Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran to compete for best artist prize at EMAs

The close friends are in the same category along with Ariana Grande, Kendrick Lamar, Miley Cyrus and Shawn Mendes.

Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran

November 12 2017 02:45 AM

Taylor Swift will take on close friend Ed Sheeran in the inaugural best artist category at this year’s MTV Europe Music Awards in London on Sunday night.

The two superstar musicians – who have both released albums in 2017 – will vie for the award which replaced the best male and best female categories as MTV opted to drop all gendered prizes.

Ariana Grande, Kendrick Lamar, Miley Cyrus and Shawn Mendes complete those stars up for the prize.

Taylor Swift

Swift leads the pack with six nominations, while Sheeran has five alongside Canadian pop star Mendes and US rapper Kendrick Lamar.

Irish rockers U2 will collect a global icon award at the event at the SSE Wembley Arena, which sees the EMAs return to London for the first time in 21 years.

Performers at the show include rapper Eminem, grime star Stormzy, indie rockers The Killers, Kesha and Demi Lovato.