The 2026 American Music Awards are a wrap, airing Memorial Day (May 25) from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
BTS took home the top prize of the night, artist of the year, and they also accepted song of the summer for “Swim” — the Billboard Hot 100-topping lead single from their comeback album ARIRANG — and opened the show with a performance of “Hooligan.” (Following the show, BTS also was announced as the best male K-pop artist winner.) The South Korean septet also presented SZA with the prize for best female R&B artist.
Sombr also accepted two prizes onstage Monday night: best rock/alternative song for “Back to Friends” and best rock/alternative album for I Hardly Knew Her. (The AMAs announced after the show that he also won breakthrough rock/alternative artist.) The hitmaker also made his AMAs performance debut, singing his song “Homewrecker” as rain poured down on him.
In another top win, the singing voices of HUNTR/X from KPop Demon Hunters — EJAE, Audrey Nuna and REI AMI — won the award for song of the year for their eight-week Hot 100 topper “Golden.” EJAE and AMI were on hand to accept the award in Las Vegas. (After the show, “Golden” was announced as best pop song and best vocal performance as well, while KPop Demon Hunters took best soundtrack.)
Taylor Swift — the top winner in the history of the American Music Awards, with 40 trophies — led the nominations for the 2026 AMAs with eight nods, but left empty-handed. Morgan Wallen, Olivia Dean, Sabrina Carpenter and sombr were runners-up with seven nods. Alex Warren and Lady Gaga each received six nods.
Queen Latifah returned to host the 52nd AMAs, having co-hosted the show in 1995 with Tom Jones and Lorrie Morgan.
But who emerged the night’s biggest winner? Find the full winners list below.