Loading AI tools
Annual American music awards show From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The American Music Awards (AMAs) is an annual American music awards show produced by Dick Clark Productions since 1974.[1] Nominations are selected on commercial performance, such as sales and airplay. Winners are determined by a poll of the public and fans, who can vote through the AMAs website.[2]
American Music Awards | |
---|---|
Current: American Music Awards of 2022 | |
Awarded for | Outstanding achievements in the music industry |
Country | United States |
First awarded | February 19, 1974 |
Website | theamas.com |
Television/radio coverage | |
Network | ABC (1974–2022) CBS (2025) |
Produced by | Dick Clark Productions |
The event originally aired on ABC, after the network's contract to air the Grammy Awards expired; its contract expired after the 2022 ceremony, putting the American Music Awards on hiatus. In 2024, it was announced that the AMAs would move to CBS as part of a package with its rights to broadcast the DCP-owned Golden Globe Awards, a 50th anniversary special will air on October 6, and the AMAs are scheduled to return in 2025.
| |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
|
The AMAs was created by Dick Clark in 1973 to compete with the Grammy Awards after the move of that year's show to Nashville, Tennessee led to CBS (which has broadcast all Grammy Award shows since then) picking up the Grammy telecasts after its first two in 1971 and 1972 were broadcast on ABC. In 2014, American network Telemundo acquired the rights to produce a Spanish-language version of the American Music Awards and launched the Latin American Music Awards in 2015.[3][4]
Nominations are selected based on commercial performance, such as sales and airplay. Winners have been determined by a poll of the public and fans, who can vote through the AMAs website, while nominations have remained based on sales, airplay, now including activity on social networks, and video viewing. Before 2010, had nominations based only on sales and airplay and nominated every work, even if old. The Grammys have nominations based on vote of the Academy and only nominate a work from their eligibility period that changes often.[5][6][7]
The award statuette is manufactured by New York firm Society Awards.[8]
The hosts for the first AMAs were Helen Reddy, Roger Miller, and Smokey Robinson. Reddy not only hosted the show but also became the first artist to win an AMA for Favorite Pop/Rock Female artist. For the first two decades, the AMAs had multiple hosts, each representing a genre of music. For instance, Glen Campbell, who co-hosted the AMAs five times, would host the country portion, while other artists would co-host to represent their genre. In recent years, however, there has been a single host.
In 1991, Keenen Ivory Wayans became the first Hollywood actor to host the AMAs.
From its inception in 1974 through 2003, the AMAs were held in mid- to late-January, but were moved to November (usually the Sunday before Thanksgiving) beginning in late 2003 so it would prevent the ceremony to further compete with other major awards shows (such as the Golden Globe Awards and the Academy Awards) and allows for ABC to have a well-rated awards show during November sweeps.
For the 2008 awards, Jimmy Kimmel hosted for his fifth year, tying with Glen Campbell for the most AMAs hosted or co-hosted. From 2009–2012, there was no host. Instead, the AMAs followed the Grammys' lead in having various celebrities give introductions. However, rapper Pitbull hosted the 2013 ceremony and 2014 ceremony. Jennifer Lopez hosted the 2015 show.[9] Gigi Hadid and Jay Pharoah hosted the 2016 show. Tracee Ellis Ross hosted the show in 2017 and 2018. Ciara hosted the 2019 show.[10]
Between 2012 and 2014, the American Music Awards used the lock screen wallpaper of Samsung Galaxy smartphones rather than envelopes to reveal winners, as part of a sponsorship by Samsung Electronics. A magnetic screen cover on each phone kept the wallpaper image with the winner's name secret until opened.[11]
In August 2018, Dick Clark Productions announced a two-year sponsorship and content partnership with YouTube Music. However, this partnership seemed to have lasted only for the 2018 ceremony, as there was no mention of the YouTube Music partnership in the 2019 show.[12]
In March 2023, it was announced that the Billboard Music Awards, which are also produced by DCP via co-owned Billboard, had been moved from May to the November scheduling that was typically occupied by the American Music Awards, leading to speculation that the AMAs would be discontinued in order to focus on the Billboard Music Awards, or at the very least cancelled for 2023 so it could move to May in its place. It was reported that the broadcast rights for both events (which had been held by NBC and ABC respectively) would also be shopped; the Billboard Music Awards moved to an online only event in November 2023.[13]
In March 2024, it was announced that CBS had acquired the rights to broadcast the AMAs under a multi-year deal of unspecified length. The rights were bundled with CBS's five-year agreement to televise the Golden Globe Awards, whose telecast has historically been produced by DCP, and whose assets had been acquired by DCP in 2023.[14] It was not stated whether the contract is for the same period as the Golden Globes agreement.[15]
The AMAs continued to be on hiatus for 2024, with a return scheduled for May 2025. In lieu of a 2024 ceremony, a televised gala honoring the AMAs' 50th anniversary was aired by CBS on October 6, 2024, including performances and retrospectives paying tribute to the ceremony's history.[16][17]
The record for most American Music Awards won is held by Taylor Swift with 40 awards.[19] The record for most American Music Awards won by a male artist belongs to Michael Jackson, who has collected 26 awards.[20] The record for most American Music Awards won by a group belongs to Alabama, who have collected 18 awards.[21]
Rank | Artist | Number of awards |
---|---|---|
1 | Taylor Swift | 40 |
2 | Michael Jackson | 26 |
3 | Whitney Houston | 22 |
4 | Kenny Rogers | 19 |
5 | Alabama | 18 |
Justin Bieber | ||
6 | Carrie Underwood | 17 |
Garth Brooks | ||
7 | Reba McEntire | 14 |
8 | Rihanna | 13 |
9 | BTS | 12 |
10 | Beyoncé | 11 |
Bruno Mars | ||
Janet Jackson | ||
Stevie Wonder | ||
The record for the most American Music Awards won in a single year is held by Michael Jackson (in 1984) and Whitney Houston (in 1994), each with 8 awards to their credit (including the Award of Merit, with which both artists were honored in the respective years).
The following list shows the artists with most wins in each category, adapted from the AMAs official website.[22]
The American Music Award of Merit has been awarded to thirty two artists, the latest being Sting (2016).[23]
The International Artist Award of Excellence is described as "an award which recognizes artists whose popularity and impact cross national boundaries and is only given when there is a deserving recipient who is worthy of recognition for their accomplishments" and has been awarded to seven artists:[24]
The AMAs' producer Larry Klein stated: "The first-ever Icon Award was created to honor an artist whose body of work has made a profound influence over pop music on a global level."[25]
At the 2014 award ceremony, the Dick Clark Award for Excellence was given for the first time.[26] It was created to recognize "an artist who achieves a groundbreaking feat or creates a landmark work. It is to be bestowed upon someone whose spirit and excellence capture the visionary passion that Dick Clark himself incorporated into everything he did."[27]
In 2000, the year Brooks won the award, the AMAs held a poll to elect the Artist of the Decade for each previous decade of the Rock & Roll era. According to some sources, the result of this poll is not counted in the total of AMAs won by these artists.[31][32][33] The results were Elvis Presley (1950s), The Beatles (1960s), Stevie Wonder (1970s), and Michael Jackson (1980s).
Michael Jackson won the Artist of the Century award in the 29th American Music Awards held on January 9, 2002.[34]
Year | Day | Date | Household rating | 18–49 rating | Viewers (in millions) |
Ref. | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rating | Share | Rating | Share | |||||
1974 | Tuesday | February 19 | 26.0 | 38 | [35] | |||
1975 | February 18 | 21.3 | 32 | [36] | ||||
1976 | Saturday | January 31 | 20.5 | 39 | [37] | |||
1977 | Monday | January 31 | 24.1 | 36 | [38] | |||
1978 | January 16 | 25.9 | 38 | [39] | ||||
1979 | Friday | January 12 | 22.8 | 35 | [40] | |||
1980 | January 18 | 17.3 | 28 | [41] | ||||
1981 | January 30 | 14.4 | 32 | [42] | ||||
1982 | Monday | January 25 | 21.5 | 32 | [43] | |||
1983 | January 17 | 24.4 | 36 | [44] | ||||
1984 | January 16 | 27.4 | 41 | [45] | ||||
1985 | January 28 | 25.8 | 37 | [46] | ||||
1986 | January 27 | 20.4 | 30 | [47] | ||||
1987 | January 26 | 22.2 | 32 | [47] | ||||
1988 | January 25 | 18.1 | 35 | [47] | ||||
1989 | January 30 | 21.0 | 32 | 33.10 | [48] | |||
1990 | January 22 | 20.0 | 30 | 32.40 | [49] | |||
1991 | January 28 | 20.4 | 31 | 34.40 | [50] | |||
1992 | January 27 | 18.3 | 28 | 29.90 | [51] | |||
1993 | January 25 | 21.6 | 33 | [52] | ||||
1994 | February 7 | 16.0 | 24 | 24.50 | [53] | |||
1995 | January 30 | 15.4 | 23 | 24.50 | [54] | |||
1996 | January 29 | 13.8 | 21 | 21.60 | [55] | |||
1997 | January 27 | 13.2 | 21 | 19.72 | [35][56] | |||
1998 | January 26 | 12.1 | 19 | 8.1 | 20 | 18.36 | [57][58] | |
1999 | January 11 | 10.3 | 16 | 15.60 | [59][60] | |||
2000 | January 17 | 10.4 | 16 | 7.2 | 17 | 16.68 | [61][62] | |
2001 | January 8 | 10.4 | 16 | 7.3 | 17 | 16.20 | [63][64] | |
2002 | Wednesday | January 9 | 9.9 | 16 | 7.3 | 18 | 16.02 | [65][66] |
2003 | Monday | January 13 | 8.4 | 12 | 5.7 | 13 | 12.90 | [66][67] |
2003 | Sunday | November 16 | 8.1 | 12 | 5.5 | 13 | 12.77 | [61][66] |
2004 | November 14 | 7.9 | 12 | 5.7 | 13 | 12.90 | [61][66] | |
2005 | Tuesday | November 22 | 7.4 | 11 | 4.4 | 11 | 11.68 | [61][66] |
2006 | November 21 | 7.0 | 11 | 4.7 | 13 | 10.85 | [61][66] | |
2007 | Sunday | November 18 | 7.4 | 11 | 4.8 | 12 | 11.81 | [61][66] |
2008 | November 23 | 7.3 | 11 | 5.1 | 12 | 12.20 | [61][66] | |
2009 | November 22 | 8.6 | 14 | 5.5 | 14 | 14.24 | [61][66] | |
2010 | November 21 | 6.7 | 11 | 4.3 | 10 | 11.72 | [61][66] | |
2011 | November 20 | 6.8 | 10 | 4.3 | 10 | 12.07 | [61][66] | |
2012 | November 18 | 5.5 | 8 | 3.4 | 8 | 9.52 | [61][66] | |
2013 | November 24 | 7.6 | 11 | 4.5 | 11 | 13.14 | [61][66] | |
2014 | November 23 | 6.6 | 11 | 3.8 | 10 | 11.61 | [61][66] | |
2015 | November 22 | 6.3 | 10 | 3.5 | 10 | 11.01 | [61][66] | |
2016 | November 20 | 4.7 | 8 | 2.4 | 7 | 8.18 | [68] | |
2017 | November 19 | 5.2 | 9 | 2.4 | 8 | 9.15 | [69] | |
2018 | Tuesday | October 9 | 4.1 | 8 | 1.8 | 8 | 6.59 | [70] |
2019 | Sunday | November 24 | 3.9 | 8 | 1.7 | 7 | 6.68 | [71] |
2020 | November 22 | 2.4 | 5 | 1.0 | 6 | 4.01 | [72] | |
2021 | November 21 | 1.0 | 7 | 4.01 | [73] | |||
2022 | November 20 | 2.0 | 5 | 0.6 | 5 | 3.53 | [74][75] |
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.