Relive Every Awesome Song From 2012 With The VMA Nominations

The nominations for the '12 Video Music Awards are in, and everyone who's anyone is on it — from old favorites like Coldplay to electro dance groups you've never heard of (and all the necessary pop divas in between). Whether you were stepping blindly into traffic while watching these videos on your iPhone or just trying (and failing) to avoid the constant stream at every bar, club, and bodega on earth, you're bound to experience a flood of memories when you rewatch the clips that saturated the scene for the past year.

As soon as you've recovered from the shock that Beyoncé's "Countdown" wasn't nominated in every single category (it's a double-hitter under Best Editing and Best Choreography, although we personally would've picked this video), we think you'll be pleased to see M.I.A.'s "Bad Girls" and Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know" among the nominations for Video of the Year, along with a heavy handful of Rihanna, who shares the honor of most nominations with Drake.

As always, the list also marks bona-fide success for some new faces like Gotye, A$AP Rocky, Frank Ocean, and yes, Carly Rae Jepsen. Post-Backstreet-Boys group One Direction is also surprisingly present, along with the obligatory Lana Del Rey ("Born To Die" for Best Cinematography), Katy Perry ("Wide Awake" for Video of the Year) and Avicii ("Le7els" for Best Choreography). It's an exciting if not wholly unexpected list, but special props go to Lil Wayne for breaking boundaries with "How To Love," which was nominated for Best Video With A Message. Shockingly, Lady Gaga doesn't appear on the list once. Does that mean she won't show up in a crazy outfit? Doubt it. (MTV)