Iggy Azalea beats Ariana Grande in the Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist race.
Luke Combs took home the first-ever award for Favorite New Artist, beating Cardi B, Camila Cabello, Lauren Jauregui, Julia Michaels and Noah Cyrus. The 22-year-old singer gave a shoutout to all the other nominees in the category and noted that he’s thrilled to be the youngest to ever win, telling his fans on Instagram, “every single person has been so incredible to me this year, this is for each and every one of you.”
Best new artist and favorite album in the country category went to “Luke Combs” and “Strip That Down,” respectively. Charli XCX took home the honor of favorite female artist in pop/rock, and Maren Morris won the honor of favorite female artist in country, as well as favorite duo or group in pop/rock.
BTS took home an award for favorite breakout artist, while Dua Lipa was deemed the Favorite Female Artist in Alternative Rock and Khalid won the honor of favorite male artist in pop/rock.
Post Malone’s title for Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist on the American Music Awards is the crowning honor in a month where he’s been able to take home three Grammys — two of which came from the AMAs. In addition to the aforementioned award, Post was also nominated for favorite male artist in rap/hip-hop in addition to his AMA awards.
After getting off to a shaky start last year, when she took home none of the eight awards she was nominated for — including the top prize for Favorite Female Artist in the pop/rock category — Ariana Grande’s comeback was a heavily anticipated spectacle, given her absence from the awards show last year. But in its new social media platform role, the AMAs were able to give the pop star the time she needed to put out her fourth studio album and kick off a 10-city tour last month.
So far, the show hasn’t provided any clues of what could be in store for the follow-up release of Grande’s fourth studio album, “Sweetener,” or when the pop star will embark on her “Sweetener” tour, which is set to kick off in March, although she promised that there was “a lot of good stuff” coming her way next week.
Lady Gaga was co-hosted by Tyler The Creator and Kaskade, who opened the show with a mix of light classics from Elton John and Ariana Grande, as well as their singles. They performed Grande’s hit “No Tears Left to Cry,” which she released shortly after she turned 25 in October. Kaskade played “Golden Key,” the first track from “Golden Hour,” released on Jan. 21.
The first performance of the night featured Pink performing “What About Us,” her single with Kelly Clarkson.
Luke Combs’ hit “Beautiful Crazy” led all songs in combined streams across streaming platforms, while Ariana Grande’s “No Tears Left to Cry” was the No. 1 song on Spotify. The song became the first No. 1 to also win Favorite Song in the pop/rock category.