American Music Award for Artist of the Year

American Music Awards for Artist of the Year
Billie Eilish is the most recent recipient
Country	United States
Presented by	American Music Awards
First award	1996
Currently held by	Billie Eilish
Most wins	Taylor Swift (7)
Most nominations	Taylor Swift (10)
Website	theamas.com

The American Music Award for Artist of the Year, which is the most prestigious award of the night, has been awarded since 1996. Years reflect the year during which the awards were presented, for works released in the previous year (until 2003 onward, when awards were handed out on November of the same year). Taylor Swift is the most nominated and awarded artist in the category, with 7 wins from 10 nominations. Swift was the first artist to be nominated in the category for five consecutive years and the only act to win for three consecutive years.

Winners and nominees

1990s

Year	Artist	Ref
1996 (23rd)
	Garth Brooks (Refused)	[1]
	TLC (Accepted)
	Boyz II Men
	Green Day
	Hootie & the Blowfish
1997 – 98	—
[[American Music Awards of 1999|1999 (26th)]]
	Garth Brooks	[2]
	Celine Dion (2nd place)
	Shania Twain (3rd place)
	Backstreet Boys (4th place)
	Metallica (5th place)

2000s

Year	Artist	Ref
2000	—
2001 (28th)
	NSYNC	[ citation needed ]
	Britney Spears
	Creed
	Destiny's Child
	Eminem
	Faith Hill
2002 (29th)
	U2	[ citation needed ]
	Destiny's Child
	Janet Jackson
	Alicia Keys
	Tim McGraw
	Shaggy
2003	—
2003 (31st)
	Madonna	[3]
	Christina Aguilera
	Cher
	Justin Timberlake
	Shania Twain
2004 (32nd)
	Kenny Chesney	[4]
	Evanescence
	Norah Jones
	Outkast
	Usher
2005 (33rd)
	Kelly Clarkson	[5]
	50 Cent
	Mariah Carey
	Green Day
	Toby Keith
	Gwen Stefani
2006 (34th)
	Rascal Flatts	[6]
	Beyoncé
	Mary J. Blige
	Daniel Powter
	The Pussycat Dolls
2007 (35th)
	Carrie Underwood	[7]
	Akon
	Daughtry
	Fergie
	Norah Jones
2008 (36th)
	Chris Brown	[8]
	Coldplay
	Eagles
	Alicia Keys
	Lil Wayne
2009 (37th)
	Taylor Swift	[9]
	Eminem
	Michael Jackson
	Kings of Leon
	Lady Gaga

2010s

Year	Artist	Ref
2010 (38th)
	Justin Bieber	[10]
	Eminem
	Kesha
	Lady Gaga
	Katy Perry
2011 (39th)
	Taylor Swift	[11]
	Adele
	Lady Gaga
	Lil Wayne
	Katy Perry
2012 (40th)
	Justin Bieber	[12]
	Drake
	Maroon 5
	Katy Perry
	Rihanna
2013 (41st)
	Taylor Swift	[13]
	Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
	Bruno Mars
	Rihanna
	Justin Timberlake
2014 (42nd)
	One Direction	[14]
	Iggy Azalea
	Beyoncé
	Luke Bryan
	Katy Perry
2015 (43rd)
	One Direction	[15]
	Luke Bryan
	Ariana Grande
	Nicki Minaj
	Taylor Swift
2016 (44th)
	Ariana Grande	[16]
	Justin Bieber
	Selena Gomez
	Rihanna
	Carrie Underwood
2017 (45th)
	Bruno Mars	[17]
	The Chainsmokers
	Drake
	Kendrick Lamar
	Ed Sheeran
2018 (46th)
	Taylor Swift	[18]
	Drake
	Ed Sheeran
	Imagine Dragons
	Post Malone
2019 (47th)
	Taylor Swift	[19]
	Ariana Grande
	Drake
	Halsey
	Post Malone

2020s

Year	Artist	Ref
2020 (48th)
	Taylor Swift	[20]
	Justin Bieber
	Post Malone
	Roddy Ricch
	The Weeknd
2021 (49th)
	BTS	[21]
	Ariana Grande
	Drake
	Olivia Rodrigo
	Taylor Swift
	The Weeknd
2022 (50th)
	Taylor Swift	[22]
	Adele
	Bad Bunny
	Beyoncé
	Drake
	Harry Styles
	The Weeknd
2025 (51st)
	Billie Eilish	[23]
	Ariana Grande
	Chappell Roan
	Kendrick Lamar
	Morgan Wallen
	Post Malone
	Sabrina Carpenter
	SZA
	Taylor Swift
	Zach Bryan

Multiple wins

Rank	Artist	Wins	Years
1.	Taylor Swift	7 wins	2009, 2011, 2013, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022
2.	Justin Bieber	2 wins	2010 and 2012
	One Direction		2014 and 2015

Multiple nominations

10 nominations Taylor Swift 5 nominations Ariana Grande Drake 4 nominations Katy Perry Justin Bieber Post Malone 3 nominations Beyoncé Ed Sheeran Eminem Lady Gaga Rihanna

2 nominations Alicia Keys Destiny's Child Bruno Mars Carrie Underwood Kendrick Lamar Green Day Imagine Dragons Justin Timberlake Lil Wayne Luke Bryan Norah Jones One Direction The Weeknd

References

1. "Brooks turns down artist of year award". CNN . January 30, 1996. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
2. "The 26th Annual Music Awards (January 11, 1999)". YouTube . Retrieved January 1, 2019.
3. "31st American Music Awards Winners". Rock on the Net. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
4. "2004 American Music Awards Winners". Billboard . December 8, 2014. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
5. "2005 American Music Awards Winners". Billboard . November 23, 2005. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
6. "The 2006 American Music Awards Nominees Announced". Access Hollywood . September 19, 2006. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
7. "2007 American Music Awards Nominees and Winners". Los Angeles Times . 9 October 2007. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
8. "2008 American Music Awards Winners". New York Daily News . Associated Press. November 24, 2008. Archived from the original on 2013-05-20. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
9. "2009 American Music Awards winners". The Baltimore Sun . Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
10. "AMA 2010 Winners: The Full List". CBS News . June 5, 2012. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
11. "American Music Awards 2011: Full List of Winners". Billboard . November 18, 2011. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
12. "American Music Awards 2012: The Complete Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter . November 18, 2012. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
13. "American Music Awards 2013: List of AMA winners in full" . The Independent . November 25, 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-11-27. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
14. "American Music Awards 2014: The Complete Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter . November 23, 2014. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
15. "American Music Awards 2015: Full Winners List". Variety . November 22, 2015. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
16. McIntyre, Hugh (November 20, 2016). "American Music Awards 2016: Full List of Winners". Forbes . Retrieved November 21, 2017.
17. "Here Are All the Winners From the 2017 AMAs". Billboard . November 19, 2017. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
18. Weatherby, Taylor (October 10, 2018). "Here Are All the Winners From the 2018 AMAs". Billboard. Retrieved October 10, 2018.
19. Aniftos, Rania (October 24, 2019). "Post Malone, Ariana Grande & Billie Eilish Lead 2019 American Music Awards Nominations: See Full List". Billboard. Archived from the original on October 24, 2019. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
20. Shafer, Ellise (November 22, 2020). "American Music Awards 2020: The Full Winners List". Variety . Retrieved November 26, 2020.
21. Aswad, Jem (October 28, 2021). "Olivia Rodrigo and the Weeknd Lead American Music Award Nominations". Variety . Retrieved October 28, 2021.
22. Atkinson, Katie (November 20, 2022). "Here Are All the 2022 AMAs Winners". Billboard . Archived from the original on November 21, 2022. Retrieved November 21, 2022.
23. Grein, Paul (April 23, 2025). "Kendrick Lamar Leads 2025 American Music Awards Nominations: Full List". Billboard. Retrieved April 23, 2025.