Drake tops BET nominations once again

For the second year in a row, Toronto rapper-singer Drake dominated the nominations for the upcoming BET Hip-Hop Awards. He scored 12 nods, including Album of the Year, Video, Collaboration and Lyricist of the Year.

The nominations add to the superstar’s massive year.

In February, he issued If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late on iTunes without warning.

The mixtape, an appetizer while he preps his much-teased Views From the 6, was an instant smash and recently became the first album released this year to cross the million sales mark, according to Nielsen Music.

He helped usher in festival season with a headlining slot at Coachella (where he got an infamous tongue-kissing from Madonna), before using his own OVO Festival to claim victory in a beef with Meek Mill.

Big Sean, another emcee in the midst of a banner career year, follows with 10 nominations. He’s got multiple nods in the Video and Collaboration categories as well as Lyricist and MVP of the year. Nicki Minaj, Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole also received multiple nominations.

The 2015 BET Hip-Hop Awards will be pretaped in Atlanta and air on Oct. 13. Snoop Dogg will return as host.

GETTY IMAGES Drake goes from the 6 to the 12, as in his BET Hip-Hop Award nominations, the second year in a row the Toronto artist has topped the heap.