren't far behind Cardin in terms of honours.

Bieber, who is also one of the front-runners at the Grammy awards this year, has an impressive five nominations for single of the year (Peaches), album of the year, pop album of the year (both for Justice), artist of the year and fan choice. It's an identical showing to last year for the singer, though he ultimately only took home one award. 

Toronto singer the Weeknd (real name Abel Tesfaye) is up for the same number of nominations, despite the fact that he didn't release a full album in 2021. While he is only up for three Grammys this year — he launched a boycott after being snubbed by the awards entirely in 2021 — he was the big winner at last year's Junos when he took home five trophies out of six nominations. 

The Weeknd is now up for single of the year and contemporary recording of the year (both for Take My Breath), fan choice, artist of the year and songwriter of the year (for Hurricane, Moth To A Flame and Take My Breath).

Chart topper Shawn Mendes also continued his strong performance at the awards with four nominations, including for fan choice — the seventh straight year he's been nominated in the category, which he won last year. 

But aside from those familiar faces the rest of the list is surprisingly varied, and Cardin is among a number of relative newcomers and first-time nominees. At this year's awards, 105 nominees — over 36 genre and five technical categories — have never been up for an award before. 

"I think the fact that half of our nominees are first-time nominees astounded me," said Junos president Allan Reid. "It's been amazing throughout this pandemic and over the last two years, we saw more submissions to the Junos [than] we've ever seen in the past."

That includes Pressa, a first-time nominee up for four awards. The platinum-certified Toronto artist is known for his collaborations with Drake, Migos and Coi Leray, and is nominated for fan choice, breakthrough artist, rap album of the year (Gardner Express) and rap single of the year (Attachments).