Arctic Monkeys and Haim lead NME awards nominations

Arctic Monkeys have topped this year's NME Award nominations with eight nods, followed by Californian all-sister trio Haim, who have six.

Arctic Monkeys, who topped the chart with their fifth album AM, are up for best British band and best album.

They compete with Haim, who were the BBC's Sound of 2013, in the best live band category.

Punk band Pussy Riot are also nominated for "hero of the year" following their imprisonment in Russia.

Two of the band's members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina were jailed in August 2012 after performing a protest song in Moscow's main cathedral.

Their release last month is also nominated in the NME's "music moment of the year" category.

Accordingly, Russian President Vladimir Putin is also shortlisted for "villain of the year" - putting him up against Miley Cyrus, Robin Thicke and One Direction's Harry Styles, for possibly the first and last time.

British Prime Minister David Cameron and comedian / revolutionary Russell Brand also feature in the villain category.

Back in the realms of music, Queens Of The Stone Age, Lily Allen and Arcade Fire are each in the running for three prizes - with Allen receiving two of her nominations for the single Hard Out Here, which mocks the sexism rife in modern pop.

Dance duo Disclosure, who topped last week's Brit Award nominations, are nominated for best British band, alongside Foals, Palma Violets, Biffy Clyro, Two Door Cinema Club and Arctic Monkeys.

The Monkeys' lascivious, R&B-inspired AM faces competition in the best album category from Queens Of The Stone Age's Like Clockwork, In Love by Peace, Kanye West's Yeezus, Silence Yourself by Savages and Drenge with their self-titled debut.

Rock legends David Bowie and his former collaborator Lou Reed, who died last year, are among the nominees for hero of the year.

NME editor Mike Williams said: "The past 12 months of music have had everything - returning legends, era-defining singles, more albums with a claim to be modern classics than any year in recent memory and tons of massive live moments to celebrate."

Winners are largely chosen by public vote, and the awards will be handed out on 26 February at the O2 Academy in Brixton, London.

The main nominees include:

Best British band

Best international band

Best solo artist

Best new band

Best live band

Best album

Best track

Worst band

Hero of the year

Villain of the year