EXCLUSIVE: Rihanna vs Taylor Swift at MTV EMAs

Rihanna and Taylor Swift lead the nominations for the MTV European Music Awards (EMA), tabloid! can exclusively reveal. The singers — aged 24 and 22 — will be going head to head in the 19th annual EMAs in Frankfurt on November 11, competing in the best female, best pop and best look categories — and with very different styles, this should be an interesting battle.

Rihanna leads the nominations with a total of 6 — including best song and best video for “We Found Love” with Calvin Harris, and the fan-voted biggest fans award. The online voting for the biggest fans awards opens today on the MTV website; fans can vote for their favorite artist to win until November 9. Rihanna is up against the mega-fans of Justin Bieber, One Direction and Lady Gaga, as well as her BFF Katy Perry.

Perry and Bieber follow Rihanna and Swift with the most nominations, clocking in at four each, followed by Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj, Lana Del Rey, Carly Rae Jepsen and fun., with three nominations each. And up for one award, but who could deny him it, is Korean pop star Psy, nominated for best video for Gangnam Style.

At last year’s EMAs in Dublin — the most-watched instalment of the awards — Bieber took best male and best pop. The Believe singer, who makes his Dubai debut on May 4 next year, is again nominated in those categories, along with biggest fans and best world stage.

Despite their name, the EMAs celebrate music from around the globe, including the Middle East. Five acts from the region are nominated for the fan-voted best Middle East act -- Sandy, Ahmad Soultan, Qusai, K2rhym and Dubais’ own Karl Wolf. The winners from each region -- Europe, Latin America, North America, Asia Pacific and Africa/India/Middle East — will go up against each other in a global Worldwide Act battle.

There are more fan voted categories opening today, including best live (nominees are Swift, Lady Gaga, Jay-Z & Kanye West, Green Day and Muse) and best new act (Rita Ora, fun., One Direction, Lana Del Rey and Carly Rae Jepsen).

It’s not just a celebration of colourful pop; rock, alternative, hip-hop and dance acts have their own categories, with Jay-Z & Kanye West, Nas,

Rick Ross (who performs in Dubai this week — see page 5), Drake and Nicki Minaj fighting it out in the hip-hop round.

Last year’s EMA host was Bieber’s girlfriend Selena Gomez; no announcement has been made about this year’s host.