Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift

Country music stars Sugarland, Taylor Swift and Brad Paisley will lead the way at the 2009 CMT Music Awards, after landing the most nominations

The country duo - singer-songwriters Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush - scooped five nods, closely followed by Swift and Paisley, with four apiece.

Sugarland received two nominations for duo video of the year for All I Want to Do and Already Gone. Their video collaboration with Little Big Town and Jake Owen, Life in a Northern Town, from last year's (08) awards show is also nominated for collaborative video and CMT performance of the year.

Meanwhile Paisley's Waitin' on a Woman has landed the singer a nomination for male video of the year. He's also received nods in the collaborative video division and CMT performance of the year. And Swift's Love Story has landed her a nomination for female video of the year. Her collaboration with rockers Def Leppard has also earned her recognition for wide open country video of the year and CMT performance of the year.

Sugarland, Paisley and Swift are also on the current shortlist for the video of the year prize. Fans will be allowed to vote online at CMT.com through 15 June (09) to determine the winners. The final nominees for video of the year will be announced at the beginning of the awards show telecast on the following day (16Jun09).

The 2009 CMT Music Awards, held at the Sommet Center in Nashville, Tennessee, will include performance by Trace Adkins, Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Toby Keith, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, Sugarland, Taylor Swift, Keith Urban and Def Leppard.

FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison