Awards
for King & Country, CeCe Winans, We the Kingdom, KB & Jason Ingram Among GMA Dove Awards Winners
Natalie Grant and Jonathan McReynolds served as affable co-hosts for the evening; this marked McReynolds’ first time co-hosting the event, while Grant previously hosted in 2007. We the Kingdom gave the first performance of the evening, bringing the churning folk-rock of “God So Loved” to the stage and welcoming international children’s choir His Little Feet. The first award of the evening, contemporary gospel album of the year, went to Koryn Hawthorne’s I AM. From there, this year’s GMA Dove Awards seemed to easily blend performances from CCM, gospel, rap/hip-hop, worship, Southern gospel and more into a seamless showcase for the breadth and depth of the genre as a whole, from the hard-hitting hip-hop of KB, Hawthorne’s simmering R&B, the folksy worship style of Daigle, The Isaacs’ blu...
All Eyes on Him: Why Bo Burnham’s ‘Inside’ Could Be a Big Four Grammys Contender
Bo Burnham’s ‘Inside (The Songs)’ aims for where few comedians have gone before: the Big Four. This story is part of Billboard’s 2022 Grammy Preview issue, highlighting the artists, issues and trends that will define awards season. Read our cover story on Halsey, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross here. Tyler Arnold was only 20 minutes into Bo Burnham’s latest musical comedy special, Bo Burnham: Inside, released on Netflix in May, when he started searching for the songs online. When he couldn’t find them, the Republic Records A&R executive immediately reached out to the comedian’s team to change that. The album Inside (The Songs) arrived on streaming platforms on June 10, and it has remained on the Billboard 200 for 19 weeks, including five in the top 10...
Garth Brooks & RIAA to Honor Charley Pride With Lifetime Achievement Award
In September 2020, just months before his death in December, Pride collaborated with Brooks on the duet “Where the Cross Don’t Burn,” written by Troy Jones and Phil Thomas. Brooks traveled to Pride’s Dallas studio to record the duet, a musical tale that chronicles the friendship between a young white boy and an older Black man during segregation. In August, Pride was feted by CMT with the 90-minute special CMT Giants: Charley Pride, which featured Pride’s wife Rozene, as well as a sterling lineup of artists including Brooks, Jimmie Allen, Reba McEntire, Darius Rucker, Luke Combs, Mickey Guyton, George Strait, Wynonna, Ronnie Milsap, Reyna Roberts, Gladys Knight and more. In addition to artists performing their favorite Pride hits, the special also included rare, old...
Amy Shark and Genesis Owusu Lead 2021 ARIA Awards Nominations
ARIA is ringing in the changes this year, with several key developments introduced to reflect and embrace equality and the diversity of Australia’s record industry. For the first time, the gender-based categories are out. The awards for best female artist and best male artist are replaced with the ARIA for best artist, a ten-strong category contested by Amy Shark, Budjerah, Genesis Owusu, Keith Urban, Kylie Minogue, Masked Wolf, Ngaiire, The Kid LAROI, Tones And I and Vance Joy. Also new this year is the Michael Gudinski breakthrough artist category, renamed in honor of the late Mushroom Group founder and chairman, who passed away in March. The emerging talent vying for the Gudinski prize are Budjerah, Gretta Ray, Masked Wolf, MAY-A and Ngaiire. Set for Nov. 24, this year’s ARIAs is an all...
Carly Pearce Reveals Winners for 2021 CMA Broadcast Awards
The nominees for broadcast personality of the year were evaluated based on aircheck, ratings, community involvement and biographical information; while nominees for radio station of the year were evaluated based on aircheck, ratings, community involvement and format leadership. Market size was based on population as determined by Nielsen. Here’s the full list of winners. CMA broadcast personality of the year Weekly national: Country Countdown USA, Lon Helton – Westwood OneDaily national: CMT After Midnite, Cody Alan – Premiere NetworksMajor Market: Double-L, Lois Lewis – KNIX, Phoenix, Ariz.Large Market: Ridder, Scott and Shannen, “Ridder” Shaun Ridderbush, Scott Dolphin, and Shannen Oesterreich – WMIL, Milwaukee-Racine, Wis.Medium market: Mo & St...
ARIA Board Strips Denis Handlin of His Icon Award
The trade body’s Icon Award is periodically presented at a VIP ceremony in Sydney, in the hours prior to the annual ARIA Awards. Just five ARIA Icons have been awarded. The first went to the late Mushroom Group founder Michael Gudinski in 2013, followed by Handlin, Sebastian Chase (2016), Roger Davies (2017) and Michael Chugg (2019). ARIA’s u-turn follows the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s premiere Monday night (Oct. 11) of Facing the Music: The Sony Music Scandal, a 47-minute documentary which exposed the “culture of fear, harassment and bullying” in a workplace Handlin led for 37 years. The following day, trade body Q Music revoked the honorary award presented to Handlin at the 2020 Queensland Music Awards, in his hometown Brisbane. The documentary, noted QMusic CEO Kris Stewart, ...
Mickey Guyton, Kane Brown, Kelsea Ballerini, Randy Travis Get Inspirational at ‘CMT Artists of the Year’
The show featured a heartfelt mix of music and stories of hope, as the artists shared (via video segments) how they weathered the pandemic and made the most of being off the road. Honoree Combs started off the evening with a rendition of “Forever After All,” followed by Lady A’s Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood, who took the stage to welcome viewers. Meanwhile, Eric Church feted Combs via a video tribute, saying, “By any definition, his music has made him a bonafide superstar.” “Everybody in this room pushes me to be better,” Combs said in accepting his CMT artist of the year honor, before addressing fellow honoree Travis. “Randy, I watched you play in this building a few years ago and was blown away. To be in the same room with you and the same place and have jus...
Taylor Swift Thanks Fans for ‘Folklore’ Film Win at 2021 Gracie Awards: Watch Her Full Speech
Before signing off, Swift gave the biggest thank you to her fans. “Thank you for caring about all of this. Thank you for being the reason why we could come together in this way. You made this album what it is. And you continue to just blow me away all the time,” the singer shared in the speech. Other 2021 Gracie Awards honorees included Kelly Clarkson for her eponymous talk show and former first ladies Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama for their respective podcasts, You and Me Both With Hillary Clinton and The Michelle Obama Podcast. Newcomers were recognized as well. Nineteen-year-old Maitreyi Ramakrishnan took the award for actress in a breakthrough role – comedy for her lead role in Mindy Kaling’s Netflix sitcom Never Have I Ever.&n...
How to Watch the 2021 BET Hip Hop Awards
2021 BET Hip Hop Awards: Air Date, Time, Channel The BET Hip Hop Awards will air on BET on Tuesday (Oct. 5) at 9 p.m. ET/PT, 8 p.m. CT. How to Watch the 2021 BET Hip Hop Awards Online Those who want to watch the BET Hip Hop Awards online can tune in on BET.com with a cable provider login. No cable? Signing up for free trials of fuboTV or SlingTV will give you access to BET as well, as both services include BET, to let you watch the BET Hip Hop Awards live on TV or stream the BET Hip Hop Awards from your laptop, tablet or phone. You can watch a live stream of BET (live in most markets) plus dozens of other TV channels via Hulu + Live TV, which is currently offering a seven-day free trial, which you can use to watch the BET Hip Hop Awards onl...
Expect a Crowded Stage Following Grammy Rule Change for Album of the Year
You may be surprised to learn that, in the Grammys’ first seven years (1958-64), only artists were nominated for album of the year. So Judy Garland was the sole winner when Judy at Carnegie Hall won the 1961 award, and Barbra Streisand was the only winner when her debut, The Barbra Streisand Album, won the 1963 prize. The Academy gradually extended nominations to other pros who worked on album of the year contenders: producers in 1965, engineers/mixers in 1998, mastering engineers in 2001, featured artists in 2007, and songwriters in 2017. But in 2017, they also instituted the 33% rule, saying that nominations would be extended only to people who worked on at least one-third of the album’s playing time. Now, they’re back to saying anyone who worked on an album in these capacities, even if ...
Billy Strings Is Top Winner at 2021 IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards
Appalachian Road Show, Dale Ann Bradley and Sierra Hull were also two-time winners. Appalachian Road Show took instrumental group of the year and new artist of the year. Bradley took female vocalist of the year for the sixth time and tied for gospel recording of the year. Sierra Hull took mandolin player of the year and was among the featured artists on the winner for collaborative recording of the year: Bobby Osborne‘s “White Line Fever.” Other repeat winners in marquee categories included Sister Sadie, which won vocal group of the year for the third consecutive year; and Danny Paisley and Del McCoury, who tied for male vocalist of the year. This was Paisley’s second straight win in that category (and his third overall). It was McCoury’s fifth win in the category, ...
Cadence Weapon Wins 2021 Polaris Music Prize in Canada
Cadence Weapon’s fifth studio album Parallel World was announced as the winner of the 2021 Polaris Music Prize on Monday (Sept. 27). The prize is awarded to the “best full-length Canadian album based on artistic merit, regardless of genre, sales or record label,” according to the organization. Cadence Weapon, a Canadian-American rapper (real name Roland “Rollie” Pemberton), hails from Edmonton, Alberta. His win was announced during an event that was streamed live from CBC Toronto’s Studio 211. This is the 16th year of the Polaris Prize, which is presented by CBC Music. Past winners include Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs (2011) which also won a Grammy as album of the year, and three albums by acts that subsequently went on to collect Grammy nominations – Caribou (2008), Kay...
