Rihanna up for 18 Billboard Music awards

The 'S&M' singer leads nominations with her huge haul, which includes Top Hot 100 Artist and Top Female Artist, while her single 'Love The Way You Lie' with Eminem is in line for six trophies.

The rapper himself is up for 16 awards ' including Top Artist, Top Male Artist and Top Rap Artist ' followed by Lady Gaga with 12 and Justin Bieber and Bruno Mars who each have 11 nominations.

The pop singing pair will square off against each other in the Top New Artist and Top Male Artist sections when the awards take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on May 22.

Summing up his 2010, Bruno has previously said: "It's just been a great year, incredible, incredible year, and I can't believe this is happening to me.

"We've worked so hard trying to make a living doing music and the fact I am right now is incredible, incredible."
The Top Artist award ' one of the night's highlights - pits Bieber against, Eminem, Gaga, Rihanna and Taylor Swift.

Alternative Artist will see Muse up against The Black Keys, Kings of Leon, Linkin Park and Mumford and Sons.
The awards ' which features many additional categories - celebrate artists who have appeared in the Billboard charts between the end of February 2010 and March this year, with winners determined by album, single and digital sales, touring, streaming and data from social websites such as Facebook and Myspace.

Lead category nominations for the 2011 Billboard Music Awards:

Top Billboard 200 Artist
Justin Bieber
Susan Boyle
Eminem
Lady Antebellum
Taylor Swift


Top Hot 100 Artist
Kesha
Bruno Mars
Katy Perry
Rihanna
Usher


Top Artist
Justin Bieber
Eminem
Lady Gaga
Rihanna
Taylor Swift


Top New Artist
Justin Bieber
Taio Cruz
Kesha
Bruno Mars
Nicki Minaj


Top Touring Artist
Bon Jovi
Michael Buble
Lady Gaga
U2
Roger Waters

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