Awards
Here Are All the Performers For the 2020 BBMAs
Post Malone — who will also perform during the evening — leads this year’s pack of nominees with a grand total of 16 nods in 15 separate categories including top artist (alongside Billie Eilish, Jonas Brothers, Khalid and Taylor Swift), top Billboard 200 album (for Hollywood’s Bleeding), top streaming song (for “Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse)” with Swae Lee) and more. The 2020 BBMAs will air Wednesday (Oct. 14) at 8 p.m. ET/PT exclusively on NBC, live from the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles. Check out the complete list of performers below. PerformersAlicia KeysBad BunnyBrandy featuring Ty Dolla SignBTSDemi LovatoDoja CatEn VogueGarth BrooksKane Brown, Swae Lee & KhalidLuke CombsPost MaloneSaint JhnSia You Deserve to Make Money Even When ...
Lime Cordiale, Tame Impala Lead 2020 ARIA Awards Nominations
Kevin Parker’s Tame Impala also snagged top spot on the national chart this year with The Slow Rush (Modular Recordings / Island Records Australia/Universal Music Australia), his psychedelic-pop outfit’s fourth LP. It’s the highest-selling homegrown album in 2020 so far, and its up seven ARIAs, including album of the year. Zambian-born, Botswana-raised, Melbourne-based hip-hop artist Sampa The Great is in the running for six ARIAs for her debut album, The Return (Ninja Tune / Inertia Music). Sampa is already a multiple award winner in her adopted homeland. She’s the only two-time winner of the Australian Music Prize (including victory for The Return), and last year she became the first woman of color to win an ARIA Award in the best hip-hop release category, for “Final Form.” Win...
Miley Cyrus, Bruce Springsteen & More Set For Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
Sean “Diddy” Combs will presumably honor inductee The Notorious B.I.G., who he cultivated, signed, produced and, with the megahit “I’ll Be Missing You,” posthumously saluted. Dave Grohl will kick off the show with a “heartfelt introduction” to the new class of inductees. Don Henley, who was inducted in 1998 as a member of the Eagles, will induct the band’s long-time manager Irving Azoff. Bruce Springsteen, who was inducted in 1999, will likewise induct his long-time manager Jon Landau. Both managers will receive the Ahmet Ertegun Award, given to non-performers. Also booked for the show: Miley Cyrus, Alicia Keys, Gwen Stefani, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Adam Levine, Chris Martin, St. Vincent, Billy Gibbons, Billy Idol, Iggy Pop and Nancy Wilson of Heart. The event was origi...
Finally! Tony Nominations to Be Announced — Six Months Later Than Usual
On March 12, New York ordered the closure of all Broadway theaters due to restrictions on gatherings. On March 25, Tony Award Productions announced that 74th annual Tony Awards and all associated events were postponed indefinitely. On Aug. 21, it announced that the ceremony will be held virtually later in 2020. Even though the nominations will be announced in one week, they still have not been determined. The Tony Awards nominating committee will meet to vote on this year’s nominations on Oct. 13, two days before the announcement. The eligibility cut-off date for Broadway productions opening in the 2019-20 season was originally April 23. However, as a result of the pandemic cutting the 2019-20 theater season short, on Aug. 21, Tony Award Productions announced that only the 18 shows th...
As Grammy Voters Rush to Meet First-Round Voting Deadline, Here Are 14 Questions This Year’s Awards Process Will Answer
The Academy added something new this year: For the first time in this first round of voting, voters can listen to recordings for which entrants provided links on select streaming services. Before, this service was only available in the final round of voting. Final-round voting, to determine the winners, will run from Dec. 7 through Jan. 4, 2021. The winners will be announced on Jan. 31. Here are 14 big questions that this year’s Grammy process will answer. Will Taylor Swift return to the album of the year finals after her last two albums were passed over in that category? Swift’s last two albums, Reputation and Lover, were passed over for album of the year nods, but the not-to-be-denied Swift just redoubled her efforts and came up with an album they can’t overlook. Folklore spent seven wee...
Lady Gaga Leads 2020 MTV EMA Nominations, Followed by BTS & Justin Bieber
Gaga was also the top winner at the MTV Video Music Awards, which were held Aug. 30. She won five Moonpersons, including artist of the year and a special MTV Tricon Award. The MTV EMA added three new categories: best Latin, video for good and best virtual live. The first two of these three categories were imported from the MTV Video Music Awards, where they were introduced in 2010 and 2011, respectively. Bruce Gillmer and Richard Godfrey are executive producers of the two-hour MTV EMA. Debbie Phillips and Chloe Mason are producers. Gillmer was also executive producer (along with Jesse Ignjatovic) of this year’s VMAs. Voting is now open at mtvema.com. It will remain open until Nov. 2 at 11:59 p.m. CET (central European time). Here’s the complete list of 2020 MTV EMA nominees. (Winners in th...
Reba McEntire & Darius Rucker to Co-Host 2020 CMA Awards
Reba McEntire and Darius Rucker have been tapped to co-host the 54th annual CMA Awards, which will air live from Nashville on ABC from 8 to 11 p.m. ET on Nov. 11. The show will take place at Music City Center in downtown Nashville, with Rucker taking the stage for the first time as host alongside six-time CMA winner McEntire, who is returning for a fifth time as host. “I’m thrilled to be back hosting the CMA Awards and even more thrilled that I get to share the stage with Darius Rucker,” said McEntire in a statement. “We’re looking forward to a night of celebrating great country music and hope you’ll tune in and watch!” Rucker added, “I look forward to the CMA Awards every year because of the incredible performances and the opportunity to celebrate the year in country mus...
LL Cool J Has Something Else for Kanye West to Disrespect Instead of a Grammy
Add LL Cool J to the list of people who weren’t too happy about one of Kanye West‘s recent tweets. In an interview with Desus & Mero, the artist opened up about how he felt after seeing West’s Sept. 16 Twitter video in which the “Wash Us in the Blood” rapper appeared to urinate on a Grammy that had been placed in a toilet. When Desus asked LL what it was like to host the Grammys, the artist kicked off his opinion of the Yeezy designer’s actions. “I think, like — with all due respect — I think Kanye should maybe piss on a Yeezy or something,” he said. “I felt some kind of way about that s–t. I didn’t love that s–t because I hosted the Grammys for five years.” “Yeah, the Grammys didn’t g...
‘We Made a Statement’: J Balvin on Making History at a Reggaeton-Heavy Latin Grammys (Exclusive)
The reggaeton-heavy nominations come a year after a wave of urbano artists expressed their concerns with the Latin Recording Academy for the lack of urban recognition in the main categories. Balvin, alongside other colleagues, was one of the leading force of the “Without Reggaeton there’s no Latin Grammys” campaign on social media. Their protest, as he simply stated, is “for the culture and the movement.” “It would be nice to be the big winner of the night but we already made a statement and that’s the most important thing,” he says. “This is for the youth, for the dreamers, for the reggaeton genre and the different ramifications of urban music.” Nominated twice in multiple categories, including the coveted record of the year, album of the year, and the newly-added best r...
Recording Academy, MusiCares Cut 13 Staffers in Reorganization
The moves stem from a major reorganization the Recording Academy began this summer when it streamlined into three divisions: the entertainment/consumer divisions (led by new COO Branden Chapman), the trade/industry group (led by label veteran Ruby Marchand) and organizations/cross verticals (led by CFO Wayne Zahner, chief diversity and inclusion officer Valeisha Butterfield Jones and chief people & culture officer Shonda Grant). “We did our reorganization in July and as part of that, we really have been doing deep dives into all the verticals,” interim president/CEO Harvey Mason Jr. told Billboard Friday night. “There’s some new alignment [and] some crossover in different sections and because of that we wanted to make sure the skill sets ...
Taylor Swift, Lizzo & More: Who Should Win Top Song Sales Artist at the 2020 Billboard Music Awards? Vote!
Five artists racked up record song sales to be nominated for Top Song Sales Artist at the 2020 Billboard Music Awards, but only one can come out on top. Taylor Swift has a whopping 54 top 10 hits (and 20 No. 1s) on Billboard‘s Digital Song Sales chart, Post Malone has notched 11 top 10 hits, Billie Eilish carries five, Lizzo holds three, and Lil Nas X has one, which ended up going to No. 1. Three of the nominees are also up for Top Selling Song: Eilish (“bad guy”), Lil Nas X (“Old Town Road,” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus), and Lizzo (“Truth Hurts”). The 2020 Billboard Music Awards will air Oct. 14 at 8 p.m. ET, live from Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre on NBC, with Kelly Clarkson returning for her third year as the eveni...
BTS, JoBros & More: Who Should Win Top Duo/Group at the 2020 Billboard Music Awards? Vote!
The 2020 Billboard Music Awards are right around the corner, and there are five duos/groups vying for top honors. But who do you think deserves it the most? If BTS wins, the K-pop septet will become the first group to do so two years in a row since the former British boy band One Direction from 2015-2016. Following their epic reunion last year, the Jonas Brothers tie fellow top duo/group nominees Dan + Shay for the most nods with four — top artist, top duo/group, top radio songs artist and top radio song for “Sucker.” The country-pop duo is also up for top country artist, top country duo/group and top country song for “10,000 Hours” with fellow BBMAs nominee Justin Bieber. And hey look Ma, Panic! At the Disco also made it into the category ...
