TAIPEI - Jolin Tsai is the top contender for the Golden Melody Awards, leading a group of nominees that includes Jacky Cheung, Eason Chan, Jay Chou, Karen Mok and LaLa Hsu.

Tsai earned nine nominations in Taiwan's answer to the Grammys, including Best Song and Best Mandarin Album, for her dance album Play, but was not named for Best Female Singer, said Apple Daily today.

Tsai, Cheung and Hsu are competing in the top two categories, Best Song and Best Mandarin Album. The Best Song nominations were given to Play by Tsai, The Rest Of Time by Cheung, Missing Person by Hsu, Faces Of Paranoia by A-mei and featuring Soft Lipa, as well as Island's Sunrise, the protest song that punk bank Fire Ex wrote for the student-led Sunflower Movement in Taiwan last year.

In addition to Tsai's Play, Cheung's Wake Up Dreaming and Hsu's Missing Person, Chou's Aiyo, Not Bad and Chan's Rice & Shine were nominated for Best Mandarin Album.

Cheung and Chan got Best Male Singer nominations, along with Khalil Fong (Dangerous World), WeiBird (Journey Into The Night) and Yang Pei-an
(Beast In The Dark).

The Best Female Singer nominees include Hsu, A-mei (Faces Of Paranoia), Waa Wei (We Still Need To Believe In Love, B*******) and Karen Mok (Departures). A-lin, who competed in the latest season of Hunan TV's I Am A Singer, was also nominated in the category for her album Guilt.

Stefanie Sun's first album in three years, Kepler, earned only one nomination, Best Single Producer, said China Times. Her fellow Singaporean and last year's Best Male Singer winner JJ Lin was nominated - not for his album Genesis but for composing and producing Chan's single Listen Up.

The Golden Melody ceremony will be held in Taipei Arena on June 27.