Sade: Nominated in Adult Contemporary category

Aaliyah, who died in a plane crash on 25 August, was nominated for favourite female R&B artist, as was Mary J Blige.

The nominees for the 29th annual awards were announced by Jewel and Sean Combs, alias P Diddy.

The awards will be presented at a three-hour ceremony at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, broadcast live by ABC TV on 9 January.

Lenny Kravitz will compete for the title of best male artist with reggae singer Shaggy and R&B crooner R Kelly.

Dave Matthews Band, 'N Sync and U2 will fight it out for the title of best pop and rock group.

Latin music

Britain's Sade is nominated in the Adult Contemporary category, along with Enya and LeAnn Rimes.

Colombian singer Shakira, Enrique Iglesias of Spain and US Spanish-speaking singer Jaci Velasquez are in contention for the Latin music awards.

Yolanda Adams, Steven Curtis Chapman and Donnie McClurkin received nominations for contemporary inspirational artist in the new category of contemporary Christian music.

Alternative Music nominations went to Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park and Staind, while American Pie 2, Moulin Rouge, Save the Last Dance are all in contention for best soundtrack.

Nominees are compiled from music industry publications and award winners are selected by a national sampling of some 20,000 US music fans.