Timberlake, Macklemore lead MTV Video Music Awards nominees

Cast member Justin Timberlake poses during a photocall for the film 'Inside Llewyn Davis' at the 66th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes May 19, 2013.[Photo/Agencies]

Singer Rene Liu performs in concert in Taipei

Jin Zhiwen sings charity song 'Xiao He Zhong Guo'

Pop singer Justin Timberlake and hip-hop duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis each received six nominations for the MTV Video Music Awards, which were announced on Wednesday.

Timberlake, 32, made his long-awaited return to music earlier this year with "The 20/20 Experience," which has become 2013's best-selling album so far.

Indie rapper-producer duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis have taken the music industry by storm in the past year, with hits including "Thrift Shop" and "Can't Hold Us."

Timberlake's "Mirrors" and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' "Thrift Shop" will go head-to-head in the fan-voted Video of the Year category, the top award of the night, at the annual awards show that will take place on August 25 in Brooklyn, New York.

Bruno Mars' "Locked Out of Heaven," Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble" and Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines," featuring T.I. and Pharrell, will also compete in the category.

MTV's Video Music Awards sees itself as an off-beat, youth-oriented take on the buttoned-up music industry awards, such as the Grammys, and instead showcases the music videos behind the songs and hands out astronaut statuettes, known as the "Moonman," to winners.

Other top nominees this year include R&B singer Mars, who received four nominations, and pop singers Pink, Thicke, Miley Cyrus and rock group 30 Seconds to Mars with three nods each.