Prince Kaybee, KO and DJ Zinhle lead the race for the first pack of nominations announced for the 26th annual SA Music Awards (Samas).

The nods for the only two public-voted categories - Record of the Year (ROTY) and Music Video of the Year (MVOTY) - were revealed yesterday.

Surprisingly missing from the two categories are Makhadzi's smash hit Matorokisi and Jerusalema by Master KG.

House music maestro Prince Kaybee's popular singles Fetch Your Life featuring Msaki as well as Gugulethu featuring Indlovukazi are both nodded for ROTY and MVOTY to make him the highest nominated with four.

Rapper KO is in close second with three nods for Supa Dupa (ROTY and MVOTY) and Say You Will featuring Nandi Madida (MVOTY).

Registering two nominations respectively in both categories are DJ Zinhle (Umlilo), Holly Rey (You), AKA (Jika), Nasty C (SMA), Lady Zamar (This is Love), TNS (My Dali) and Black Motion (Joy Joy).

"Congratulations to the nominees in both the ROTY and MVOTY categories. It is their exceptional artistry, passion for the craft and tenacity that has seen them rise to the to," said Nhlanhla Sibisi, CEO of RiSA.

"In these two categories, the Samas gives the viewer and fan of local music a voice to crown the winners.

"I trust that the music loving public will make the most of the opportunity and make their choices known as we count down to what promises to be the biggest night in South African music under the circumstances the world finds itself."

Completing the nominations for ROTY are songs from Black Coffee, Semi Tee, Miano, Kammu Dee, Kabza De Small, DJ Maphorisa, Sha Sha, Samthing Soweto, Kwesta, Sun-El Musician and Ami Faku.

MVOTY also gives nods to work from DJ Sumbody, Tellaman, Shekhinah, Zero12Fines and Mobi Dixon.

Sowetan reported earlier this week that this year, the Samas will take part as a five-day virtually-produced affair that will air on Mzansi Magic on August 3-7.

"The star-studded line-up dominating the nominees list is, for us, an indication of what viewers can expect on Mzansi Magic from August 3," said Nomsa Philiso, the director of local entertainment channels at M-Net.

"With the event taking place on the first week of Women's Month, we are also encouraged to see the number of women dominating the nominations list on both categories," Philiso said.