Drake, Cardi B top AMA nominees

Rap has dominated the pop charts and streaming services in the past few years, and that’s reflected in the nominations for this year’s American Music Awards.

Drake and Cardi B are the leaders with eight nominations each — earning bids Wednesday in both the pop/rock and rap/ hip-hop categories.

Drake has the year’s top-selling album with “Scorpion” and scored three No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. He will compete for artist of the year alongside Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Imagine Dragons and Post Malone.

In the rap/hip-hop and pop/rock categories, Drake earned nominations for favorite male artist, favorite album and favorite song with “God’s Plan.”

Rapper-singer Xxxtentacion, a streaming juggernaut before and after his death in June, earned nominations for new artist of the year and favorite soul/r&b album for his 2017 debut, “17.”

Rihanna, who has barely released music since “Anti” dropped in 2016, picked up a nomination for favorite soul/r&b female artist alongside SZA and “Boo’d Up” newcomer Ella Mai, while Cardi B’s “Invasion of Privacy” was surprisingly shut of the favorite rap/hiphop album category.

Cardi B’s collaboration with Bruno Mars, the remix of “Finesse,” earned two nominations and the rapper also earned nods for favorite social artist and favorite music video.

Sheeran and Malone each earned six nominations, while Camila Cabello is up for five honors.

The fan-voted AMAS

Arthur Mola The Associated Press Drake received eight American Music Awards nominations Wednesday, including one for artist of the year.

Amy Harris The Associated Press Cardi B grabbed eight nods, but her “Invasion of Privacy” was shut out of the favorite rap/hip-hop album category.