The 44-year-old singer-composer had won his first Golden Globe in 2009 in the same category for Slumdog Millionaire, the Mumbai-based potboiler, which was again directed by British filmmaker Boyle.
Rahman's music in the film, starring James Franco as real-life mountain climber Aron Ralston, who cut off his arm to escape from beneath a boulder after being trapped for more than five days, had received good reviews for it's 'haunting tracks' and 'wonderful crescendos'.
The soundtrack includes 'If I Rise', a collaboration between Rahman and American popstar Dido.
The nominations to the coveted award were announced in Los Angeles on Tuesday and Rahman's competition includes Alexandre Desplat, who was nominated for The King's Speech, Danny Elfman who was nominated for Alice in Wonderland, Trent Reznor and
Atticus Ross who were jointly nominated for The Social Network and Hans Zimmer who won a nod for his score in Inception.
The musician, known as the 'Mozart of Madras' had won two Oscars for his score in 'Slumdog Millionaire' at the 2009 Oscars, taking the film's total haul to eight.
His song Na Na from his Hollywood debut venture Couple's Retreat, was longlisted in the 'Best Original Song' category at the 2010 Oscars but failed to win a nomination.
Rahman, who was honoured with a Padma Bhushan this year, had enjoyed a golden run at the 52nd Grammy Awards, where he had again bagged two gramophones for his music in the Slumdog Millionaire.
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