Beyoncé and Adele lead MTV VMAs 2016 nominees; Taylor Swift missing

MTV released the full list of nominees for the 2016 Video Music Awards on Tuesday, July 26, and two of the year's biggest female artists lead the rest of the contenders.

Beyoncé, whose "Lemonade" was one of the most talked-about releases this year, topped the list with a career-best 11 nominations. Her "Formation" is up for Video of the Year, Best Pop Video, Best Choreography, Best Direction, and Best Cinematography, for which "Sorry" is also nominated. Her "Hold Up" earned nods in the Best Female Video and Best Art Direction categories while "Format" is up for Best Editing. "Lemonade" just might take home the Breakthrough Long Form Video award while "Freedom," her single with Kendrick Lamar, is up for Best Collaboration.

Adele, who made a stunning comeback late last year, follows Beyoncé with eight nominations. Her record-breaking "Hello" earned nominations for Video of the Year, Best Female Video, Best Pop Video, Best Art Direction, Best Direction, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing. Her "Send My Love (to Your New Lover)" was also nominated for Best Visual Effects.

A glaring absence in this year's nominee list is Taylor Swift, last year's big winner. Vanity Fair notes that this is so despite Swift's "Out of the Woods" video coming out in December 2015, which is within the eligibility period for the 2016 VMAs.

Interestingly, Swift's ex, Calvin Harris, with whom she had a notorious falling-out this year, is nominated in the Best Collaboration, Best Electronic Video, and Best Male Video categories.

Competing for the VMA's hottest prize, the Video of the Year, are Adele's "Hello," Beyoncé's "Formation," Drake's "Hotline Bling," Justin Bieber's "Sorry," and Kanye West's controversial and feud-triggering "Famous."

Newcomers DNCE, Bryson Tiller, Zara Larsson, Desiigner, and Lukas Graham are up for the Best New Artist award.

This year's MTV Video Music Awards will air live from Madison Square Garden on Aug. 28.