This year’s GMA Dove Awards ceremony, which aired Friday night (Oct. 21) on TBN and was held on the campus of Nashville’s Lipscomb University, showcased the power of pairing a great song with the right message and the right vocalist.

CeCe Winans took home two trophies, including the evening’s top honor, artist of the year, capping a strong year that saw Winans’ inspirational “Believe for It” spend 12 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Gospel Songs chart and reach No. 7 on Christian Airplay. During the GMA Dove Awards, “Believe for It” was named song of the year.

In accepting the song of the year honor, Winans said, “It is amazing when we come together, love each other and stand for righteousness what God will do…I am believing for God to move in this industry like He has never moved before.”

Newcomer Anne Wilson also took home her first two GMA Dove Awards wins, for new artist of the year, as well as pop/contemporary recorded song of the year, for her breakthrough hit “My Jesus.” During her performance of the song, Wilson wisely and succinctly used the time to share the story that inspired the song — the loss of her brother Jacob in 2017, as photos of her late brother filled the screen behind her.

“I never imagined I’d be here tonight, standing on this stage and getting to be amongst among all of you incredible artists,” Wilson said in accepting her new artist of the year award, before thanking her label team at Capitol CMG, management team at Storyhouse Collective and her collaborators on the album. She also thanked her late brother Jacob. “You inspire me and that’s why I do what I do, is to honor Jacob. Most of all I want to thank Jesus for his grace, his mercy and his forgiveness…I’m so thankful for all the artists in this category as well. You are changing lives and I’m so grateful.”

The evening began as the Gospel Music Association’s leader Jackie Patillo and Lipscomb University president Candice McQueen welcomed the audience to celebrate the best music that came from the faith-based community over the past year, under the theme “Sound of Heaven.” From there, the evening honored artists in a range of styles, including gospel, folk, country, bluegrass, soul, rap, pop and Spanish-language.

The ceremony opened with Crowder performing the swampy rock song “Good God Almighty” and later earned rock/contemporary recorded song of the year for “Higher Power” featuring Hulvey. Jekalyn Carr offered a soulful, commanding rendition of “My Portion,” and the song later picked up the GMA Dove Award for traditional gospel recorded song of the year. DOE performed a mash-up of “When I Pray” and “What I’m Waiting For,” and won contemporary gospel album of the year (Clarity). Gateway Worship Español offered a stirring bilingual performance that blended worship, Latin and rap, and won Spanish language recorded song of the year for “Danzando,” which featured Daniel Calveti, Becky Collazos, Christine D’Clario, Travy Joe and Josh Morales.

Phil Wickham picked up songwriter of the year (artist), while his album Hymn of Heaven was named worship album of the year and the title track was named worship recorded song of the year. He also performed his four-week No. 1 Billboard Christian Airplay hit “House of the Lord.” His acceptance speech was filled with gratitude as he noted he has been leading worship in various church services since he was in his early teens.

The topics of loss and rejuvenation were touched on throughout the evening, as TobyMac thanked the audience for their support and prayers following the loss of his eldest son, Truett, in 2019.

“I thought I would never write another song, much less a song that is uptempo,” TobyMac noted, before performing the joyous song “The Goodness” with Blessing Offor. Earlier this year, the song became a three-week No. 1 on the Christian Airplay chart.

Last year, the inaugural GMA Leadership Award was given to GMA leader Patillo, and this year, the honor was awarded to CAA’s John Huie, who has worked with Amy Grant, DC Talk, Third Day, Steven Curtis Chapman and more.

Later in the evening, Smith introduced his longtime friend and fellow CCM luminary Steven Curtis Chapman, who launched his performance with a medley of his previous hits, including “The Great Adventure” and “Divin’ In,” before performing “Don’t Lose Heart” from his new album Still.

“Thirty-five years went by in a hurry,” Chapman quipped.

Jason Ingram (who has worked with Elevation Worship, Maverick City Music, Winans, Lauren Daigle and others) was named songwriter of the year (non-artist), while producer of the year went to Jeff Pardo (who has worked on projects for Wilson, Crowder, Newsboys and more). Family trio The Sound won their first GMA Dove Award, for bluegrass/country/roots album (God Is Real). Rap/Hip Hop recorded song of the year went to “King Jesus” from KB and nobigdyl, while pop/contemporary album of the year went to for King & Country’s What Are We Waiting For? (the brother duo also won in the short form music video of the year/concept category for “Relate,” as well as long form video of the year.

Maverick City Music won two honors during the evening, including gospel worship recorded song of the year (“Breathe”) as well as gospel worship album of the year with Tribl, for Tribl Nights Atlanta.

As the evening began to draw to a close, Winans took the stage after being named as the recipient of the evening’s biggest honor, artist of the year. In lieu of a traditional acceptance speech, she gracefully sang a chorus of “To God Be The Glory,” as the audience joined in, creating a uniting, impromptu a cappella choir.

For a full list of the evening’s winners visit doveawards.com.

A federal jury on Friday (Oct. 21) said Cardi B was not legally liable in a lawsuit filed by a California man whose back tattoos were unwittingly photoshopped onto an album cover, making it look like — he claimed — he was the one performing oral sex on her, according to Law360. The verdict allows the superstar to avoid millions of dollars in requested damages.

Following a four-day trial, the jurors said that Cardi (real name Belcalis Almánzar) did not violate Kevin Brophy’s rights with the bawdy cover of her 2016 mixtape Gangsta Bitch Music Vol. 1, which accidentally featured a large image of Brophy’s back tattoo.

The actual man in the image was a model who had consented to the shoot, but a giant tattoo on the man’s back belonged to Brophy. Unbeknownst to Cardi, a freelance graphic designer had typed “back tattoos” into Google Image, found one that fit (Brophy’s), and Photoshopped it onto the model’s body. It apparently didn’t occur to him that he would need anyone’s approval to do so.

Brophy testified that the “raunchy” cover had been a “complete slap in the face” that had caused him “hurt and shame,” but jurors were clearly swayed by Cardi’s defenses — like the idea that nobody could even recognize him from the image of his back.

Brophy sued in 2017 for millions in damages, claiming he was “devastated, humiliated and embarrassed” by the cover. He claimed Cardi and others violated his so-called right of publicity by using his likeness without his consent, and also violated his right to privacy by casting him in a “false light” that was “highly offensive.”

Ahead of the trial, Cardi’s legal team argued those accusations were “sheer fantasy” and “vastly overblown” — and that Brophy was just suing her in an effort to “cash in the legal equivalent of a lotto ticket.” Her team says nobody would have recognized a relatively unknown man based merely on his back, and that he has little proof anyone did.

Friday’s verdict came after four heated days of trial. Cardi took the witness stand on Wednesday, repeatedly sparring with an opposing attorney, demanding “receipts” to support Brophy’s claims, and accusing him and his lawyers of “harassing” her in hopes of scoring a settlement.

Brophy has options to appeal the verdict, if he so chooses: First by asking the judge to overturn the verdict, and then by taking the case to a federal appeals court.

For over a decade, Taylor Swift has been offering fans a multitude of options when it comes to purchasing her albums across physical formats with exclusive editions available through a longstanding partnership with Target. But with her new album, Midnights, out Friday (Oct. 20), she’s truly outdone herself.

There are over 20 different versions of the album available on CD, LP and cassette in various colors, with different cover artwork, censored and uncensored, with and without autographs. That plethora of options is great for fans who may want a different version than their friends, or who — as many seem to — feel driven to collect them all. It’s also great for Swift, who’s earning more money from increased sales that will impact her performance on the Billboard charts and likely add up to one of the year’s best album debut weeks.

Few artists, if any, attract as much attention as Swift does for her promotion and sales strategy, thanks largely to her close relationship with her fans. In turn, she is brilliant at developing physical goods they want to buy, in addition to just streaming her music. Last year, following the release of her re-recordings of Fearless and Red, she accounted for one out of every 50 albums sold in the U.S., according to Luminate. She knows Swifties are collectors, and is now providing not only the multiple Midnights versions but elaborate containers to put them in, like a $39 CD clock or vinyl clock for $49, which display the four albums in a timely format, or $79 faux-leather vinyl collector’s case.

In today’s streaming-centric music industry, physical albums have become collectible tokens of fandom, and artists have been responding to growing demand. BTS and other K-pop megastars regularly rack up huge numbers by selling CDs and LPs with different colors and exclusive postcards and photos sold as collectible items, with the music as a secondary benefit. When South Korean boy band Stray Kids’ MAXIDENT topped the most recent Billboard 200 chart for the week of Oct. 22, it did so with 10 CD versions, including autographed CDs and exclusive Barnes & Noble and Target releases. Increasingly, it’s becoming a mainstream strategy for acts in the U.S., too. Such disparate acts as Denzel Curry and Slipknot have recently released various physical versions of their new albums as well. It just so happens that these sales all count towards an album’s Billboard chart performances. So by offering four different versions of Midnights per format, Swift is at least quadrupling her revenue from some super fans, as well as their impact on the charts.

Based on Billboard‘s research, here is a full rundown of the different Midnights versions fans can buy:

CDs:
Moonstone Blue
Blood Moon
Mahogany
Jade Green

Signed CDs:
Moonstone Blue (Webstore Exclusive)
Blood Moon (Webstore Exclusive)
Mahogany (Webstore Exclusive)
Jade Green (Webstore Exclusive)

Clean-version CDs:
Moonstone Blue
Blood Moon
Mahogany
Jade Green

Vinyl LPs:
Moonstone Blue
Blood Moon
Mahogany
Jade Green

Signed Vinyl LPs:
Moonstone Blue (Webstore Exclusive)
Blood Moon (Webstore Exclusive)
Mahogany (Webstore Exclusive)
Jade Green (Webstore Exclusive)

Cassettes:
Moonstone Blue

Target Exclusives:
Lavender Deluxe CD (With Three Bonus Tracks)
Lavender Vinyl LP

Digital:
Moonstone Blue (Webstore Exclusive)
Moonstone Blue (Clean) (Webstore Exclusive)
Standard – 13 Tracks
Standard – 13 Tracks (Clean)
Standard – 14 Tracks
Standard – 14 Tracks (Clean)