LUKE BRYAN, ARIANA GRANDE, NICKI MINAJ, ONE DIRECTION AND TAYLOR SWIFT ARE TOP FIVE ARTIST OF THE YEAR NOMINEES AT THE "2015 AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS"

Jennifer Lopez Will Host the Live Broadcast on SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22nd at 8:00 p.m., ET on ABC

dick clark productions and ABC announced today that after four weeks of voting, the fans have selected Luke Bryan, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj, One Direction and Taylor Swift as the top five nominees for the Artist of the Year award at the "2015 American Music Awards," the world's biggest fan-voted award show. Luke Bryan (alongside Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town), Ariana Grande and One Direction are slated to perform at the show, in addition to host and performer Jennifer Lopez, 5 Seconds of Summer, Coldplay, Selena Gomez, Nick Jonas, Demi Lovato, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Gwen Stefani, Carrie Underwood, WALK THE MOON, a duet by Meghan Trainor and Charlie Puth, and the legendary Star Wars score to be performed by pop super-group Pentatonix and a full-symphony orchestra. The "2015 American Music Awards" will broadcast live on SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22 at 8:00 p.m., ET on ABC.

To help fans express their passion and excitement for the show, the American Music Awards and Twitter are launching custom Twitter emojis for all performers. All performers will have featured Twitter emojis to celebrate their appearances as they are announced. Viewers will be able to activate the Twitter emojis by Tweeting any of following hashtags from today through the end of the show on November 22.

Already announced performer Twitter emojis include 5 Seconds of Summer (#5SOSonAMAs), Luke Bryan and Karen Fairchild (#LukeKarenAMAs), Coldplay (#ColdplayAMAs), Selena Gomez (#RevivalAMAs), Ariana Grande (#AriAMAs), Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (#MandRLonAMAs), Nick Jonas (#NickJonasAMAs), Demi Lovato (#DemiOnAMAs), One Direction (#AMAs1D), Charlie Puth and Meghan Trainor (#MeghanCharlieAMAs), Gwen Stefani (#GwenOnAMAs), Carrie Underwood (#CarrieOnAMAs), WALK THE MOON (#WTMonAMAs), Star Wars (#StarWarsAMAs), and Pentatonix (#PTXonAMAs). Additional Twitter emojis will be available soon.

Taylor Swift leads the "2015 American Music Award" nominations with six nominations. Ed Sheeran and The Weeknd tie with five nominations each, while Sam Hunt, Nicki Minaj, Sam Smith, Meghan Trainor and WALK THE MOON earn three nominations each. Additionally, Jason Aldean, Chris Brown, Luke Bryan, Drake, Fetty Wap, Florida Georgia Line, Ariana Grande, Maroon 5, Bruno Mars, One Direction, Charlie Puth, Rihanna, Mark Ronson and Wiz Khalifa each receive two nominations.

For a full list of nominees, please visit http://www.theamas.com/2015-nominees/

The American Music Awards winners are voted entirely by fans. Voting for all categories except New Artist of the Year Presented by Kohl's, Artist of the Year and Collaboration of the Year Un-leashed by T-Mobile is now closed. Here are the remaining voting windows:

· November 12 (12:01 a.m., ET) - November 19 (11:59 p.m., ET)

· Voting period for the top five Artist of the Year nominees

· Note: The Artist of the Year winner will be determined by the total votes received through the entire voting period

· November 1 (12:01 a.m., ET) - November 22 (9:00 p.m., ET)

· Voting period for New Artist of the Year Presented by Kohl's and Collaboration of the Year Un-leashed by T-Mobile

For Artist of the Year, fans can vote once per day per platform. For New Artist of the Year Presented by Kohl's and Collaboration of the Year Un-leashed by T-Mobile, fans can vote 100 times per day per platform. Here are the ways you can vote:

· Via AMAvote.com

· Voting available for the remaining three categories

· Via Facebook

· Artist of the Year ONLY - Posting a status that includes the nominee's name and the category's hashtag (#aoty) within the post

· Via Twitter

· Artist of the Year and New Artist of the Year Presented by Kohl's: A Tweet that includes the nominee's name or Twitter handle, the category name and #AMAs within the post(s)

· Collaboration of the Year Un-leashed by T-Mobile: A Tweet that includes the collaboration title, the category name and #AMAs within the post(s)

For more information on how to vote, please visit http://www.theamas.com/vote/voting-faq/

As always at the American Music Awards, artists will be honored in the genres of Pop/Rock, Alternative Rock, Country, Rap/Hip-Hop, Soul/R&B, Adult Contemporary, Contemporary Inspirational, Latin, EDM, Soundtrack, New Artist of the Year Presented by Kohl's, Song of The Year, Collaboration of the Year Un-leashed by T-Mobile and Artist of the Year.

American Music Awards nominees are based on key fan interactions as reflected in Billboard Magazine and on Billboard.com, including album and digital singles sales, radio airplay, streaming, social activity and touring. These measurements are tracked by Billboard and its data partners, including Nielsen Entertainment and Next Big Sound. The data covers the reporting period of September 15, 2014 to September 13, 2015.

Preceding the ABC broadcast for the 7th-consecutive year will be the "Coca-Cola Red Carpet LIVE! @ The 2015 AMAs" pre-show. Live coverage will stream online for fans worldwide starting at 5:00 p.m., ET / 2:00 p.m., PT on November 22nd at Yahoo, this year's official digital distributor of the American Music Awards pre-show. The live stream can also be watched at TheAMAs.com and ABC.com.

The "2015 American Music Awards" sponsors and partners include Coca-Cola, Cumulus Media / WestwoodOne, Kohl's, Music Choice, Samsung, Shazam, T-Mobile, Time Warner Cable and Yahoo.

The "2015 American Music Awards" is produced by dick clark productions. Allen Shapiro and Mike Mahan are Executive Producers. Larry Klein, Barry Adelman and Mark Bracco are Producers.

For the latest American Music Awards news, exclusive content and more, be sure to follow the AMAs on social and join the conversation by using the official hashtag for the show, #AMAs.

Facebook: Facebook.com/AMAs Twitter: @TheAMAs Instagram: @TheAMAs Snapchat: TheAMAs Tumblr: americanmusicawards.tumblr.com Vine: TheAMAs

To search the American Music Award database for past winners (1974 - 2015) please visit: http://www.theamas.com/winners-database/

Tickets are now on sale at www.axs.com.

About the American Music Awards

The American Music Awards, the world's biggest fan-voted award show, features performances from today's hottest artists and presents fan-voted awards in the categories of Pop/Rock, Alternative Rock, Country, Rap/Hip-Hop, Soul/R&B, Adult Contemporary, Contemporary Inspirational, Latin, EDM, Soundtrack, New Artist of the Year Presented by Kohl's, Song of The Year, Collaboration of the Year Un-leashed by T-Mobile and Artist of the Year. The American Music Awards pays tribute to today's most influential and iconic artists. The show is produced by dick clark productions and is seen in more than 160 countries around the world. For more information, visit www.theamas.com, www.dickclark.com or abc.go.com/shows/american-music-awards.

About dick clark productions

dick clark productions (dcp) is the world's largest producer and proprietor of televised live event entertainment programming with the "Academy of Country Music Awards," "American Country Countdown Awards," "American Music Awards," "Billboard Music Awards," "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest," "Golden Globe Awards," "Hollywood Film Awards" and the "Streamy Awards." Weekly television programming includes "So You Think You Can Dance" from 19 Entertainment, a division of CORE Media Group and dcp; "World's Funniest" from Jukin Media and dcp; as well as "BOOM!" from Keshet DCP, the joint venture between Keshet International (KI), the global distribution and production arm of Keshet Media Group and DC Media, the parent company of dcp. dcp also owns one of the world's most unique and extensive entertainment archive libraries with more than 55 years of award-winning shows, historic programs, specials, performances and legendary programming. For additional information, visit www.dickclark.com.