The 49th Annual

American Music Awards The American Music Awards (AMAs) is an annual American music awards show, generally held in the fall, created by Dick Clark in 1973 for ABC when the network's contract to air the Grammy Awards expired, and currently produced by Dick Clark Produc ...

were held on November 21, 2021, at the

Microsoft Theater The Microsoft Theater (formerly Nokia Theatre L.A. Live) is a music and theater venue in downtown Los Angeles, California, at L.A. Live. The theater auditorium seats 7,100 and holds one of the largest indoor stages in the United States. History ...

in Los Angeles, recognizing the most popular artists, singles and albums of 2021.

Cardi B Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar Cephus (, ; born October 11, 1992), known professionally as Cardi B, is an American rapper and songwriter. She first gained popularity as an influencer on Vine and Instagram. From 2015 to early 2017, she appeared as ...

hosted the ceremony, following

Queen Latifah Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), known professionally as Queen Latifah, is an American rapper, actress, and singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, she signed with Tommy Boy Records in 1989 and released her debut album ''All Hail the Que ...

(1995) as the only female rappers in history to do so. Cardi B became the first artist to win Favorite Rap/Hip Hop Song three times.

BTS BTS (), also known as the Bangtan Boys, is a South Korean boy band formed in 2010 and debuting in 2013 under Big Hit Entertainment. The septet—consisting of members Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook—co-writes and co-produ ...

Doja Cat Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini (born October 21, 1995), known professionally as Doja Cat ( ), is an American rapper and singer. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, she began making and releasing music on SoundCloud as a teenager. Her song ...

, and

Megan Thee Stallion Megan Jovon Ruth Pete (born February 15, 1995), known professionally as Megan Thee Stallion (pronounced "Megan the Stallion"), is an American rapper and songwriter. Originally from Houston, Texas, she first garnered attention when videos of her ...

won three awards each. The ceremony was notable as the first produced under the banner of MRC Live & Alternative, which was formerly known as

Dick Clark Productions Dick Clark Productions (DCP, stylized in lowercase as dick clark productions or dcp) is an American multinational television production company founded by radio and TV host Dick Clark. The studio primarily produces award shows and other music en ...

after use of that name was phased out the month before. However, this would turn out to be the only year produced under this banner, as the

name was restored in August 2022.

Performances

Notes * Pre-recorded from

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

* Pre-recorded from

Tennessee State University Tennessee State University (Tennessee State, Tenn State, or TSU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, it is the only state-funded historically black university in Tenness ...

was originally planning to perform with BTS on "Butter", but pulled out "due to an unexpected personal matter".

Presenters

Presenters were announced on November 19, 2021. *

– main show host * Billy Porter – presented Latin Album *

Ansel Elgort Ansel Elgort (born March 14, 1994) is an American actor and singer. He began his acting career with a supporting role in the horror film ''Carrie'' (2013) and gained wider recognition for starring as a teenage cancer patient in the romantic dr ...

Rachel Zegler Rachel Anne Zegler (; born May 3, 2001) is an American actress and singer. She made her film debut playing Maria Vasquez in the 2021 musical drama ''West Side Story'', for which she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Pictu ...

– presented Favorite Artist – Rock * Michelle Young – "coming up" *

JoJo Siwa Joelle Joanie "JoJo" Siwa (; born May 19, 2003) is an American dancer, singer, actress and YouTuber. She is known for appearing for two seasons on ''Dance Moms'' along with her mother, Jessalynn Siwa, and for her singles "Boomerang" and "Kid in ...

– presented Pop Duo/Group *

Diplo Thomas Wesley Pentz (born November 10, 1978), known professionally as Diplo, is an American DJ and music producer. He is the co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer, a member of the supergroup LSD with ...

– "coming up" (multiple segments) *

Brandy Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured with ...

– presented Pop Album *

Marsai Martin Caila Marsai Martin (born August 14, 2004) is an American actress, best known for her role as Diane Johnson on the ABC sitcom ''Black-ish'' (2014–2022). In 2019, Martin starred in the comedy film '' Little'', which she also produced, becomin ...

– presented Favorite Song – Hip-Hop * D-Nice – introduced performance by Chlöe *

JB Smoove Jerry Angelo Brooks (born December 16, 1965), commonly known by his stage name J. B. Smoove, is an American actor, comedian and writer. After beginning his career in 1995 on ''Def Comedy Jam'', he was a writer and performer on NBC's ''Saturday Ni ...

– presented Favorite Song – Pop *

Madelyn Cline Madelyn Renee Cline (born December 21, 1997) is an American actress and model. She is known for her roles as Sarah Elizabeth Cameron on the Netflix teen drama series ''Outer Banks'' (2020–present) and as Whiskey in Rian Johnson's mystery film '' ...

– presented Favorite Trending Song *

Liza Koshy Elizabeth Shaila "Liza" Koshy (born March 31, 1996), is an American media personality and actress. Her main YouTube channel has amassed more than 17 million subscribers, and her two channels have a combined total of over 3 billion views. She ha ...

– presented Artist of the Year *

Anthony Ramos Anthony Paul Ramos Martinez (born November 1, 1991) is an American actor and singer. In 2015, he originated the dual roles of John Laurens and Philip Hamilton in the Broadway musical '' Hamilton''. Ramos also appeared in the 2021 film version o ...

– presented Favorite Female Artist – Latin *

Machine Gun Kelly George Kelly Barnes (July 18, 1895 – July 18, 1954), better known by his pseudonym "Machine Gun Kelly", was an American gangster from Memphis, Tennessee, active during the Prohibition era. His nickname came from his favorite weapon, a Thomps ...

– presented New Artist of the Year *

Winnie Harlow Chantelle Whitney Brown-Young (born July 27, 1994), known professionally as Winnie Harlow, is a Canadian fashion model and public spokesperson on the skin condition vitiligo. She gained prominence in 2014 as a contestant on the 21st cycle of th ...

– introduced performance by

Zoe Wees Zoe Wees (born 13 May 2002), is a German singer. Her debut single "Control" charted in several nations including number one in France ( SNEP Radio) and the top ten in Belgium. Background Wees grew up in Hamburg. She has lived with benign rolan ...

Winners and nominees

The nominations were announced on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

's ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...

'',

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

's morning show "The Get Up", and also via the American Music Awards Twitter account on October 28, 2021.

Olivia Rodrigo Olivia Isabel Rodrigo (born February 20, 2003) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She gained recognition in the late 2010s with her lead roles on the Disney television programs ''Bizaardvark'' and '' High School Musical: The Music ...

received the most nominations with seven, followed by

the Weeknd Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. Known for his sonic versatility and dark lyricism, his music explores escapism, Romance (love), ...

with six, and

Bad Bunny Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio (born March 10, 1994), known professionally as Bad Bunny, is a Puerto Rican rapper and singer. His musical style is defined as Latin trap and reggaeton. He rose to prominence in 2016 with his song "Diles", wh ...

and

Giveon Giveon Dezmann Evans (born February 21, 1995), better known by his mononym Giveon (stylized as GIVĒON), is an American singer-songwriter. He rose to prominence with his collaboration with Drake on their 2020 single, "Chicago Freestyle". That sa ...

with five each.

became the first Asian artist to receive Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards. Three new categories were introduced in 2021: Favorite Trending Song, Favorite Latin Duo or Group, and Favorite Gospel Artist. Additionally, it was announced towards the end of October that though country singer

Morgan Wallen Morgan Cole Wallen (born May 13, 1993) is an American country singer and songwriter. He competed in the sixth season of ''The Voice'', originally as a member of Usher's team, but later as a member of Adam Levine's team. After being eliminated ...

had two nominations, due to his personal conduct in 2020 and 2021 which saw his music removed from further publicity and the suspension of his recording contract, he was not allowed to attend the ceremony or accept any awards won remotely. The show's production company plans to evaluate his future conduct in including him in future ceremonies. Winners are listed first and highlighted in bold.

References

{{AMAyear 2021 awards in the United States 2021 in Los Angeles 2021 music awards American Music Awards