The awards telecast is among the most widely watched of the annual US musical honours, next to the Grammys, and a long list of top artists will be on hand to claim trophies and perform, including pop star Katy Perry and rapper Pitbull.
Awards are divided into genres of pop or rock, rap or hip-hop, country and R&B, and nominees will compete in categories for favorite artists and best albums.
Adele's leading four nominations include best female artist in the pop or rock category, top album with "21," adult contemporary singer and the night's top honor, artist of the year.
The British singer suffered a setback this month when she underwent surgery in Boston to treat a benign polyp on her vocal cords, which was causing recurrent bleeding. The surgery was a success, but she is currently unable to perform.
Last week, she posted a notice on her website saying, "I'm just chilling out now until I get the all clear from my doctors."
Even though Adele is leading the AMA nominations, she faces stiff competition from the likes of Perry and Lady Gaga for best female artist and artist of the year. Also competing for artist of the year are rapper Lil Wayne and country sensation Taylor Swift.
Adele has enjoyed a huge year of sales with "21," which includes hit songs such as "Rumour Has it," but her luck at awards shows has been mixed. At the MTV Video Music Awards, for instance, Adele's videos won some minor categories such as art direction, but lost in top categories.
Perry won video of the year and Gaga had best female video. Similarly, Gaga came up a big winner at MTV's recent Europe Music Awards.
Elsewhere, several celebrities received three American Music Award nominations each, including Perry, Gaga, Swift, R&B artist Rihanna and country sensations The Band Perry, which also earned a nod for best new artist in the country genre.
Singers Beyonce, Bruno Mars, Chris Brown, country sensation Jason Aldean, rapper Kanye West, the band LMFAO, Nicki Minaj and Pitbull all collected two nominations each.
