HUNTR/X singers EJAE, AUDREY NUNA and REI AMI, who are set to receive Billboard’s 2025 Woman of the Year award at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles on April 29, join a very impressive roster of recipients. The 18 recipients to date have won a combined total of 115 Grammys, three Oscars and a Primetime Emmy.
Reba McEntire, who became the first recipient in 2007, went on to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and receive the Kennedy Center Honors. Madonna, who was named Woman of the Year in 2016, is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Taylor Swift, the only two-time Woman of the Year recipient, went on to become the only four-time Grammy winner for album of the year. Beyoncé, Woman of the Year for 2009, went on to become the artist with the most Grammy Awards in history. Billie Eilish, Woman of the Year for 2019, went on to become the first artist in nearly four decades to sweep the Big Four categories at the Grammys in one night. This year, Eilish earned another laurel (alongside her brother, Finneas) as the first three-time song of the year recipients in Grammy history.
EJAE, AUDREY NUNA and REI AMI comprise the first group or duo to receive the honor. EJAE won a Grammy on Feb. 1 for co-writing “Golden,” which took best song written for visual media. She is also nominated for best original song at the Oscars on Sunday March 15 for co-writing the global smash. The trio will perform the song on the telecast.
The Woman of the Year award is an outgrowth of Billboard’s Women in Music list, which was launched in 2005 as a magazine-only feature. As noted, McEntire became the first Woman of the Year honoree in 2007, at an event, “Top 20 Women in Music,” held in conjunction with Lifetime. The first event branded Women in Music was held in 2008. The event has been held every year since, except 2021, when it transitioned from an early-winter to a late-winter gathering.
Check out the past years’ honorees in the gallery below.
