Adele has topped the nominations list for this year’s American Music Awards.

The nominees were announced in Los Angeles by Nicki Minaj and Pitbull, and Adele led the field with nods in four categories.

The soul singer and songwriter, whose hits include Rolling In The Deep and Someone Like You, was nominated for artist of the year, favourite female artist, adult contemporary artist and album for 21.

The record is the year’s best-selling album in the US with more than 3.7 million copies.

Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Lil Wayne, Katy Perry, who will be performing at the event, Rihanna and The Band Perry all trailed Adele closely with three nominations each.

Pitbull and Minaj both got two nominations each, along with Beyonce, Bruno Mars, Chris Brown, Jason Aldean, LMFAO and Kanye West.

Lil Wayne, Ms Swift, Ms Perry and Lady Gaga are competing with Adele, who recently had to cancel another run of concerts because of throat troubles, in the artist of the year category.

Nominees are determined from chart data, and winners will be determined by online fan voting.

The 39th annual American Music Awards will be held on November 20 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles.