Taylor Swift leads 2015 MTV Video Music Awards nominees

Pop star Taylor Swift is leading the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards nominations list with nine nods in various categories including the coveted Video of the Year for the star-studded visuals of "Bad Blood" featuring Kendrick Lamar.
The 25-year-old 'Blank Space' hitmaker has also received nods in categories including Best Collaboration and Best Female Performance.
Lamar is nominated in the same category for his own "Alright".
Other names vying for the award are Ed Sheeran ("Thinking Out Loud"), Beyonce Knowles ("7/11") and Mark Ronson ("Uptown Funk" featuring Bruno Mars).
In addition to the Video of the Year title, Swift's "Bad Blood" clip is up for a bunch of other awards like Best Collaboration, Best Visual Effects, Best Art Direction, Best Editing and Best Cinematography. Its director Joseph Kahn is eyeing the Best Direction trophy.

Swift's fellow Video of the Year nominees Sheeran, Ronson and Beyonce are other acts bagging multiple nominees.

The former two are pitted against each other for Best Male Video and Best Pop Video.
The latter, meanwhile, also has her "7/11" in contention for Best Female Video and Best Choreography among others.
The 2015 Video Music Awards is airing live on MTV on August 30. Miley Cyrus has announced that she's hosting the event.
"MTV won't let me perform... So I'm hosting this year's VMAs," she said on Monday.