Ten of the music industry’s biggest names went head-to-head in the Artist of the Year category at the 2026 American Music Awards.
K-pop boy band BTS ultimately won the accolade during the Monday, May 25, ceremony at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, as presented by rapper Busta Rhymes.
“ARMYs, we made it once again. Thank you, it’s an honor to have this precious award once again after everybody’s done their military service,” RM said. “Like the legendary Busta Rhymes said, it’s fan voted award so our biggest thanks and gratitude as always goes to the ARMYs all over the world that stood by us for the past 13 years, thank you so much.”
The other nominees in the Artist of the Year category were Bad Bunny, Bruno Mars, Harry Styles, Justin Bieber, Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, Morgan Wallen, Sabrina Carpenter and Taylor Swift.
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Throughout the course of her career, Swift, 36, has won Artist of the Year at the AMAs seven times — in 2009, 2011, 2013, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022 — and racked up 11 nominations in the category. Bieber, 32, is the only other nominee this year who has earned the accolade multiple times, with two previous wins in 2010 and 2012 and five total nods.
Two other contenders have won Artist of the Year once in the past: Mars in 2017 and BTS in 2021. The “I Just Might” crooner, 40, has been nominated for the award three times, while the boy band has been up for the honor twice.
As for the remaining nominees, Gaga, 40, has been nominated for Artist of the Year four times, and Lamar, 38, has three nods in the category. Bad Bunny, 32, Styles, 32, Wallen, 33, and Carpenter, 27, have all received two nominations each.
At the 2026 awards show, Swift led the pack of nominees. In addition to Artist of the Year, her eight nods included Best Female Pop Artist, Album of the Year and Best Pop Album for The Life of a Showgirl, Song of the Year, Best Music Video and Best Pop Song for “The Fate of Ophelia” and Song of the Summer for “Elizabeth Taylor.”
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Carpenter and Wallen trailed closely behind with seven nominations each. She was up for Artist of the Year, Best Female Pop Artist, Album of the Year and Best Pop Album for Man’s Best Friend and Song of the Year, Best Music Video and Best Pop Song for “Manchild.” He was in the running for Artist of the Year, Best Male Country Artist, Album of the Year and Best Country Album for I’m the Problem, Song of the Year for “I’m the Problem,” Collaboration of the Year for “What I Want” with Tate McRae and Best Country Song for “Just in Case.”
For her part, Gaga landed six nods for Artist of the Year, Best Female Pop Artist, Album of the Year and Best Pop Album for Mayhem, Best Vocal Performance for “Abracadabra” and Tour of the Year for The Mayhem Ball.
With four nominations each, Mars vied for Artist of the Year, Best Male R&B Artist, Best R&B Song for “I Just Might” and Best R&B Album for The Romantic, while Bieber contended for Artist of the Year, Album of the Year and Best R&B Album for Swag and Best Male Pop Artist.
Bad Bunny, BTS, Styles and Lamar all received three nods, including Artist of the Year. As for their other nominations, Bad Bunny was up for Best Male Latin Artist and Best Latin Song for “Nuevayol,” BTS was in contention for Song of the Summer for “Swim” and Best Male K-Pop Artist, Styles was competing for Song of the Summer for “American Girls” and Best Male Pop Artist and Lamar was in the running for Tour of the Year for his and SZA’s Grand National Tour and Best Male Hip-Hop Artist.
