Megan Thee Stallion, who went into the night as the most nominated female artist this year with five nods but only took home one award for her work with Cardi B on “WAP,” performed “Body,” off of her recently released debut album Good News. Ricch, who didn’t appear to be present at this year’s show, won one award, for favorite rap/hip-hop album for Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial. He returned just a few minutes later for a pyrotechnic heavy performance, accompanied by Kenny G on “In Your Eyes,” followed by “Save Your Tears.” He later won favorite soul/R&B song for “Heartless” and favorite male soul/R&B artist. The Weeknd, wearing bandages that covered his entire face apart from his mouth and nose, got off to a strong start, accepting the first award and dedicating it to Prince, noting he’d last accepted the award from the late musician. Going into Sunday night’s show, Roddy Ricch and The Weeknd had the most nominations for the fan-voted awards show, with eight nods each. With her wins, Swift breaks her own record twice: She’s won the most awards in this category, with six, and has now racked up 32 AMA wins over the course of her career, the most wins by any artist. Swift also won two more awards: favorite music video for her Folklore track “cardigan” and favorite female pop/rock artist.
Taylor Swift, the winner of the night’s top prize, artist of the year, wasn’t in attendance, as she explained in a video acceptance speech that she was busy rerecording her earlier albums in the studio where she originally recorded them. So to all of our fellow artists and nominees, everybody creating art at home, thank you for doing what you do.”ĭan + Shay later won collaboration of the year for their work with Bieber, beating out high-profile nominees like Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s hit single “WAP,” Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande’s “Rain on Me,” and Megan Thee Stallion featuring Beyoncé’s “Savage Remix.”Īnd Henson introduced Lil Baby’s performance of “Emotionally Scarred” by saying that it highlights the difficulty of the current year. “I just want to say that music has such an incredible power to unify us, music has power to change lives, to save the world. “We haven’t been able to be together in person,” he added. is one country and urged people to “stay safe,” a message also shared by two-time winner Doja Cat.Īfter accepting the award for favorite country song for their collaboration with Justin Bieber, “10,000 Hours,” Dan + Shay’s Dan Smyers addressed the rough 2020, calling it “the toughest year ever.” We’re gonna have some fun, embracing our neighbors and coming together with music.”Īt the end of the night, Henson reminded the audience that, despite the divisive election that recently took place, the U.S. “We need to heal and love on each other a little more. “It has been a long year and now that 2020 is coming to end, it’s time to remember that it’s one country,” she said. County has imposed new restrictions to slow the spread of the virus. The audience, while significantly smaller than ones for awards shows prior to the pandemic, was still somewhat of a rare sight in a year that’s featured numerous audience-free and virtual events and comes as L.A. The small crowd, wearing masks in the balcony, was shown applauding and cheering throughout the show. Henson was joined at Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater for the live ABC broadcast Sunday night by a limited audience of invited guests in small groups from the same families, she said, explaining that they were socially distanced and tested for COVID-19. Ultimately the album sold over two million copies in the US alone and earned two Grammy Award nominations for Best New Artist and Best Contemporary R&B Album.The 2020 American Music Awards, like most things in 2020, was visibly affected by the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic. "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)" was a second top 10 hit single from the collection. It hit #2 on the album chart and sold over 150,000 copies in its first week. "Run It!" was the first single from Chris Brown's self-titled debut album. Actress Destiny Lightsy appears like Chris Brown's love interest in the music video. It features girls and boys participating in dance-offs in a school gym. The accompanying music video earned an MTV Video Music Awards nomination for Best New Artist. The song was also a #1 smash in Australia and New Zealand as well as climbing to #2 in the UK. It also reached #1 on the R&B chart in the US. "Run It!" became only the third debut single from a male solo artist to hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was produced by Scott Storch and gave ample room for Chris Brown to introduce both his dancing and singing prowess. At the age of 16, Chris Brown blasted on to the pop charts with this drama-filled dance floor banger.