Rihanna to perform at Grammys; ‘Anti’ album heads toward No. 1

Rihanna is the latest performer booked to appear at the Grammys, the Recording Academy announced on Friday.

The pop star joins a lineup that includes Adele, Kendrick Lamar and the Weeknd, as well as all-star Grammy tributes to departed artists who include B.B. King and David Bowie.

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It’s likely Rihanna will use her slot to perform a selection from her new album, “Anti.” And if Pop & Hiss were to hedge bets on what song she would perform, our money would be on “Work,” the album’s Drake-assisted lead single.

Upon its release (the same day as the album), “Work” shot to No. 1 in 91 countries and was the most heard song on the more than 1,200 stations monitored by Nielsen Music for the Billboard Hot 100.

After teasing the new album over the last year, Rihanna surprise-released “Anti” to Tidal last week.

Exclusively available late Wednesday on the fledgling music service — which Rihanna co-owns with Jay Z and other musicians including Madonna, Usher and Beyonce — the album was downloaded 1 million times in 14 hours thanks to a collaboration between the singer and Samsung that culminated in the gift of free download codes for fans.

The album is headed toward the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200, according to industry estimations, and is projected to move upward of 175,000 equivalent album units in the U.S., the bulk of which in pure album sales.

If “Anti” hits No. 1 it would be the second chart-topper for the singer following 2012’s “Unapologetic.”

During the lead up to the album, Rihanna released a handful of singles that ultimately didn’t make the cut, including “FourFiveSeconds” a bare-bones soft rocker featuring Paul McCartney and Kanye West, which she performed at the Grammys last year.

gerrick.kennedy@latimes.com

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