Billboard announces nominations for 2020 Awards
Sydney Berggren ® Staff Writer |
The Billboard Music Awards, originally set for April 29 but postponed due to COVID-19, are to take place on Oct. 14 and are going to be hosted by Kelly Clarkson. Garth Brooks is set to succeed last year’s Icon Award winner Mariah Carey and perform for the event.
Post Malone, who is MNSU freshman Josephine Hatlevig’s pick for the Top Male Artist award, is leading the nominations with 16, followed by Lil Nas X with 13, and Billie Eilish and Khalid who tie at 12.
BTS seem to be a popular choice for the Top Duo/Group award, which would make them the first group to win two years in a row since former boy band One Direction. The South Korean musical group is also MNSU junior Kelsey Swanson’s favorite.
The Jonas Brothers were also nominated for the same award, having done quite well since their comeback over a year ago.
Taylor Swift is nominated for six awards, including Top Artist and Top Female Artist. She made history this year when she dropped Folklore as a surprise this summer and topped the Billboard 200 for nearly two months. However, most of her award nominations are due to her release of Lover in August of 2019.
Justin Bieber is nominated for four awards, two of which are collaborations with other nominated artists. He is nominated Top Country Song for “10,000 Hours,” a collaboration with country duo Dan + Shay who are also up for Top Duo/Group. The second nomination being for “I Don’t Care,” with Top Male Artist nominee Ed Sheeran.
Kanye West received nine nominations throughout different Christian and Gospel awards for his album Jesus is King and songs from it. He holds four out of the five nominations for the Top Gospel Song award, the one remaining nomination being Kirk Franklin’s with Love Theory.
Post Malone’s Sept. 2019 album Hollywood’s Bleeding, which debuted on top of the Billboard 200 charts, gained him many of his nominations. Hollywood’s Bleeding sported the songs “WOW” and “Sunflower” featuring Swae Lee, which was a popular song for the Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse soundtrack. These songs collectively won him four of his 16 nominations.
If these are some of your favorite artists, or if you’d like to find out if your favorites are nominated for any awards, the Billboard site has a comprehensive list, and opportunities to vote for any or all categories.
Header photo: Post Malone performs at the Times Square New Year’s Eve celebration Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2019 in New York. Post Malone is the sunflower of the 2020 Billboard Music Awards. The multi-platinum 25-year-old star scored 16 nominations, dick clark productions and NBC announced Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020. Malone’s nominations include top artist, top male artist, top rap artist and top streaming songs artist. (Photo by Ben Hider/Invision/AP, File)