Music charts organizer Billboard officially announced the artists who bagged nominations for the upcoming 2015 Billboard Music Awards.
The announcement came on Tuesday when rapper Ludacris and Fall Out Boy guitarist Pete Wentz appeared on "Good Morning America' to reveal the news for the first five categories. These include Top Artist, Top Male and Female Artists, Top Billboard 200 Album, and Top Hot 100 Song.
Within the day, host Chrissy Teigen and "Empire' actor Jussie Smollett announced the nominees for the remaining categories during a press conference.
As the names were rolled out, it was clear that Taylor Swift is leading all music artists with a total of 14 nominations including Top Artist, Top Female Artist, Top Billboard 200 Artist, and Top Hot 100 Artist.
Following her lead is Sam Smith with 13 nominations and Iggy Azalea with 12. Despite making the music headlines only last year with a hit single and several awards, Meghan Trainor has already bagged nine nominations.
For the Top Artist category, Ariana Grande will compete for the award along with Swift, Smith, One Direction and Katy Perry. Smith will also be vying for the Top Male Artist Award along with Justin Timberlake, Ed Sheeran, Drake and Pharrell Williams.
Meanwhile, all of the singers in the Top Female Artist, including Swift, Trainor, Azalea, Perry and Grande, all have multiple nominations. For the Top Billboard 200 Album, the ones that have made it include Swift's "1989', Smith's "In the Lonely Hour', Sheeran's "x', Maroon 5's, "V' and Pentatonix's "That's Christmas to Me.'
For their single counterpart, nominees for the Top Hot 100 Song include Swift's "Shake It Off', Smith's "Stay With Me', Trainor's "All About That Bass', Azalea feat. Charlie XCX's "Fancy' and John Legend's "All Of Me.'
Taylor Swift's "1989' has already soared to the top of the charts since it was released in October. As such, it is not surprising that the pop-country singer currently leads the nominations for the BBMAs.
Finalists for this awards event are derived from album and digital track sales as well as radio airplay, online streaming, tours and social media outcomes. Such details are tracked all year long by Billboard along with Nielsen Music and Next Big Sound, its data partners. This year, the awards are based on the reports obtained from March 10, 2014 to March 8, 2015.
Aside from the 40 chart-specific categories this year, fans will also be given the chance to vote for the artists who they believe deserve the Billboard chart achievement award. They can log on to Billboard.com, BillboardMusicAwards.com and Twitter.
Produced by Dick Clark Productions , the Billboard Music Awards will be held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and will air live on May 17 from 8-11 PM EST on ABC.
