Adele, LMFAO and Rihanna lead the nominations for the 2012 Billboard Awards, which take place at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand and will be broadcast live Sunday May 20 at 8 PM ET on ABC.

The awards are modern and digitally minded, in that they reflect Billboard’s chart rankings based on key fan interactions with music, including album sales and downloads, track downloads, radio airplay and touring as well as streaming and social interactions on Facebook, Twitter, Vevo, YouTube, Spotify and other popular online destinations for music. In essence, the awards take everything into account.

Adele racked up 18 nominations, including Top Artist, Top Female Artist and Top Billboard 200 Artist. Party rockers LMFAO follow as finalists in 17 categories. They are entered in 22 categories overall, whereas Adele is entered in 20.

Rihanna notched nominations in 13 categories this year, while Lady Gaga and Lil Wayne trail with 10 category mentions a piece.

There’s tons of categories for artists, albums and songs, and the competition is stiff as your back after a 10-hour plane ride.

Below is a list of key artist categories and nominees.

Top Artist:
Adele
Lady Gaga
Lil Wayne
Katy Perry
Rihanna

Top New Artist:
Bad Meets Evil
Big Sean
Foster The People
Scotty McCreery
Wiz Khalifa

Top Male Artist:
Justin Bieber
Chris Brown
Drake
Lil Wayne
Bruno Mars

Top Female Artist:
Adele
Lady Gaga
Nicki Minaj
Katy Perry
Rihanna

Top Duo/Group:
The Black Eyed Peas
Coldplay
Lady Antebellum
LMFAO
Maroon 5

Top Billboard 200 Artist:
Adele
Justin Bieber
Michael Buble
Lady Gaga
Lil Wayne

Top Hot 100 Artist:
Adele
LMFAO
Bruno Mars
Katy Perry
Rihanna

Top Digital Songs Artist:
Adele
LMFAO
Bruno Mars
Katy Perry
Rihanna

Top Radio Songs Artist:
Adele
Katy Perry
Bruno Mars
Nicki Minaj
Rihanna

Top Touring Artist:
Bon Jovi
Taylor Swift
Take That
U2
Roger Waters

Top Social Artist:
Justin Bieber
Eminem
Lady Gaga
Rihanna
Shakira

Top Streaming Artist:
Lil Wayne
LMFAO
Nicki Minaj
Bruno Mars
Rihanna

Top Digital Media Artist:
Adele
Justin Bieber
Lady Gaga
Lil Wayne
Rihanna

Top Pop Artist:
Adele
Lady Gaga
LMFAO
Katy Perry
Rihanna

Top R&B Artist:
Beyonce
Chris Brown
Cee Lo Green
Miguel
Rihanna

Top Rap Artist:
Drake
Lil Wayne
LMFAO
Nicki Minaj
Wiz Khalifa

Top Country Artist:
Jason Aldean
Zac Brown Band
Lady Antebellum
Blake Shelton
Taylor Swift

Top Rock Artist:
The Black Keys
Coldplay
Foster The People
Foo Fighters
Mumford & Sons

Top Alternative Artist:
The Black Keys
Coldplay
Foster The People
Foo Fighters
Mumford & Sons

Top Latin Artist:
Mana
Pitbull
Prince Royce
Romeo Santos
Shakira

Top Dance Artist:
David Guetta
Lady Gaga
LMFAO
Rihanna
Britney Spears

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