Monday night in Las Vegas was one for the history books. The 52nd American Music Awards went down at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, hosted by Queen Latifah in a long-overdue return to the stage — her first time hosting in over 30 years. And if you were betting on Taylor Swift to dominate, you’d have lost everything.
Swift came in with eight nominations — more than any other artist this year — and left with zero. She’s still the most decorated artist in AMA history with 40 trophies total, so this wasn’t the end of the world for her, but it was a headline no one saw coming.
The real story of the night? BTS. The K-pop seven-piece opened the show with a performance of “Hooligan” and went on to collect Artist of the Year — their second time winning the top prize, making them one of only four acts ever to do so in that category — along with Song of the Summer for “Swim” (the lead single from their comeback album ARIRANG) and Best Male K-Pop Artist.
Seven acts ended the night tied with three awards each: BTS, Sabrina Carpenter, KATSEYE, Sombr, Cardi B, Bruno Mars, and the singing voices of HUNTR/X. Carpenter’s night was quietly historic — she picked up Album of the Year for Man’s Best Friend alongside Best Female Pop Artist and Best Pop Album, her first AMA wins ever. KATSEYE and breakout rock act Sombr both made serious impressions with their live performances as well.
Bad Bunny continued his unstoppable run, taking Best Male Latin Artist and Best Latin Song, while Tyla won Best Afrobeats Artist and Social Song of the Year for “CHANEL.” Latin pop was well represented throughout the night, with at least seven awards going to Latino artists in total — a sign of where the global music industry’s energy is firmly planted right now.
The show aired live on CBS and Paramount+, and if the energy in that arena was anything to go by, the AMAs are fully back.
