BTS have been the big winners of the 2026 American Music Awards, winning awards such as Artist of the Year, Song of the Summer for ‘Swim’ and Best K-pop Male Artist/Group. In addition, they opened the gala with a performance of their song ‘Hooligan’, although this had been pre-recorded at Allegiant Stadium.
Others who have received several awards have been Sombr, who has also acted, Sabrina Carpenter and Cardi B. The latter has triumphed in the rap categories, but Sabrina has won the award for Record of the Year for ‘Man’s Best Friend’, above Gaga, Bieber, Morgan Wallen or even Taylor Swift. Unfortunately, Carpenter has been one of the big absences from the gala even though he is not on tour.
The Song of the Year was ‘Golden’ (also best soundtrack for ‘HUNTR/X’), while the Best New Artist was Katseye. The Tour of the Year has been ‘Women Don’t Cry’ by Shakira, ahead of Beyoncé, Kendrick with SZA, Gaga and Oasis themselves.
Among the curiosities, the recognition of Zara Larsson for Breakthrough Record of the Year with ‘Midnight Sun’, or Bad Bunny in Latin categories. You can find the entire list of achievements here.
Katseye, Karol G, Twenty One Pilots, New Kids on the Block, Maluma, The Pussycat Dolls with Busta Rhymes and Teyana Taylor with Missy Elliott have also performed. They closed Billy Idol with Steve Stevens. Some performances have not been uploaded to YouTube, at least at the time of writing this news. This is the official AMA’s channel on YouTube.
