Taylor Swift was the top winner at the 2024 Billboard Music Awards, but many other artists also scored big wins over the course of the two-hour show, which was broadcast on Fox on Thursday (Dec. 12).
Zach Bryan won five awards during the night, including two wins in country and two in rock, reflecting his genre-bridging appeal. (His fifth award was for Top Streaming Song.)
Morgan Wallen won four awards, bringing his career total to 19, just one shy of Garth Brooks’ record as the country artist with the most wins. Wallen won Top Country Artist for the third time, which allows him to tie Brooks and Swift for the most wins in this category. This was Wallen’s third win in four years in this key category. He was bested in 2022 by (wait for it) Swift.
Shaboozey, Bad Bunny, Drake and the Christian music group Elevation Worship each won three awards. This brings Drake’s career total to 42 wins, second only to Swift. It brings Bad Bunny’s career total to 16 wins. Drake’s wins include a record-extending sixth win for Top Rap Artist. Bunny’s wins include a record-extending fifth win, all consecutive, for Top Latin Artist. Elevation Worship’s wins include a second win as Top Christian Artist. They previously won in 2021. This puts the group in a tie with Chris Tomlin for second-most wins in the category. Lauren Daigle leads with four wins.
Other artists who are high on the all-time BBMAs leaderboard and who moved up this year include Beyoncé, who landed her 17th award in a category that would have seemed quite unlikely a year ago – Top Country Female Artist. Post Malone landed his 11th BBMA win for Top Collaboration for “I Had Some Help,” which he recorded with Wallen.
Benson Boone, CeCe Winans, Chandler Moore, Charli XCX, Fuerza Regida, Jung Kook, Kacey Musgraves, Linkin Park, SZA, Teddy Swims, Tommy Richman and Tyla each won two awards.
SZA won Top R&B Artist for the second year in a row. SZA is the first woman to win Top R&B Artist more than once. R. Kelly has the most wins in this category – four. Usher follows with three. 50 Cent and The Weeknd have also won twice.
The diverse nature of the music scene in 2024 was underscored in that a country singer, Wallen, won Top Male Artist for the second year in a row, while a regional Mexican band, Fuerza Regida, won Top Duo/Group for the second year in a row. (These are both all-genre categories.)
This is Wallen’s second win for Top Male Artist, which puts him in a tie with Justin Bieber for second-most wins in the category. Drake leads with three.
This is Fuerza Regida’s second win for Top Duo/Group, which puts them in a tie with Destiny’s Child and Imagine Dragons for second-most wins in this category. BTS and One Direction are tied for the lead, with three wins each.
The inroads that Black artists have made in country music are seen not only in Beyoncé’s win for Top Country Female Artist but also Shaboozey’s win for Top Country Song for “A Bar Song (Tipsy).” His crossover smash has topped Hot Country Songs for 25 weeks.
The blurring lines between country and rock were seen in that artists primarily known as country stars won in rock and hard rock categories. “I Remember Everything” by Zach Bryan featuring Kacey Musgraves won Top Rock Song. Falling in Reverse’s “All My Life” (featuring Jelly Roll, the 2023 CMA winner for new artist of the year) won Top Hard Rock Song.
Two artists managed to win both top album and top song in their respective genres. Jung Kook won Top K-pop Album for Golden and Top Global K-pop Song for “Standing Next to You.” Elevation Worship won Top Christian Album for Can You Imagine? and Top Christian Song for “Praise” featuring Brandon Lake and Chris Brown.
Fun fact: Two artists named Chris Brown were winners. The R&B star won Top R&B Album for 11:11. The Christian artist with the same name won Top Christian Song, as noted above.
Some artists’ wins mark real breakthroughs in their careers. Red Clay Strays won Top Country Duo/Group, beating Zac Brown Band and Treaty Oak Revival. Sleep Token’s Take Me Back to Eden won Top Hard Rock Album, beating Pearl Jam’s Dark Matter, among others. FloyyMenor & Cris MJ’s “Gata Only” won Top Latin Song, beating two hits by Bad Bunny and one by Karol G and Peso Pluma.
Jack Antonoff won Hot 100 Producer. This should give him some consolation for being unexpectedly passed over for a Grammy nod for producer of the year, non-classical.
Luis Miguel won Top Latin Touring Artist, impressively beating Bad Bunny (who won Top Latin Artist and Top Latin Male Artist) and Karol G (who won Top Latin Female Artist).
There are some surprises on the winners list. Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control,” which topped the Hot 100 for a single week in March, won Top Hot 100 Single, beating Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” which topped the chart for a record-tying 19 weeks. How is that possible? “Lose Control” was in its 10th week on the Hot 100 on Oct. 28, 2023, the first week of the tracking period. But it had yet to climb above No. 58, so it didn’t lose out on many points. By contrast, “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” entered the chart on April 27, 2024, at which point half of the tracking year was over. A sleeper hit that was on the chart for the entire tracking period beat an instant smash that was on the chart for only half of the tracking period.
Trolls: Band Together won Top Soundtrack, beating Hazbin Hotel: Season One and Twisters, among others. Trolls: Band Together debuted on the Soundtracks chart dated Nov. 4, 2023, a week after the chart year began, and was on the chart every week of the chart year. Hazbin Hotel debuted in February and Twisters in August. Trolls prevailed because of its sustained consistent chart performance over a long period, versus soundtracks with a shorter burst of big activity.
Sabrina Carpenter, who was a finalist for nine awards, didn’t happen to win any, nor did Billie Eilish, Future, Jack Harlow, Luke Combs, Metro Boomin or The Weeknd, each of whom were finalists for four awards.
The tracking period for the 2024 Billboard Music Awards was Oct. 13, 2023, through Oct. 10, 2024, which corresponds to Billboard chart dates from Oct. 28, 2023, through Oct. 19, 2024.
The Billboard Music Awards are produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Penske Media Corporation. PMC is also the parent company of Billboard.
