Billboard Music Awards 2021

5.24.21

The Weeknd via Billboard Music Awards 2021 (@GettyImages)

The Billboard Music awards were last night, and kind of a big deal, if you ask me. While award season has been underway, it seems many times that the hip-hop community is looked over. More recently nominated, but not winning nearly as much as we would hope as a category. In the Weeknd’s case, he was completely left off of the Grammy’s nominations this year. However, the Billboard Awards would be much different across the board.

Although The Weeknd was shocked to hear his Grammy snub, after the massive success of his album After Hours, he would completely takeover the 2021 Billboard Music Awards. With sixteen nominations, The Weeknd took home ten awards, including Top Artist, Top Hot 100 Artist and Best R&B album. In one of The Weeknd’s acceptance speeches, he stated being so excited he no longer has to wear the red suit. I do not necessarily think it was the red suit that had people wound about about The Weeknd’s previous performances supporting the album, but nonetheless, his work was certainly recognized this night, defeating other major artists in his categories, like Drake and Taylor Swift.

Another artist, whom was certainly snubbed a Best New Artist Award previously, received that and more at the Billboard Music Awards. With ten nominations, Pop Smoke won give Billboard Music Awards, including Top New Artist, Top Rap Artist, and Top Billboard 200 Album. We tragically lost Pop Smoke a bit over a year ago, and have recently found out more news on his killer, just recently. His mother was in attendance to receive his awards that were much well deserved. This was an important night to remember the artist who was only at the very beginning of his career with strong potential.

Drake won Top Streaming Artist, Doja Cat won Best Female R&B Artist, while Megan Thee Stallion won Best Female Rap Artist. Bad Bunny conquered the Latin categories, with multiple nominations in some of the areas. Machine Gun Kelly at this point has pretty much completely dove into the Rock Genre of things, and took home a number of awards in this area, as well. Lady Gaga as always put on the for the Dance and Electronic categories, and Kanye West finally took home a few wins for his work in the Gospel Categories.

On top of the wonderful presence across the board in all categories, there were a few special awards given out throughout the night. Drake was dubbed the artist of the decade, and Trae The Truth was crowned with the “Change Maker” award. These are both amazing awards that were well deserved by each winner. Drake will probably go down as artist of the century when the time comes. From Young Money to OVO to today, the man has never slowed down, is not afraid to try anything new, and it somehow always seems to hit. If you are not familiar with Trae The Truth, or not a fan of his music, you need to get to know the man as the person, and Change Maker that he truly is. Trae has been on the front lines, he has been doing charity work nonstop, even before the pandemic and rioting had been going on. Trae has always been a leader in his community, and uses his platform primarily to make a change. I was so excited to see this acknowledged in such a large award show.

Not everything was peaches, however. Allegedly once DaBaby was granted his award for Top Streaming Song with Rockstar, The Billboard Awards played Post Malone’s Rockstar version instead. I am not totally sure if DaBaby noticed it, as it was a soft and quick intro. However, if he did, he handled it with class. Also, DaBaby should have won best dressed of the night, with his green and pink outfit on. Something I would never think to put together but looked absolutely amazing.

Overall, a great night. Here is the list of nominees and winners below.

Top Artist
Drake
Juice WRLD
Pop Smoke
Taylor Swift
The Weeknd (WINNER)

Top New Artist
Gabby Barrett
Doja Cat
Jack Harlow
Pop Smoke (WINNER)
Rod Wave

Top Male Artist
Drake
Juice WRLD
Lil Baby
Pop Smoke
The Weeknd (WINNER)

Top Female Artist
Billie Eilish
Ariana Grande
Dua Lipa
Megan Thee Stallion
Taylor Swift (WINNER)

Top Duo/Group
AC/DC
AJR
BTS (WINNER)
Dan + Shay
Maroon 5

Top Billboard 200 Artist
Drake
Juice WRLD
Pop Smoke
Post Malone
Taylor Swift (WINNER)

Top Hot 100 Artist
DaBaby
Drake
Dua Lipa
Pop Smoke
The Weeknd (WINNER)

Top Streaming Songs Artist
DaBaby
Drake (WINNER)
Lil Baby
Pop Smoke
The Weeknd

Top Song Sales Artist
Justin Bieber
BTS (WINNER)
Megan Thee Stallion
Morgan Wallen
The Weeknd

Top Radio Songs Artist
Justin Bieber
Lewis Capaldi
Dua Lipa
Harry Styles
The Weeknd (WINNER)

Top Social Artist (Fan Voted)
BLACKPINK
BTS (WINNER)
Ariana Grande
SB19
Seventeen

Top R&B Artist
Jhené Aiko
Justin Bieber
Chris Brown
Doja Cat
The Weeknd (WINNER)

Top R&B Male Artist
Justin Bieber
Chris Brown
The Weeknd (WINNER)

Top R&B Female Artist
Jhené Aiko
Doja Cat (WINNER)
SZA

Top Rap Artist
DaBaby
Drake
Juice WRLD
Lil Baby
Pop Smoke (WINNER)

Top Rap Male Artist
Juice WRLD
Lil Baby
Pop Smoke (WINNER)

Top Rap Female Artist
Cardi B
Megan Thee Stallion (WINNER)
Saweetie

Top Rock Artist
AC/DC
AJR
Five Finger Death Punch
Machine Gun Kelly (WINNER)
twenty one pilots

Top Latin Artist
Anuel AA
Bad Bunny (WINNER)
J Balvin
Maluma
Ozuna

Top Latin Male Artist
Bad Bunny (WINNER)
J Balvin
Ozuna

Top Latin Female Artist
Becky G
Karol G (WINNER)
Rosalía

Top Latin Duo/Group
Banda MS de Sergio Lizárraga
Eslabón Armado (WINNER)
Los Dos Carnales

Top Dance/Electronic Artist
The Chainsmokers
Kygo
Lady Gaga (WINNER)
Marshmello
Surf Mesa

Top Gospel Artist
Kirk Franklin
Koryn Hawthorne
Tasha Cobbs Leonard
Maverick City Music
Kanye West (WINNER)

Top Billboard 200 Album
Juice WRLD, Legends Never Die
Lil Baby, My Turn
Pop Smoke, Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon (WINNER)
Taylor Swift, folklore
The Weeknd, After Hours

Top R&B Album
Jhené Aiko, Chilombo
Chris Brown & Young Thug, Slime & B
Doja Cat, Hot Pink
Kehlani, It Was Good Until It Wasn’t
The Weeknd, After Hours (WINNER)

Top Rap Album
DaBaby, Blame It On Baby
Juice WRLD, Legends Never Die
Lil Baby, My Turn
Lil Uzi Vert, Eternal Atake
Pop Smoke, Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon (WINNER)

Top Rock Album
AC/DC, Power Up
Miley Cyrus, Plastic Hearts
Glass Animals, Dreamland
Machine Gun Kelly, Tickets to My Downfall (WINNER)
Bruce Springsteen, Letter to You

Top Latin Album
Anuel AA, Emmanuel
Bad Bunny, El Último Tour Del Mundo
Bad Bunny, Las que no iban a salir
Bad Bunny, YHLQMDLG (WINNER)
J Balvin, Colores

Top Dance/Electronic Album
DJ Snake, Carte Blanche
Gryffin, Gravity
Kygo, Golden Hour
Lady Gaga, Chromatica (WINNER)
Kylie Minogue, Disco

Top Hot 100 Song Presented by Rockstar
24kGoldn ft. iann dior, “Mood”
Gabby Barrett ft. Charlie Puth, “I Hope”
Chris Brown & Young Thug, “Go Crazy”
DaBaby ft. Roddy Ricch, “ROCKSTAR”
The Weeknd, “Blinding Lights” (WINNER)

Top Streaming Song
Cardi B ft. Megan Thee Stallion, “WAP”
DaBaby ft. Roddy Ricch, “ROCKSTAR” (WINNER)
Future ft. Drake, “Life Is Good”
Jack Harlow ft. DaBaby, Tory Lanez, & Lil Wayne, “WHATS POPPIN”
The Weeknd, “Blinding Lights”

Top Selling Song
Gabby Barrett ft. Charlie Puth, “I Hope”
BTS, “Dynamite” (WINNER)
Cardi B ft. Megan Thee Stallion, “WAP”
Megan Thee Stallion ft. Beyoncé, “Savage”
The Weeknd, “Blinding Lights”

Top Radio Song
Gabby Barrett ft. Charlie Puth, “I Hope”
Chris Brown & Young Thug, “Go Crazy”
Dua Lipa, “Don’t Start Now”
Harry Styles, “Adore You”
The Weeknd, “Blinding Lights” (WINNER)

Top Collaboration (Fan Voted)
24kGoldn ft. iann dior, “Mood”
Gabby Barrett ft. Charlie Puth, “I Hope” (WINNER)
Chris Brown & Young Thug, “Go Crazy”
DaBaby ft. Roddy Ricch, “ROCKSTAR”
Jack Harlow ft. DaBaby, Tory Lanez, & Lil Wayne, “WHATS POPPIN”

Top R&B Song
Jhené Aiko ft. H.E.R., “B.S.”
Justin Bieber ft. Quavo, “Intentions”
Chris Brown & Young Thug, “Go Crazy”
Doja Cat, “Say So”
The Weeknd, “Blinding Lights” (WINNER)

Top Rap Song
24kGoldn ft. iann dior, “Mood”
Cardi B ft. Megan Thee Stallion, “WAP”
DaBaby ft. Roddy Ricch, “ROCKSTAR” (WINNER)
Jack Harlow ft. DaBaby, Tory Lanez, & Lil Wayne, “WHATS POPPIN”
Megan Thee Stallion ft. Beyoncé, “Savage”

Top Rock Song
AJR, “Bang!” (WINNER)
All Time Low ft. blackbear, “Monsters”
Glass Animals, “Heat Waves”
Machine Gun Kelly ft. blackbear, “my ex’s best friend”
twenty one pilots, “Level of Concern”

Top Latin Song
Bad Bunny, “Yo Perreo Sola”
Bad Bunny & Jhay Cortez, “Dákiti” (WINNER)
Black Eyed Peas & J Balvin, “RITMO (Bad Boys For Life)”
Maluma & The Weeknd, “Hawái”
Ozuna x Karol G x Myke Towers, “Caramelo”

Top Dance/Electronic Song
Lady Gaga, “Stupid Love”
Lady Gaga & Ariana Grande, “Rain on Me”
SAINt JHN, “Roses (Imanbek Remix)” (WINNER)
Surf Mesa ft. Emilee, “ily (i love you baby)”
Topic & A7S, “Breaking Me”

Top Gospel Song
Koryn Hawthorne, “Speak To Me”
Jonathan McReynolds & Mali Music, “Movin’ On”
Marvin Sapp, “Thank You For It All”
Tye Tribbett, “We Gon’ Be Alright”
Kanye West ft. Travis Scott, “Wash Us In The Blood” (WINNER)