
The American Music Awards will be celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and Nicki Minaj and Rihanna led the nominations with four each.
Rihanna is up for Artist of the Year and will face stiff competition from Justin Bieber, Drake, Maroon 5 and Katy Perry.
Rihanna is also nominated for Soul/R&B's Favorite Female Artist along with Beyoncé and Mary J. Blige. Her album "Talk That Talk" is up against Chris Brown's "Fortune" and Usher's "Looking 4 Myself."
Both Nicki and Rihanna will be competing for the Favorite Female Artist - Pop/Rock award, each hoping to beat the other and Kelly Clarkson and Katy Perry.
Nicki Minaj's "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded" is nominated in the Favorite Album - Pop/Rock category and will go up against Justin Biebers "Believe," Maroon 5's "Overexposed," and One Direction's "Up All Night."
Nicki Minaj is the only female nominated in the Favorite Artist - Rap/Hip-Hop category alongside Drake and Tyga. Her Album "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded" is competing against J. Cole's "Cole World: The Sideline Story" and Drake's "Take Care" in the Favorite Album - Rap/Hip-Hop category.
Drake, Justin Bieber, Maroon 5, One Direction and Usher earned three nominations each andCarrie Underwood, Chris Brown, fun., Gotye, J. Cole, Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson, Luke Bryan and Pitbull earned two.
Producers of the show said the the 40th American Music Awards will "once again represent the epitome of pop culture, featuring today's biggest stars and music icons all on one stage."
The show is produced by Dick Clark Production and will be the first since Clark died in April. In an interview with Billboard, Producer Larry Klein said the entire show will be a tribute to Clark.
"Dick used to say we're an entertainment show with awards in it and I like wall-to-wall music," Klein adds. "It's a celebration of music."
The AMAs will take place on Nov. 18 and will be broadcast on ABC at 8 p.m. The live online pre-show "Coca-Cola Red Carpet LIVE! @ The 2012 AMAs" will stream live for fans worldwide starting at 5:00 p.m. Viewers will be able to watch the live show on ABC.com, AMAs365.com, Cokemusic.com, Livestream, Ustream, YouTube and through AP Live Entertainment.
Winners will be determined by online voting at the Coca-Cola AMA voting website, amavote.com, as well as AMA.abc.com. Fans can vote online for their favorites in all 20 categories.
Christina Aguilera announced the nominations and said she plans to perform at the awards. Billboard reports that there will be "about 17 live performances."
Leading up to the awards, Lance Bass, Kimberly Cole, and Megan Turney will be the hosts of a weekly web series, "AMAs On Demand," that will be posted on YouTube and ABC.com.
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