The 50th Annual American Music Awards were held on November 20, 2022, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, in recognition of the most popular artists, songs, and albums of 2022. Wayne Brady hosted the ceremony, which aired live on ABC and was streamed the next day on Hulu.
| American Music Awards of 2022 | |
|---|---|
| Date | November 20, 2022 |
| Venue | Microsoft Theater, Los Angeles, California |
| Country | United States |
| Hosted by | Wayne Brady |
| Most awards | Taylor Swift (6) |
| Most nominations | Bad Bunny (8) |
| Website | theamas |
| Television/radio coverage | |
| Network | ABC, Hulu |
| Viewership | 3.3 million |
| Produced by |
|
Nominations were announced on October 13, 2022. Four new categories were introduced this year: Favorite Afrobeats Artist, Favorite K-pop Artist, Favorite Rock Song, and Favorite Rock Album. Bad Bunny led the nominations overall with eight while Beyoncé and Taylor Swift were the most-nominated female artists with six each. Imagine Dragons and Måneskin were the most-nominated groups, with four each.
Swift won all six of her nominations, including Artist of the Year, and extended her record as the most-awarded artist in AMA history, with 40 wins overall. A special award, Song of Soul, was presented to Yola. Lionel Richie was honored with the Icon Award.
This was the final American Music Awards to air on ABC. Starting in 2025, the ceremony will air on CBS and will stream on Paramount+.
Background and broadcast
editOn September 15, 2022, Dick Clark Productions (DCP) and ABC announced that the 50th American Music Awards (AMAS) would be held on November 20 at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, with Jesse Collins executive producing the show together with Dionne Harmon and Jeannae Rouzan-Clay, and Larry Klein as producer. Tickets for the show went on sale on October 7 via AXS.com. Nominations were revealed on October 13.[2] The show aired live on ABC and was made available for streaming the day after on Hulu.[3]
The ceremony recorded the lowest-ever viewership in the history of the awards, with an audience of 3.3 million. It earned a 0.6 demo rating, marking a significant drop compared to the previous year's 3.8 million audience and 1.0 rating.[4]
Performances
editPerformers were announced on October 31 and November 14, 2022. D-Nice served as the house DJ.[3][5][6] Yola, GloRilla, Dove Cameron, and Anitta made their AMAs performance debuts at the show. Pink performed twice: first as the show's opening act, and later to sing "Hopelessly Devoted to You" in tribute to Olivia Newton-John following her death in August 2022. As the recipient of the inaugural Song of Soul award, Yola performed her song "Break the Bough", from the 2022 film Elvis. Stevie Wonder and Charlie Puth performed a special extended medley of select Lionel Richie songs in honor of the singer being the year's Icon Award recipient. They were eventually joined onstage by several other artists including Ari Lennox, Melissa Etheridge, Yola, and Smokey Robinson.[7] Though Tems, WizKid, and Richie were originally announced as performers,[3] they did not perform on the show.
On November 21, Chris Brown shared a video clip on Instagram of a rehearsal for a tribute performance he had originally prepared for the show in honor of the 40th anniversary of Michael Jackson's Thriller (1982). Brown revealed that it had been cancelled by the AMAS "for reasons unknown" the day before the show was set to air. In response, a spokesperson for DCP stated that the cancellation was due to "creative direction" and not any fault of Brown's. He would have been joined by Ciara for the performance.[8][9]
| Artist(s) | Song(s) |
|---|---|
| Pink | "Never Gonna Not Dance Again" |
| Bebe Rexha | "I'm Good (Blue)" |
| Anitta | "Envolver" "Lobby" (with Missy Elliott)[7] |
| Carrie Underwood | "Crazy Angels" |
| GloRilla Cardi B[a] |
"Tomorrow"[7] |
| Imagine Dragons | "Bones" "Enemy" (with JID) |
| Pink | Olivia Newton-John tribute "Hopelessly Devoted to You" |
| Lil Baby | "In a Minute" "California Breeze" |
| Yola | "Break the Bough" |
| Dove Cameron | "Boyfriend" |
| Stevie Wonder Charlie Puth |
Lionel Richie tribute "Three Times a Lady" "Easy" "All Night Long (All Night)" "Say You, Say Me" "Brick House" "Jesus is Love" "We Are the World" (with Ari Lennox, Melissa Etheridge, and Yola) |
- ^ Cardi B's appearance was not previously announced
Presenters
editWayne Brady was announced as the show's host on October 24.[10] The full list of presenters was announced via Twitter on November 18.[11]
- Sheryl Lee Ralph – presented New Artist of the Year
- Meghan Trainor – presented Favorite Rock Artist
- Niecy Nash-Betts – presented Favorite Country Duo or Group and introduced Anitta
- Kelly Rowland – presented Favorite Male R&B Artist[7]
- Jimmie Allen and Brady – introduced Carrie Underwood; Allen performed a brief tribute to recently deceased Loretta Lynn before introducing Underwood[7]
- Karrueche Tran – presented Favorite Pop Album
- Ellie Goulding – presented Favorite Female Latin Artist
- Latto – presented Favorite Afrobeats Artist
- Jessie James Decker and Roselyn Sánchez – presented Favorite Rock Song
- Melissa Etheridge – introduced Pink (for Newton-John tribute)
- Liza Koshy – presented Favorite Hip-Hop Song
- Sabrina Carpenter and Dustin Lynch – presented Favorite Music Video
- Kim Petras – presented Favorite Pop Song
- Dan + Shay – presented Artist of the Year
- Smokey Robinson – introduced Richie (for the Icon Award presentation)[7]
Winners and nominees
editNominees were selected from among the most popular artists and music releases within the period dated September 24, 2021, through September 22, 2022. Nominations were released the following month, on October 13, with Becky G announcing the contenders for New Artist of the Year on Good Morning America. Nominees for all other categories were shared via the AMAs Twitter account. Bad Bunny received the most nominations of any artist with eight, including his first for Artist of the Year. Taylor Swift received a record-extending ninth nomination in the same category, which comprised seven nominees this year.[1] Swift, Beyoncé, and Drake received six nominations each, with the first two being the most-nominated female artists.[12] Imagine Dragons and Måneskin were tied for the most group nominations with four each.[1] Over 40 artists were first-time nominees, including Anitta, Jack Harlow, Latto, and Tems.[13] Elton John received two nominations, for Collaboration of the Year and Favourite Touring Artist, setting the record as the longest-recognized artist in AMA history to date, he was first nominated at the inaugural ceremony in 1974.[1]
Voting in all categories, except Favorite K-pop Artist, opened the same day nominations were announced and took place on the AMAs website and Twitter. Four new categories were added this year: Favorite Afrobeats and K-pop Artist respectively, Favorite Rock Song, and Favorite Rock Album. The awards for Favorite Soundtrack and Favorite Touring Artist were restored to the roster following the reopening of theatres and resumption of touring after pandemic restrictions lifted earlier in the year. Favorite Trending Song was removed.[12] Voting for Favorite K-pop Artist began on November 1 and took place on the aforementioned platforms, as well as on the newly launched AMAs Discord server. It is the only category for which voting continued through show day (all other categories closed on November 14) ending an hour into the ceremony.[14]
Winners for 25 untelevised awards were announced prior to the ceremony, through a Twitter and Discord audio livestream hosted by Tetris Kelly of Billboard, Tiffany Taylor of The Hollywood Reporter, and K-pop singer Mark Tuan.[7] The rest were revealed during the live television broadcast. Swift went on to become the most-awarded artist of the night, winning all six of her nominations, including Artist of the Year. She extended her record as the most-most-awarded artist in the history of the ceremony with 40 wins overall. John won his nomination for Collaboration of the Year, marking his first win since 1988.[15] A new award, Song of Soul, which "spotlights an emerging, mission-driven artist who has inspired change and invoked social justice through their lyrics", was presented to Yola for her song "Break the Bough", from the Elvis soundtrack.[3] Lionel Richie was presented with the Icon Award.[5]
Winners are listed first and highlighted in bold.[16]
References
edit- ^ a b c d Grein, Paul (October 13, 2022). "Bad Bunny Leads 2022 American Music Awards Nominations: Full List". Billboard. Archived from the original on October 13, 2022. Retrieved October 13, 2022.
- ^ Grein, Paul (September 15, 2022). "Here's the Date of the 2022 American Music Awards". Billboard. Archived from the original on September 15, 2022. Retrieved October 13, 2022.
- ^ a b c d Grein, Paul (October 31, 2022). "P!nk, Carrie Underwood & More Set to Perform on 2022 American Music Awards". Billboard. Archived from the original on October 31, 2022. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
- ^ Webb Mitovich, Matt (November 21, 2022). "Ratings: American Music Awards Slip vs. 2021, Waltons Audience Wanes". TVLine. Archived from the original on November 21, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
- ^ a b Nordyke, Kimberly (November 7, 2022). "Lionel Richie Set to Receive Icon Award at 2022 American Music Awards". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on November 7, 2022. Retrieved November 7, 2022.
- ^ Nordyke, Kimberly (November 14, 2022). "Pink Will Perform a Tribute to Olivia Newton-John at the 2022 American Music Awards". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on November 14, 2022. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Hilary (November 20, 2022). "Taylor Swift Sweeps 2022 American Music Awards, Extending Record as Most-Awarded Artist in AMAs History". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on November 21, 2022. Retrieved November 21, 2022.
- ^ Walker, Joe (November 22, 2022). "Chris Brown Mocks AMAS Ratings As Producers Explain Axed Michael Jackson Tribute". HipHopDX. Archived from the original on November 22, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
- ^ King, Ashley (November 22, 2022). "American Music Awards Ratings Slip to Another All-Time Low". Digital Music News. Archived from the original on November 23, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
- ^ Rice, Lynette (October 24, 2022). "Wayne Brady To Host American Music Awards". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on October 24, 2022. Retrieved October 30, 2022.
- ^ Irvin, Jack (November 18, 2022). "Jimmie Allen, Meghan Trainor, Dan + Shay and More Announced as 2022 American Music Awards Presenters". People. Archived from the original on November 18, 2022. Retrieved November 18, 2022.
- ^ a b Perez, Lexy (October 13, 2022). "2022 American Music Awards: Bad Bunny, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift Among Top Nominees". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on October 13, 2022. Retrieved October 13, 2022.
- ^ Pedersen, Erik; Hipes, Patrick (October 13, 2022). "American Music Awards Nominations: Bad Bunny Leads Field With Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Drake Right Behind". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on October 13, 2022. Retrieved October 13, 2022.
- ^ Grein, Paul (November 1, 2022). "How to Vote for the 2022 American Music Awards". Billboard. Archived from the original on November 2, 2022. Retrieved November 2, 2022.
- ^ Heching, Dan (November 20, 2022). "See who won at the American Music Awards". CNN. Archived from the original on November 21, 2022. Retrieved November 21, 2022.
- ^ Atkinson, Katie (November 20, 2022). "Here Are All the 2022 AMAs Winners". Billboard. Archived from the original on November 21, 2022. Retrieved November 21, 2022.