The 2026 American Music Awards have arrived, airing Memorial Day (May 25) from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Taylor Swift — the top winner in the history of the American Music Awards, with 40 trophies — leads the nominations for the 2026 AMAs with eight nods. Morgan Wallen, Olivia Dean, Sabrina Carpenter and sombr are runners-up with seven nods. Alex Warren and Lady Gaga each received six nods.
With eight nods, Swift is likely to pull even further ahead of the pack for most AMA wins. Michael Jackson is currently in second place with 24 wins, followed by Alabama with 23 and Whitney Houston with 21.
Justin Bieber, who has four nominations this year, is also in position to move up the all-time AMA leaderboard. He has won 18 awards. If he wins just one award this year, he’ll tie Kenny Rogers for the second-most wins among male artists. (MJ leads among men.)
Dean and sombr are competing in three categories — new artist of the year, song of the year, and breakthrough album of the year. The two fast-rising stars competed for best new artist at this year’s Grammys, with Dean winning. Other first-time AMA nominees include Warren, BigXthaPlug, KATSEYE, Leon Thomas, PinkPantheress, RAYE, Role Model, Sienna Spiro and Tate McRae.
Queen Latifah is returning to host the 52nd AMAs, having co-hosted the show in 1995 with Tom Jones and Lorrie Morgan.
But who will emerge the night’s biggest winner? Follow along with Billboard all night below.
