Author: Rap Hooks

There was no one big winner at the 2026 American Music Awards, which were presented at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Monday (May 25). Instead, seven acts tied for the lead with three awards each – Bruno Mars, BTS, Cardi B, KATSEYE, Sabrina Carpenter, HUNTR/X and Sombr.

But one artist had a notably off night – Taylor Swift, who led the nominations with eight nods but didn’t win any of them. Despite her disappointing showing this year, Swift remains the artist with the most AMAs in the show’s history – a whopping 40.

BTS won artist of the year for the second time. The K-Pop superstars first won in the category in 2021. BTS is one of just four repeat winners in the history of the category. Swift leads all artists with seven awards in the category. BTS is tied with Justin Bieber and One Direction with two wins each. BTS is thus tied with 1D as the group with the most wins in the category.

BTS also won song of the summer for “Swim” and best male K-Pop artist. These three awards bring their career tally of AMAs to 14. Among groups or duos, they are second only to Alabama. The country titans won 23 AMAs.

Bieber won best male pop artist, which brings his career tally of AMA awards to 19. That puts him in a tie with the late Kenny Rogers for the second-most wins among male artists. (The late Michael Jackson leads among men, with 24 awards.) This obviously makes Bieber the living male artist with the most AMA wins.

KATSEYE won new artist of the year. The global girl group was nominated for the Grammy for best new artist in February but lost to Olivia Dean, who was among the nominees here. KATSEYE is the seventh consecutive female act to win in this category. The last six winners were female solo artists: Camilla Cabello, Billie Eilish, Doja Cat, Olivia Rodrigo, Dove Cameron and Gracie Abrams. The last male winner in this category was Niall Horan in 2017. KATSEYE also won best music video and breakthrough pop artist.

HUNTR/X’s “Golden” won song of the year, continuing its winning streak at award shows. It won best song written for visual media at the Grammys and best original song at the Oscars. HUNTR/X also won AMAs for best vocal performance and best pop song.

Sombr won three awards – best rock/alternative song for “Back to Friends,” best rock/alternative album for I Barely Know Her and breakthrough rock/alternative artist. Sombr’s win in the song category was no surprise, but even he expressed surprise at his win in the album category. The album reached No. 10 on the Billboard 200; all of the other nominees climbed higher. Sleep Token’s Even in Arcadia, Twenty One Pilots’ Breach and Zach Bryan’s With Heaven on Top each reached No. 1. Tame Impala’s Deadbeat climbed as high as No. 4. This shows the power of a smash single with universal appeal.

Of the three other three-time winners on the night, Mars won best male R&B artist, best R&B song and best R&B album; Cardi B won best female hip-hop artist, best hip-hop song and best hip-hop album; and Carpenter won album of the year, best female pop artist and best pop album.

Swift wasn’t the only artist with a large number of nominations who was shut out. Also going winless were Dean, who had seven nods; and Warren and Lady Gaga, with six nods each.

Karol G‘s Tropicoqueta won best Latin album, beating, among others, Rosalía’s Lux. Lux is expected to be a major player in next year’s Grammy Awards. Tropicoqueta was nominated for best Latin pop album at the 2026 ceremony. Karol G also won the international artist award of excellence.

Zara Larsson won two awards – collaboration of the year and breakthrough album of the year. This is another sign of how the Swedish star is levelling up in her career. She received her first Grammy nod at the 2026 ceremony – best dance pop recording for “Midnight Sun.”

Twenty One Pilots won best rock/alternative artist for the second year in a row and the fourth time overall. Only one act has won more times in this category, which was first presented in 1995. That’s Linkin Park, which won has won six times (and was nominated this year).

The Black Eyed Peas’ “Rock That Body” won in the new category of best throwback song. The song was the fifth single from the group’s Billboard 200-topping 2010 album The E.N.D. It was the most recently released song among the nominees. The other nominees were 4 Non Blondes’ “What’s Up” (1993) and Goo Dolls’ “Iris” (1998).

Queen Latifah hosted the 52nd American Music Awards, which aired on CBS and streamed on Paramount+. The AMAs, the world’s largest fan-voted award show, was created by legendary producer Dick Clark and first awarded in 1974.

The 52nd American Music Awards nominees are based on key fan interactions, including streaming, album and song sales, radio airplay and tour grosses. These measurements are tracked by Billboard and Luminate, and cover the data tracking eligibility period of March 21, 2025 through March 26, 2026.

The American Music Awards are produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a joint venture between Eldridge Industries and Billboard parent company Penske Media.

Dom Dolla has announced his first-ever stadium show in Melbourne, set for Marvel Stadium on Sept. 24 — a homecoming performance the Melbourne-raised DJ and producer is billing as the world premiere of an entirely new stadium production.

The show, presented by Untitled Group and Frontier Touring, falls on the eve of Melbourne’s AFL Grand Final long weekend and is an Australian-exclusive event. It follows Dom Dolla’s record-breaking stadium debut at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium in December 2025, which set a new benchmark for electronic music events in Australia. The Marvel Stadium show will feature the debut of new tracks “Addicted to Bass” and “Don’t Worry Baby” featuring Tiga, both of which he previewed in Sydney.

Pre-sale tickets for fans registered at Dom Dolla’s website open Friday, May 29 at 12 p.m. AEST. Frontier Members and Untitled pre-sales follow at 2 p.m. AEST the same day. General sale opens Monday, June 1 at 12 p.m. AEST via Ticketmaster.

“Melbourne clubs are where I cut my teeth as a DJ,” Dom Dolla said in a statement. “I don’t get to play at home as often as I’d like these days, so after touring all over the world and learning what makes a great show, I wanted this one to be incredibly special. Turning this stadium into a superclub has been a dream of mine for years now, and I can’t believe we’re finally making it a reality.”

Born Dominic Matheson, Dom Dolla has grown from a fixture in Melbourne’s club scene into one of electronic music’s most globally in-demand acts, with a catalogue surpassing 1.5 billion streams.

On Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, “Rhyme Dust” with MK debuted at No. 9 in March 2023, “Eat Your Man” with Nelly Furtado peaked at No. 15, “Dreamin’” featuring Daya climbed to No. 5 — his highest chart peak — and “Forever” with Kid Cudi debuted at No. 9. He has won the ARIA Award for Best Dance/Electronic Release three times and received a Grammy nomination for his remix of Gorillaz’s “New Gold” featuring Tame Impala and Bootie Brown. Billboard Dance named him One to Watch, and he has headlined two sold-out nights at Madison Square Garden and topped the bill at Ultra Music Festival in Miami.

Neil Young made his first live appearance of 2026 on Friday (May 22), delivering a surprise acoustic set at a benefit concert in Vancouver honouring the 90th birthday of his friend, Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki.

Young performed two solo acoustic songs at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre — strumming “Heart of Gold” before moving to the piano for a rendition of “After the Gold Rush” with added harmonica. It marked his first performance since the Painted Turtle benefit show on Oct. 25, 2025, and comes months after the 80-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer cancelled all of his 2026 tour dates.

Also appearing at the Suzuki birthday event were Jane Fonda, Al Gore, Sarah McLachlan, Bruce Cockburn and Chantal Kreviazuk. The concert raised funds for the David Suzuki Foundation.

The surprise appearance came after Young abruptly cancelled a planned European tour in February, citing no specific reason. “I have decided to take a break and will not be touring Europe this time,” he wrote at the time. “Thanks to everyone who bought tickets. I’m sorry to let you down, but this is not the time.” He later reassured fans that “all is good” and that he was “listening to my body.”

Despite the absence from the stage, Young has remained active creatively. He recently completed a new studio album titled Second Song, recorded with the Chrome Hearts at producer Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La studios in Malibu, California, which he has said includes two unheard songs from 1964 that have never been released. A new live album with the Chrome Hearts, As Time Explodes, is due May 29.

Young’s only solo Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 remains “Heart of Gold,” which topped the chart on March 18, 1972, from his landmark album Harvest — the best-selling album of 1972 and one of the most celebrated records in rock history. “After the Gold Rush” is the title track from his acclaimed 1970 album of the same name, which peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard 200.

With his recent triple drop, Drake establishes a new record on Australia’s albums chart.

The Canadian hip-hop star dominates the ARIA Albums Chart as Iceman debuts at No. 1, Maid Of Honour bows at No. 5 and Habibti is new at No. 6 (all via Republic/Universal). And with that feat, he becomes the first artist to crack the top 10 with three new albums in the same frame since the ARIA Charts were first published in 1983.

That bests previous efforts by Guns N’ Roses and Bruce Springsteen, according to ARIA. GN’R landed a double in 1991 when Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II debuted at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in the same week, while The Boss did the same the following year, in 1992, with Human Touch (No. 3) and Lucky Town (No.6).

Drizzy now boasts 16 solo and collaborative top 10 albums including, including leaders Views (from 2016), Scorpion (2018), Dark Lane Demo Tapes (2020), Certified Lover Boy (2021) and For All The Dogs (2023).

Also making a strong start on the ARIA Albums Chart is Genesis Owusu, the beloved Aussie rock-star whose third album Redstar Wu & The Worldwide Scourge (Ourness), opens its account at No. 3. That’s a career-best effort for the Canberra-raised artist, after his multiple award-winning 2021 debut Smiling With Now Teeth peaked at No. 27, and 2023 followup Struggler went to No. 4.

Further down the ARIA Chart for Monday, May 25, the complete version of British emo artist Yungblud’s IDOLS (Interscope/Universal) pops at No. 27; rising L.A. pop-country singer Stella Lefty’s Is This Heaven? (Warner Music) is at No. 28; and homegrown rock outfit Rose Carleo Band bows at No. 34 with their debut LP 42 Days (Checked Label Services).

The Drake dump makes a major impact on the ARIA Singles Chart, too. All told, 15 Drake singles enter the ARIA Top 50 this week, including five in the top 10: “National Treasures” at No. 4, “Janice STFU” at No. 5, “Whisper My Name” at No. 6, “Make Them Cry” at No. 9 and “Dust” at No. 10.

Drake is closing in on 100 career top 50 hits in these parts. Including collaborations, he boasts 98 appearances on the chart, including No. 1s with “One Dance” featuring Wizkid and Kyla from 2016, and “God’s Plan,” “Nice For What” and “In My Feelings” in 2018.

At the top of the leaderboard is Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” (Sony Music), which enters a second week at No. 1.