MTV 2010 VMAs: How Would You like to Be Up Against Gaga, Eminem or Bieber?

In 2009, Lady Gaga picked up the Best New Artist award at the MTV Video Music Awards from presenter, Eminem. Now, here we are a year later, and that very same new artist is up for Best Video of the Year against Eminem for his hit, "Not Afraid." In just 2 short years, Lady Gaga has been named 73rd Artist of the Decade by Billboard, and ranked as the second most powerful musician in the world by Forbes. She is expected to dominate the VMAs this year with her megahit "Bad Romance."

She's also up against herself, in a way, for Best Female Video for her collaboration with Beyonce on "Video Phone," but that would be more of a win for Beyonce. In the Best Collaborations category, "Video Phone" is up against "Telephone" by Lady Gaga featuring Beyonce. If that one wins, that will more of a Lady Gaga win.

Suffice to say, that's it's a safe bet the flamboyant and eccentric Lady Gaga will walk away with at least one armful of moonmen, if not two, this year.

Eminem is considered Lady Gaga's most serious competition. The rap star has a boatload of moonmen from the years 1999, when he first burst onto the scene, through 2003. Eminem also won for Best Hip Hop Video last year with "We Made You."

Katy Perry is not a new nominee, having been nominated in 2008 for "I Kissed A Girl" and in 2009 for "Hot n Cold." This year, she is nominated for "California Gurls" in the Best Female Video category. Katy's fantastical Candyland-like video even features Snoop Dogg, but I'm still not sure it's magical enough to beat out "Bad Romance."

Against these odds, some of the first time nominees are probably just happy they got their foot in the door, but some may still have a decent shot of picking up at least one VMA.

Rapper, B.o.B. (a.k.a. Bobby Ray Lewis) has been nominated for the same video "Airplanes" (with Haley Williams) in 4 categories (Video of the Year, Best Collaboration, Best Male Video and Best Hip-Hop Video). "Airplane" has already won a Teen Choice Award this year for Best Hook-up Song. B.o.B. also has one nomination for Best Pop Video for "Nothin' on You" (with Bruno Mars). "Nothin' on You" was nominated at the BET Awards and Teen Choice but won nothing.

None of the nominees in the Best New Artist category have to go up against Lady Gaga or Eminem -- they only have to contend with the phenomenal Justin Bieber, nominated for his video "Baby" featuring Ludacris. Jason Derülo ("In My Head"), Nikki Minaj featuring Sean Garrett ("Massive Attack"), Ke$ha ("Tik Tok") and Broken Bells ("The Ghost Inside") are really not expected to have much of a chance in this category, but Jason and Ke$ha have other nominations and Justin Bieber only has this one. Alas, in those other categories, they do have to go up against Lady Gaga or Eminem.

In the Best Rock Video category, no one has to contend with Lady Gaga, Eminem or Justin Bieber. Although not a first time nominee, Paramore is up for the video "Ignorance." Paramore frontwoman, Hayley Williams also stands to share a little credit in any win by B.o.B. for "Airplanes." Muse ("Uprising"), Florence + The Machine ("Dog Days Are Over") and 30 Seconds to Mars ("Kings and Queens") have all previously won MTV Europe and/or Asia Music Awards. MGMT is a first-timer for "Flash Delirium."

Be sure to visit MTV's Video Music Awards 2010 website for all the latest updates on the show, which will air on MTV on September 12, 2010, at 9 pm Eastern/8 pm Central, and of course, to vote.

Sources:
Billboard: Artists of the Decade
Forbes: World's Most Powerful Celebrities
MTV Video Music Awards 2010