Rihanna, Nicki Minaj and One Direction Lead American Music Awards 2012 Nominations

10 October 2012, 08:14 | Updated: 10 October 2012, 08:17

The shortlist for this year's event has been announced with a host of British stars up for prizes on the night.

Rihanna and Nicki Minaj have receieved the most nominations at this year's 40^th American Music Awards after being shortlisted for four prizes each.

The 'We Found Love' singer and the 'Starships' rapper will go head to head in the  Best Female Artist category, with the Bajan star also fighting it out for Artist Of The Year, Favourite Soul/ R&B Female Artist and Favourite  Soul/R&B Album Artist.

Nicki will be hoping to beat off competition from her 'Moment 4 Life' partner Drake in the Favouritre Rap/Hip-Hop Album category and the Favourite Pop/Rock Album shortlist will put her up against the likes of Maroon 5, One Direction and Justin Bieber.

There are a host of British stars up for awards on the night, with One Direction scooping a total of three, and The Wanted, Calvin Harris and Adele all among the nominations.

Harry, Niall, Liam, Louis and Zayn will be hoping to replicate their success at this year's MTV VMAs, where they won all three awards they were nominated for. 

The Artist Of The Year award, which was last year won by Taylor Swift, will be one of the hardest fought battles with the likes of Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Maroon 5, Drake and Katy Perry all in the running.

The 40^th American Music Awards take place live from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on 18^th November and will feature a live performance from Christina Aguilera.

You can view a full list of the nominations for the American Music Awards 2012 here.