Conception
The AMAs was created by Dick Clark in 1973 to compete with the Grammy Awards after the move of that year's show to Nashville, Tennessee led to CBS (which has broadcast all Grammy Award shows since then) picking up the Grammy telecasts after its first two in 1971 and 1972 were broadcast on ABC. In 2014, American network Telemundo acquired the rights to produce a Spanish-language version of the American Music Awards and launched the Latin American Music Awards in 2015. [3]
Nominations are selected based on commercial performance, such as sales and airplay. Winners have been determined by a poll of the public and fans, who can vote through the AMAs website, while nominations have remained based on sales, airplay, now including activity on social networks, and video viewing. Before 2010, nominations were based only on sales and airplay and nominated every work, even if old. The Grammys have nominations based on vote of the Academy and only nominate a work from their eligibility period that changes often. [4]
The award statuette is manufactured by New York firm Society Awards. [5]
History
The hosts for the first AMAs were Helen Reddy, Roger Miller, and Smokey Robinson. Reddy not only hosted the show but also became the first artist to win an AMA for Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist. [6] For the first two decades, the AMAs had multiple hosts, each representing a genre of music. For instance, Glen Campbell, who co-hosted the AMAs five times, would host the country portion, while other artists would co-host to represent their genre. In recent years, however, there has been a single host.
In 1991, Keenen Ivory Wayans became the first Hollywood actor to host the AMAs.
The first two AMAs in 1974 and 1975 and the 1994 ceremony were held in February, but from 1976 to 1993 and 1995 through early 2003, the AMAs were held in mid- to late-January, but were moved to November (usually the Sunday before Thanksgiving) beginning in late 2003 so it would prevent the ceremony to further compete with other major awards shows (such as the Golden Globe Awards and the Academy Awards) and allows for ABC to have a well-rated awards show during November sweeps.
For the 2008 awards, Jimmy Kimmel hosted for his fifth year, tying with Glen Campbell for the most AMAs hosted or co-hosted. From 2009–2012, there was no host. Instead, the AMAs followed the Grammys' lead in having various celebrities give introductions. However, rapper Pitbull hosted the ceremony in 2013 and 2014. Jennifer Lopez hosted in 2015. [7] Gigi Hadid and Jay Pharoah hosted in 2016. Tracee Ellis Ross hosted in 2017 and 2018. Ciara hosted in 2019. [8]
Between 2012 and 2014, the American Music Awards used the lock screen wallpaper of Samsung Galaxy smartphones rather than envelopes to reveal winners, as part of a sponsorship by Samsung Electronics. A magnetic screen cover on each phone kept the wallpaper image with the winner's name secret until opened. [9]
In August 2018, Dick Clark Productions announced a two-year sponsorship and content partnership with YouTube Music. However, this partnership seemingly lasted only for the 2018 ceremony, as there was no mention of it during in the 2019 show. [10]
In March 2023, it was announced that the Billboard Music Awards, which are also produced by DCP via co-owned Billboard , had been moved from May to the November scheduling that was typically occupied by the American Music Awards, leading to speculation that the AMAs would be discontinued in order to focus on the Billboard Music Awards, or at the very least cancelled for 2023, so it could move to May in its place. It was reported that the broadcast rights for both events (which had been held by NBC and ABC respectively) would also be shopped; the Billboard Music Awards moved to an online-only format in November 2023. [11]
In March 2024, it was announced that CBS had acquired the rights to broadcast the AMAs under a deal of unspecified length. The rights were bundled with CBS's five-year agreement to televise the Golden Globe Awards, whose telecast has historically been produced by DCP, and whose assets had been acquired by DCP in 2023. [12] [13] In August 2025, CBS renewed its rights to broadcast the AMAs under a five-year agreement similar to that of the Golden Globe Awards. [14]
The AMAs continued its hiatus for 2024, with a return scheduled for May 2025. In lieu of a 2024 ceremony, a televised special honoring the AMAs' 50th anniversary was aired by CBS on October 6, 2024, including performances and retrospectives paying tribute to the ceremony's history and memorable moments. [15] [16] Ratings for the special were up from the last ceremony aired on ABC, with an average of 6.1 million viewers. [17] In February 2025, it was announced that the 51st American Music Awards would air on May 26, 2025 on CBS. [17]
