Nominees Announced for the 2020 Billboard Music Awards

Dick clark productions and NBC today announced the nominees for the “2020 Billboard Music Awards,” which honor the year’s most successful artists in 55 categories across all genres of music. Rapper Post Malone leads the pack with 16 Billboard Music Award (BBMA) nods, followed by first-time nominees Lil Nas X with 13 and Billie Eilish with 12. BBMA winner Khalid ties Eilish with 12 nominations. Other nominees and possible record-breakers include first-time nominee Lizzo (11), Kanye West (9), Taylor Swift (6), and Justin Bieber (4).

The “2020 Billboard Music Awards,” hosted by Kelly Clarkson, will broadcast live from The Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Oct. 14 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.

This year’s awards are based on the chart period of March 23, 2019 through March 14, 2020, set for the originally scheduled April 29, 2020 show, which was postponed due to the pandemic. The original eligibility period will remain intact to recognize and honor the chart-topping artists and musical successes achieved and to maintain consistent tracking periods for future shows.

Post Malone earned nominations in coveted categories including Top Artist, Top Male Artist and Top Billboard 200 Artist, notching a total of 16 nods and only narrowly missing his personal record of 17 nominations in 2019. He is also a double nominee in the Top Rap Song category. Lil Nas X received 13 nominations, with nods in many of the same categories, including Top Male Artist, Top Billboard 200 Artist and Top Hot 100 Artist. Khalid and Billie Eilish are tied for third-most nominations this year with 12 each, marking Eilish’s BBMA nominations debut. Lizzo received a total of 11 nominations, including Top New Artist, and Kanye West follows with 9, including a quadruple nomination in the Top Gospel Song category.

Fan-voted categories this year include Billboard Chart Achievement Award, Top Social Artist and Top Collaboration. Voting opens on October 1, 2020 and will be available on TikTok, this year’s primary voting platform, reflecting its increasing impact on music and role as a staging ground for chart-topping hits.

2020 TOP FIVE NOMINEE CHART FACTS:

• Post Malone (16)

Billboard Music Award-winner Post Malone continues to dominate Billboard’s charts, thanks in large part to the smash success of his 2019 album Hollywood’s Bleeding. The set debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart and never left the weekly top 20 in its entire first year of release. The album was so hot, it generated more streams than any other album in the U.S. in 2019, with over 3 billion audio on-demand streams earned for its songs that year according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. Hollywood’s Bleeding houses five top 10 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, including the No. 1s “Sunflower (Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse)” and “Circles,” with both proving to be so popular, they each spent more than a year on the tally. “Circles” was such a sustained hit, while it first hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 in November of 2019, it lingered in the weekly top 10 on the Hot 100 until May of 2020, logging a record-setting 39 total weeks in the top 10.

• Lil Nas X (13)

Lil Nas X made quite an impression with his debut hit “Old Town Road,” as the track broke the record for the most weeks at No. 1 ever on the Hot 100 chart. The tune, enhanced by a remix featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, shattered the long-standing record for the most weeks atop the chart in its 60-plus-year history, spending 19 weeks at No. 1 in 2019. It surpassed the previous record-holders, Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito,” featuring Justin Bieber, and Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men’s “One Sweet Day,” each with 16 weeks at No. 1. Lil Nas X followed up his success with two more top 40 hits on the Hot 100: “Panini” and “Rodeo.” He also launched his debut EP 7, which bowed at No. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

• Billie Eilish (12)

More than a year after Billie Eilish debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with her album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, the album has yet to leave the weekly top 40. The set has spent a total of three nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 on the list, and spun off Eilish’s first Hot 100 No. 1 single, “Bad Guy.” She closed out 2019 with another top 10 hit, “Everything I Wanted” (peaking at No. 8) and then got 2020 off to a fine start with the latest James Bond film theme song, “No Time to Die” (No. 16), from the upcoming film of the same name. In early 2020, Eilish tied Beck and Alanis Morissette for the most No. 1s on the Alternative Songs airplay chart, when “Everything I Wanted” became her third leader on the tally.

• Khalid (12)

2018’s Billboard Music Award winner for top new artist celebrated his first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 in 2019 with Free Spirit, and its top five-charting Hot 100 hit “Talk.” Free Spirit also ruled the Top R&B Albums chart for 12 weeks, and never left the weekly top 10 of the list from its debut in April of 2019 on through the first half of 2020. Further, upon the debut of Free Spirit, Khalid dominated that week’s Hot R&B Songs chart, placing 16 songs on the 25-position tally – including the entire top five.

• Lizzo (11)

In 2019, Lizzo’s barnstorming single “Truth Hurts” ruled the Billboard Hot 100 chart for seven weeks, while it spent 11 weeks atop the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The success of the track helped its parent album Cuz I Love You reach the top five on the Billboard 200 albums chart. She followed “Truth” with another smash, “Good As Hell,” which topped out at No. 3 on the Hot 100 and No. 1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

• Kanye West (9)

Five-time Billboard Music Award winner Kanye West has been a consistent chart topper for years, having earned eight consecutive No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 chart between 2005 and 2018. In 2019, West garnered yet another No. 1 on the all-genre Billboard 200 with Jesus Is King, and also his first No. 1 on the Top Gospel Albums and Top Christian Albums chart. The effort also snared West a top 10 hit on the Hot 100 with “Follow God,” which has spent 37 weeks at No. 1 on the Hot Gospel Songs chart.

“Billboard Music Awards” nominees and winners are based on key fan interactions with music, including album and digital song sales, streaming, radio airplay, touring and social engagement, tracked by Billboard and its data partners, including MRC Data/Nielsen Music. Since 1940, the Billboard charts have been the go-to guide for ranking the popularity of artists, songs and albums, and are the ultimate measure of success in music.

The “2020 Billboard Music Awards” is produced by dick clark productions. Amy Thurlow, Mark Bracco, Barry Adelman, Linda Gierahn, Kelly Clarkson and Robert Deaton are executive producers.