BTS wins artist of the year as AMAs lean on nostalgia
BTS took artist of the year at a Las Vegas AMAs built around legacy acts, as New Kids on the Block and Keith Urban fueled the show’s nostalgia push.
BTS claimed Artist of the Year at the 52nd American Music Awards, a win that landed inside a broadcast designed to bridge older television audiences with the force of organized global fandom. The group also took Song of the Summer for “SWIM” and opened the show with “Hooligan” at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, which the AMAs billed as the largest venue in the show’s history.
Queen Latifah hosted the Memorial Day telecast on CBS and Paramount+, while the lineup leaned into familiarity as much as momentum. New Kids on the Block and Keith Urban were part of the nostalgia-heavy live slate, joined by Hootie & the Blowfish, KATSEYE, Maluma, Riley Green, SOMBR, Teddy Swims and Twenty One Pilots. The night also recognized Billy Idol with the Lifetime Achievement Award, KAROL G with the International Artist Award of Excellence and Darius Rucker with the Veterans Voice Award.
The result reflected an awards show trying to hold two audiences at once. On one side were legacy acts and recognizable names built for broadcast comfort; on the other was BTS, whose win showed how digitally mobilized fans can still overwhelm a field crowded with mainstream American stars. The AMAs remain fan-voted, with ballot results shaped by streaming, album and song sales, radio airplay and tour grosses.
Voting for most categories opened April 14, 2026 and closed May 8, 2026. Social Song of the Year and Tour of the Year stayed open through the first 30 minutes of the telecast, keeping the final stretch of the show interactive even as the live performances unfolded. The eligibility window ran from March 21, 2025 through March 26, 2026, giving the ceremony a full year’s worth of commercial activity to weigh.
Taylor Swift led the nominations with eight, while Morgan Wallen, Olivia Dean, Sabrina Carpenter and SOMBR each had seven. BTS was among the Artist of the Year nominees alongside Bad Bunny, Bruno Mars, Harry Styles, Justin Bieber, Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, Morgan Wallen, Sabrina Carpenter and Swift. In a year when pop culture increasingly travels through fandom networks before it reaches the living room, the AMAs made clear that nostalgia still sells, but it no longer decides everything.
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