Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communication are described that provide for priority-based carrier selection in a system using multiple component carriers (CCs). A mapping may be provided that maps different applications that may be present at a user equipment (UE) to one or more CCs. Each application may have an associated application priority, and each carrier associated with an application may also have an associated CC priority. A UE may select a subset of CCs for a transmission based on the mapping between an application providing a packet for the transmission and the priority associated with each CC. A UE, when receiving transmissions, may identify one or more applications running at the UE and use the mapping to determine a subset of CCs to monitor for transmissions.