MTV Europe Music Awards: Rihanna, Taylor Swift Lead The Nominations

The 2012 MTV Europe Music Awards nominations are in, and, as usual, they look pretty similar to the US chart pop scene. Rihanna is on top, with Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber and Katy Perry in close pursuit. America: still leading the world in pop exports. (Except that Rihanna is from Barbados and Bieber is Canadian, but whatever, #swag.)

Last year, Lady Gaga swept the European awards show. This year, she’s nominated for three awards, while Rihanna snagged six nominations (the most of all the acts), Swift earned five and Bieber and Perry each claim four. There aren’t any real surprises on the list, with a lot of predictable but well-deserved love for “Call Me Maybe” and “We Found Love.” The most interesting outlier in the line-up, which skews exclusively toward Western artists, might be that PSY‘s “Gangnam Style” garnered a “Best Video” mention. Guess the cowboy dance has truly gone global. Check out the full noms below.

BEST SONG
Carly Rae Jepsen, “Call Me Maybe”
Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris, “We Found Love”
Gotye, “Somebody That I Used To Know”
Pitbull feat. Chris Brown, “International Love”
fun. feat. Janelle Monáe, “We Are Young”

BEST NEW ARTIST
Rita Ora
fun.
One Direction
Lana Del Rey
Carly Rae Jepsen

BEST FEMALE
Rihanna
Katy Perry
P!nk
Taylor Swift
Nicki Minaj

BEST MALE
Justin Bieber
Kanye West
Flo Rida
Pitbull
Jay-Z

BEST POP
Justin Bieber
No Doubt
Katy Perry
Taylor Swift
Rihanna

BEST LIVE
Taylor Swift
Lady Gaga
Jay-Z & Kanye West
Green Day
Muse

BEST HIP-HOP
Jay-Z & Kanye West
Nas
Rick Ross
Drake
Nicki Minaj

BEST ROCK
Linkin Park
Green Day
Muse
The Killers
Coldplay

BEST ELECTRONIC
David Guetta
Swedish House Mafia
Avicii
Skrillex
Calvin Harris

BEST ALTERNATIVE
Jack White
The Black Keys
Arctic Monkeys
Florence + The Machine
Lana Del Rey

BEST VIDEO
M.I.A., “Bad Girls”
Lady Gaga, “Marry the Night”
Katy Perry, “Wide Awake”
Rihanna feat. Calvin Harris, “We Found Love”
PSY, “Gangnam Style”