BANG Showbiz English
Olivia Rodrigo and Kanye West won big at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards.
The annual ceremony returned to Las Vegas' MGM Grand Garden Arena on Sunday night (15.05.22), and this year half of the winners were unveiled on TikTok and the other half during a live broadcast on Peacock and NBC in the US.
Teenage pop superstar Olivia, 19, and rap legend Kanye, 44, took home the most prizes.
Olivia won seven accolades for Top New Artist, Top 100 Artist, Top Streaming Songs Artist, Top Radio Songs Artist, Top Billboard Global 200 Artist and Top R B Female Artist, while ‘SOUR' was crowned Top Billboard 200 Album.
As for Kanye, the ‘Jesus Walks' rapper dominated the gospel and Christian categories, with ‘Donda' taking home both Top Christian and Top Gospel Album. He also named Top Christian and Gospel Artist, while ‘Hurricane' from ‘Donda' was named Top Christian and Gospel Song, giving him a total of six prizes.
Doja Cat walked away with three prizes for Top R B Artist, Top Viral Song for ‘Kiss Me More' with SZA and Top R B Female Artist.
The Weeknd was the most-nominated going into the ceremony, with 17 nods, but the ‘Blinding Lights' hitmaker only walked away with a single prize for Top R B Male Artist.
The star-studded bash was hosted by Diddy and featured performances from Megan Thee Stallion, Silk Sonic, Burna Boy, Florence + The Machine, Ed Sheeran and Machine Gun Kelly.
Before the ceremony started, organisers caused controversy by allowing country star Morgan Wallen to make an appearance despite him being banned last year for use of a racial slur.
The 29-year-old singer-songwriter performed right after civil rights activist Tamika Mallory gave a speech about social justice and anti-racism, which raised a few eyebrows.
Travis Scott also performed, six months after the Astroworld tragedy, which saw 10 people lose their lives in a crowd surge at the rapper's festival.
Before the event, host Diddy addressed the booking of Morgan and Travis.
He said: “To have Morgan and Travis be able to come back and touch the stage again with the mindset of getting a second chance at life.
“Everybody in the room is getting a second chance at life, you know, because we're back outside with no masks on. We need love and I'm excited about celebrating that.”
An abridged list of the 2022 Billboard Music Awards winners:
Top Artist
Drake
Top New Artist
Olivia Rodrigo
Top Male Artist
Drake
Top Female Artist
Olivia Rodrigo
Top Duo/Group
BTS
Top Billboard 200 Artist
Taylor Swift
Top Hot 100 Artist
Olivia Rodrigo
Top Streaming Songs Artist
Olivia Rodrigo
Top Song Sales Artist
BTS
Top Radio Songs Artist
Olivia Rodrigo
Top Billboard Global 200 Artist
Olivia Rodrigo
Top Billboard Global (Excl. U.S.) Artist
Ed Sheeran
Top Tour
The Rolling Stones (‘No Filter Tour')
Top R B Artist
Doja Cat
Top R B Male Artist
The Weeknd
Top R B Female Artist
Doja Cat
Top Rap Artist
Drake
Top Rap Male Artist
Drake
Top Rap Female Artist
Megan Thee Stallion
Top Country Artist
Taylor Swift
Top Country Male Artist
Morgan Wallen
Top Country Female Artist
Taylor Swift
Top Country Duo/Group
Dan + Shay
Top Rock Artist
Glass Animals
Top Rock Tour
The Rolling Stones (‘No Filter Tour')
Top Latin Artist
Bad Bunny
Top Latin Male Artist
Bad Bunny
Top Latin Female Artist
Kali Uchis
Top Dance/Electronic Artist
Lady Gaga
Top Christian Artist
Ye
Top Gospel Artist
Ye
Top Billboard 200 Album
Olivia Rodrigo, ‘SOUR'
Top Rap Album
Drake, ‘Certified Lover Boy'
Top Country Album
Taylor Swift, ‘Red (Taylor's Version)'
Top Rock Album
twenty one pilots, ‘Scaled and Icy'
Top Latin Album
Karol G, ‘KG0516'
Top Dance/Electronic Album
Illenium, ‘Fallen Embers'
Top Christian Album
Ye, ‘Donda'
Top Gospel Album
Ye, ‘Donda'
Top Hot 100 Song
The Kid LAROI Justin Bieber, ‘Stay'
Top Streaming Song
The Kid LAROI Justin Bieber, ‘Stay'
Top Selling Song
BTS, ‘Butter'
Top Radio Song
Dua Lipa, ‘Levitating'
Top Collaboration
The Kid LAROI Justin Bieber, ‘Stay'
Top Billboard Global 200 Song
The Kid LAROI Justin Bieber, ‘Stay'
Top Billboard Global (Excl. U.S.) Song
The Kid LAROI Justin Bieber, ‘Stay'
Top Viral Song
Doja Cat ft. SZA, ‘Kiss Me More'
Top R B Song
Silk Sonic (Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak), ‘Leave The Door Open'
Top Rap Song
Lil Nas X ft. Jack Harlow, ‘Industry Baby'
Top Rock Song
Måneskin, ‘Beggin”
Top Latin Song
Kali Uchis, ‘telepatía'
Top Dance/Electronic Song
Sir Elton John Dua Lipa, ‘Cold Heart – PNAU Remix'
Top Christian Song
Ye, ‘Hurricane' – winner
Top Gospel Song
Ye, ‘Hurricane'
