Adele leads American Music Award nominees with 4

Adele

Credit: AP Photo

(AP) Adele has the year's most popular album with "21," so it makes sense that she's the most nominated artist for this year's American Music Awards.

The nominees were announced Tuesday in Los Angeles by Nicki Minaj and Pitbull, and Adele led all nominees with four. The British soul singer and songwriter, whose hits include the No. 1 songs "Rolling in the Deep" and "Someone Like You," was nominated for artist of the year, favorite female artist, favorite adult contemporary artist and favorite album for "21." Her sophomore album is the year's best-selling album with more than 3.7 million copies sold in the United States.

Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Lil Wayne, Katy Perry, Rihanna and The Band Perry all trailed Adele closely with three nominations each. Pitbull and Minaj both got two nominations each, along with Beyonce, Bruno Mars, Chris Brown, Jason Aldean, LMFAO and Kanye West.

Lil Wayne, Swift, Perry and Lady Gaga are competing with Adele in the artist of the year category.

Nominees are determined from chart data, and winners will be determined by online fan voting.

The 39th annual American Music Awards will be held Nov. 20 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. Perry and Pitbull are the first confirmed performers. The show will air live on ABC.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press

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