By Melinda Newman
Special to MSN Music

The Grammy Awards underwent a major retrenching earlier this year, condensing from 109 categories to 78. That shift has created strange bedfellows in many categories, forcing seemingly disparate acts and songs to compete with one another. But the new rules can't change one thing: Seldom has an artist gone into the Grammys as heavily a favorite as Adele. The British thrush's sophomore set, "21," has sold more than 6 million copies in the U.S. alone and already spawned three No. 1 smashes, including the unstoppable "Rolling in the Deep." Up for six awards, Adele is the artist to beat come Feb. 12. MSN Music forecasts her chances as well as predicts how other front-runners, such as Foo Fighters, Kanye West and Bon Iver, will fare.

(Andrew Yee; Jive; Big Machine)