The Civil War epic's nominations include best drama, best director for Spielberg and acting honors for Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones.
The nominations were announced by Ed Helms, Jessica Alba, Megan Fox and Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) President Dr. Aida Takla-O'Reilly Wednesday morning at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
Tied for second place with five nominations, including best drama, are "Argo" and "Django Unchained."
See the full list of Golden Globes nominationsOther best-drama nominees are the shipwreck story "Life of Pi" and the Osama bin Laden manhunt thriller "Zero Dark Thirty."
Along with Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln, best dramatic actor contenders are Richard Gere in "Arbitrage," John Hawkes in "The Sessions," Joaquin Phoenix in "The Master" and Denzel Washington in "Flight."
Dramatic-actress nominees are Jessica Chastain in "Zero Dark Thirty," Marion Cotillard in "Rust and Bone," Helen Mirren in "Hitchcock," Naomi Watts in "The Impossible" and Rachel Weisz in "The Deep Blue Sea."
Alongside Field, supporting-actress picks are Amy Adams in "The Master," Anne Hathaway in "Les Miserables," Helen Hunt in "The Sessions" and Nicole Kidman in "The Paperboy."
Supporting-actor picks include Jones in "Lincoln," Alan Arkin in "Argo," Leonardo DiCaprio in "Django Unchained," Philip Seymour Hoffman in "The Master" and Christoph Waltz in "Django Unchained."
The best musical or comedy movie nominations went to "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," ''Les Miserables," ''Moonrise Kingdom," ''Salmon Fishing in the Yemen" and "Silver Linings Playbook."
Along with Bradley Cooper in "Silver Linings Playbook", best musical or comedy actor contenders are Jack Black in "Bernie," Hugh Jackman in "Les Miserables," Ewan McGregor in "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen," and Bill Murray in "Hyde Park on Hudson".
Musical or comedy-actress nominees are Emily Blunt in "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen," Judi Dench in "Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," Jennifer Lawrence in "Silver Linings Playbook," Maggie Smith in "Quartet," and Meryl Streep in "Hope Springs."
On the smaller screen, the best television comedy series nominations went to "The Big Bang Theory," ''Episodes," ''Girls," ''Modern Family" and "Smash."
Best actor nominations in a television comedy series went to Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock"; Don Cheadle, "House of Lies"; Louis C.K. "Louie", Matt LeBlanc, "Episodes"; Jim Parsons, "The Big Bang Theory."
The Golden Globe Awards will be presented Jan. 13 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, hosted by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler and airing live on NBC.