Lady Gaga won a leading 13 nominations for the MTV Video Music Awards on Tuesday, setting a new record for the most nominations ever in a single VMA season, MTV said.
Rapper Eminem was the most nominated male artist with eight nods after the success of his latest album "Recovery," while Canadian teen idol Justin Bieber scored his first nomination in the best new artist category for the music video of hit single "Baby".
Newcomer Ke$ha joined veterans Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Katy Perry, Usher and indie band Florence and the Machine among the other nominees.
Lady Gaga has two entries in the coveted video of the year category — "Bad Romance" and "Telephone" featuring Beyonce — where her competition includes Eminem for "Not Afraid" and rapper B.o.B for "Airplanes".
The glam pop singer also won nods in the best pop, best dance and best female music video categories.
"I'm so honored for all the little monsters and self-professed freaks of the universe, to have more VMA nominations in a single year than any artist in MTV history. Ironically, I'm even more proud it's an unlucky number; 13," Lady Gaga said in a statement.
"A long time ago the world told me and my little monsters we would never be heard, together we changed the rules. God put me on Earth for 3 reasons: To make loud music, gay videos, and cause a damn raucous. Thank You MTV!," she added.
The awards will be presented in a live telecast from Los Angeles on Sept. 12.
Eminem noted sarcastically that the award show fell in the middle of his U.S. tour. "Apparently MTV doesn't care that I have two massive stadium shows on the other side of the country the day after the VMAs," he said. "I mean, I'll be there but don't expect me to be nice about it."
Viewers can vote for the general categories on website vma.mtv.com starting on Tuesday, and voting by text message for the best new artist will continue throughout showtime on Sept. 12.