AMAs 2026 red carpet draws Hannah Berner, Karol G and Hilary Duff
Hannah Berner, Karol G and Hilary Duff helped turn the AMAs red carpet into a snapshot of how awards shows now chase podcasts, pop and global fan bases.
The American Music Awards used their first night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas to sell more than trophies. With Hannah Berner, Karol G, Hilary Duff, Ejae, GloRilla, Maluma and other arrivals on the carpet, the 2026 AMAs signaled how aggressively awards shows are leaning into crossover visibility, where podcast audiences, Latin pop, social media and reality TV can matter as much as legacy stardom.
Held on Memorial Day, Monday, May 25, 2026, the telecast aired live on CBS at 8 p.m. ET and 5 p.m. PT and streamed on Paramount+. CBS and Dick Clark Productions said the show opened a new five-year broadcast deal, a sign that the AMAs still believe fan voting can anchor a mass-audience music event. That pitch was built into the format again this year, with voting left open during the first half hour of the show for Social Song of the Year and Tour of the Year.
The carpet arrivals reflected that strategy. Berner, one of the co-hosts of Giggly Squad, came in as an example of how podcast fame now spills into awards-show access. Jesse Solomon and Mia Calabrese from Summer House, along with Love Island USA personalities Amaya Espinal and Jana Craig, added another layer of reality-television reach. Karol G and Maluma reinforced the AMAs’ push toward Latin audiences, while Hilary Duff and GloRilla pointed to the show’s effort to keep older pop familiarity and newer streaming-era audiences in the same frame.
The ceremony itself tried to broaden its appeal without losing the fan-vote identity that has defined it since Dick Clark created the show in 1974. The AMAs expanded to 50 categories from 37 the year before, adding Throwback Song of the Year, Best Vocal Performance, Song of the Summer and Best Americana / Folk Artist. Queen Latifah hosted, returning 31 years after co-hosting the show in 1995 with Tom Jones and Lorrie Morgan.
The bookings also showed how awards shows are using live television to stitch together multiple fandoms. Billy Idol, Keith Urban, Teyana Taylor, Hootie and the Blowfish, New Kids on the Block and The Pussycat Dolls were among the performers, while BTS made a special appearance after a four-year hiatus tied to mandatory military service. BTS entered with 11 previous AMA trophies and left with Artist of the Year, Song of the Summer and Best Male K-Pop Artist, even as Taylor Swift, who led the field with eight nominations, went 0-for-8.
Karol G won Best Latin Album for Tropicoqueta after receiving the International Artist Award of Excellence, and Darius Rucker took the Veterans Voice Award as the show highlighted its Memorial Day ties through partnerships with Blue Star Families, the Bob Woodruff Foundation, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, Easy Day Foundation, Fisher House Foundation, Gary Sinise Foundation, the Invictus Games Foundation, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Semper Fi & America’s Fund, Team Rubicon and the USO. The message from Las Vegas was plain: the AMAs are fighting for relevance by turning the carpet, the votes and the stage into a map of where music fandom now lives.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
