AMAs Want Someone Like Her: Adele Bests Katy, Gaga, Taylor and Rihanna in Nominations

British chanteuse scores a leading four nods for American Music Awards, including Artist of the Year

By Gina Serpe Oct 11, 2011 6:51 PMTags
Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Lil Wayne, Adele, Katy PerryGetty Images

This, surely, is a sign of things—namely, awards—to come (hear that, Recording Academy?).

The nominees were announced for the 2011 American Music Awards this morning, and they more or less went as follows: Adele. Adele. Adele. Adele. Everyone else.

OK, so it wasn't quite that big a landslide, but the British chanteuse with the inescapable songs led all nominees for the awards show, scoring a leading four nods, including Artist of the Year, Pop/Rock Female Artist, Pop/Rock Favorite Album and Adult Contemporary Favorite Artist of the Year.

Hardly surprising given the critical and commercial success of her album 21 and her anthemic, ever-tappable tunes "Someone Like You" and "Rolling in the Deep."

Her closest competition: Katy Perry, Lil Wayne, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Taylor Swift and The Band Perry, all of whom pulled in behind the Brit with three nominations apiece.

And if you think that reads like a list of usual awards show suspects, well, so does the list of artists who racked up two nominations: Beyoncé, Bruno Mars, Chris Brown, Jason Aldean, Kanye West, LMFAO, Nicki Minaj and Pitbull, the latter two of which had the honors of announcing this morning's nominees.

The biggest prize of the night, Artist of the Year, is a five-way battle, this time pitting Adele against Perry, Gaga, Lil Wayne and Swift. But it's some of the other categories that provide the most intrigue.

Lil Wayne's protégé Nicki Minaj is up against her mentor in two categories, Rap/Hip-Hop Favorite Artist and Favorite Album. Rihanna and Chris Brown vie against each other for Soul/R&B Favorite Album (alongside Beyoncé), while B herself is up against not only Rihanna, but her fellow former child of destiny Kelly Rowland as Soul/R&B Favorite Female Artist.

Nothing like a little friendly rivalry to move the night along, eh?

Winners will be determined, as always, by online voting. Perry and Pitbull have already been announced as performers of the 39th annual show, which airs live Nov. 20.

Here's the complete list of nominees:

Artist of the Year
Adele
Lady Gaga
Lil Wayne
Katy Perry
Taylor Swift

Pop/Rock

Favorite Male Artist
Justin Bieber
Bruno Mars
Pitbull

Favorite Female Artist
Adele
Lady Gaga
Katy Perry

Favorite Band, Duo or Group
LMFAO
Maroon 5
OneRepublic

Favorite Album
Adele, 21
Lady Gaga, Born This Way
Rihanna, Loud

Country Music

Favorite Male Artist
Jason Aldean
Brad Paisley
Blake Shelton

Favorite Female Artist
Sara Evans
Miranda Lambert
Taylor Swift

Favorite Band, Duo or Group
The Band Perry
Zac Brown Band
Lady Antebellum

Favorite Album
Jason Aldean, My Kinda Party
The Band Perry, The Band Perry
Taylor Swift, Speak Now

Rap/Hip-Hop

Favorite Artist
Lil Wayne
Nicki Minaj
Kanye West

Favorite Album
Jay-Z and Kanye West, Watch the Throne
Lil Wayne, Tha Carter IV
Nicki Minaj, Pink Friday

Soul/R&B

Favorite Male Artist
Chris Brown
Trey Songz
Usher

Favorite Female Artist
Beyoncé
Rihanna
Kelly Rowland

Favorite Album
Beyoncé, 4
Chris Brown, F.A.M.E.
Rihanna, Loud

Alternative Rock

Favorite Artist
Black Keys
Foo Fighters
Mumford & Sons

Adult Contemporary

Favorite Artist
Adele
Bruno Mars
Katy Perry

Latin Music

Favorite Artist
Enrique Iglesias
Jennifer Lopez
Pitbull

Contemporary Inspirational

Favorite Artist
Casting Crowns
Tobymac
Third Day

Sprint New Artist of the Year
Hot Chelle Rae
The Band Perry
Miguel
Wiz Khalifa