Luke Bryan leads American Country Awards nominees

NASHVILLE, TENN. (AP) - Luke Bryan just keeps getting hotter.

The rising country music star is the lead nominee for this year’s American Country Awards with seven. He beat out established stars like Taylor Swift and Lady Antebellum in a field announced early Wednesday.

Lady A and Zac Brown Band are next with six nominations apiece, while Swift and Eric Church took five nods each for the third annual fan-voted awards.

Bryan, Swift, Lady A, Zac Brown Band and Jason Aldean are up for the night’s top honor, artist of the year. Bryan also has nominations in the male artist, album, single and video of the year categories.

Dierks Bentley’s “Home,” Church’s “Chief,” Lady A’s “Own the Night” and Blake Shelton’s “Red River Blue” join Bryan’s “tailgates & tanlines” on the album of the year list. Hit song “I Don’t Want This Night To End” nabbed Bryan single and video of the year nominations.

Miranda Lambert’s popular trio Pistol Annies is nominated in the new artist category with Lauren Alaina, Hunter Hayes, Jana Kramer and Kip Moore.

Organizers have added a song of the year category in 2012 as well. There are 10 nominees, including two Aldean entries: “Flyover States” and “Tattoos on This Town.”

The performance-heavy ACAs will air live Dec. 10 on Fox from Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas with Kristin Chenoweth and Trace Adkins returning as co-hosts. Voting is open on the show’s website.

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