Rihanna leads Billboard Music award nominations

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