Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara are both up for best actress in a drama for their roles in the 1950s-set movie about a glamorous housewife who falls for a younger woman.
Carol was also nominated for best film drama, original score and best director for Todd Haynes.
The Revenant, The Big Short and Steve Jobs all received four nominations.
Carol will go up against Alejandro G Inarritu’s The Revenant to be named best film drama, along with Mad Max: Fury Road, kidnap drama Room and real life abuse drama Spotlight.
The best drama actress category also sees Room‘s Brie Larson nominated against Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, as well as Saoirse Ronan for Brooklyn and Alicia Vikander for The Danish Girl.
Leonardo DiCaprio’s performance in The Revenant was recognized for best drama actor, alongside Bryan Cranston in biopic Trumbo, Michael Fassbender in Steve Jobs and Will Smith in Concussion.
Eddie Redmayne, who won the award last year for his role in The Theory of Everything, is nominated again this year for his portrayal of transgender pioneer Lili Elbe in The Danish Girl.
In the musical or comedy film categories, The Big Short is up for best film, competing against Spy, Trainwreck and surprise nominees The Martian and Joy.
Jennifer Lawrence is also nominated for best actress in a musical or comedy for her role in Joy – a biopic about the inventor of the Miracle Mop – along with Melissa McCarthy for Spy, Amy Schumer in Trainwreck, Maggie Smith in The Lady in the Van and Lily Tomlin in Grandma.
The best actor in a musical or comedy category sees The Big Short‘s Christian Bale and Steve Carell nominated with Matt Damon for The Martian, Al Pacino in Danny Collins and Mark Ruffalo in Infinitely Polar Bear.
Sam Smith has a best original song nod for Writing’s on the Wall – the theme to James Bond film Spectre.
In the television categories there was a much broader spread of nominations. American Crime, Fargo, Mr. Robot, Outlander, Transparent and Wolf Hall all landed three nominations each.
Empire, Game of Thrones, Mr. Robot, Narcos and Outlander will compete for the best drama TV series honor.
Meanwhile Casual, Mozart in the Jungle, Orange is the New Black, Silicon Valley, Transparent and Veep are all nominated for best musical or comedy TV series.
Among the best TV drama actors and actresses who received nods include Jon Hamm for the final series of Mad Men, Taraji P. Henson for Empire, while Jamie Lee Curtis and Rob Lowe were also nominated for their new shows Scream Queens and The Grinder in the TV comedy categories.
Another surprise nomination came for Lady Gaga, recognized in the best actress in a miniseries for her role in American Horror Story: Hotel.
The nominations and eventual winners are decided by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association – a group of entertainment editors and writers from 55 countries who report on the industry year-round.
Ricky Gervais will return to host the ceremony on January 10, 2016 – his third time fronting the awards.
Georgia’s outgoing president Salome Zourabichvili refused to step down on December 29, saying she was…
The bald eagle has been officially declared the national bird of the United States, after…
Dozens of passengers have survived a crash involving a plane carrying 69 people in Kazakhstan,…
Millions of Americans are bracing for difficult weather conditions during the Christmas holiday, with storms…
The US House Ethics Committee has voted to release its report on former Republican Representative…
ABC News has agreed to pay $15 million to President-elect Donald Trump to settle a…
