The Billboard Music Awards are honors given out annually by Billboard, a publication covering the music business and a music popularity chart. The Billboard Music Awards show has been held annually since 1990, with the exception of the years 2007 through 2010. The event was previously staged in December, but has been held in May since returning in 2011. On October 19, 2023, it was announced that the award ceremony will be reformatted as a digital-only show and move from broadcast television to its website and Billboard's social media pages, starting with the 2023 edition on November 19.
Thriller is the sixth studio album by the American singer and songwriter Michael Jackson, released on November 29, 1982, by Epic Records. It was produced by Quincy Jones, who had previously worked with Jackson on his 1979 album Off the Wall. Jackson wanted to create an album where "every song was a killer". With the ongoing backlash against disco music at the time, he moved in a new musical direction, resulting in a mix of pop, post-disco, rock, funk, synth-pop, and R&B sounds. Thriller foreshadows the contradictory themes of Jackson's personal life, as he began using a motif of paranoia and darker themes. Paul McCartney appears on "The Girl Is Mine", the first credited appearance of a featured artist on a Michael Jackson album. Recording took place from April to November 1982 at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California, with a budget of $750,000.
The Billboard 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by Billboard magazine to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists. Sometimes, a recording act is remembered for its "number ones" that outperformed all other albums during at least one week. The chart grew from a weekly top 10 list in 1956 to become a top 200 list in May 1967, acquiring its existing name in March 1992. Its previous names include the Billboard Top LPs (1961–1972), Billboard Top LPs & Tape (1972–1984), Billboard Top 200 Albums (1984–1985) and Billboard Top Pop Albums (1985–1992).
Christopher Maurice Brown is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. One of the most successful R&B singers of all time, he has often been referred to by contemporaries as the "King of R&B". His R&B has been characterized by several influences from other genres, mainly pop music and hip hop. His lyrics develop predominantly over themes of romance, sex, fast life, desire, lovesickness, regret, emotional conflict and loneliness. Brown has had wide comparisons to Michael Jackson for his talent and stage presence.
Taylor Alison Swift is an American singer-songwriter. Her songwriting, artistic reinventions, and entrepreneurship have influenced popular culture and the music industry, and her public image has generated widespread public interest and media coverage.
Selena Marie Gomez is an American singer, songwriter, actress, businesswoman, and producer. She has won numerous accolades, including an American Music Award, a Billboard Music Award, two MTV Video Music Awards, 16 Guinness World Records; and received nominations for four Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and a Latin Grammy Award. She has been included in listicles such as the Time 100 in 2020 and Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2016 and 2020, and was named Billboard's Woman of the Year in 2017. Billboard ranked Gomez as one of the most successful artists of the 2010s decade. She is the most-followed woman on Instagram.
The American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift has released 10 original studio albums, 4 re-recorded studio albums, 5 extended plays, and 4 live albums. She has sold an estimated 114 million album units worldwide and, in terms of pure sales, tallied 37.3 million in the United States and 3.34 million in the United Kingdom. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), her albums have garnered 51 million certified units in the United States. As of December 2023, she is the female artist with the most weeks (66) at number one on the US Billboard 200.
Fearless is the second studio album by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. Under Big Machine Records imprint, it was released in the U.S. and Canada on November 11, 2008, and elsewhere on March 9, 2009. Written predominantly by Swift while she was promoting her 2006 self-titled debut album in 2007–2008, Fearless features additional songwriting credits from Liz Rose, Hillary Lindsey, Colbie Caillat, and John Rich. Swift wrote seven of the standard edition's 13 tracks by herself and, in her debut as a record producer, co-produced the album with Nathan Chapman.
Ariana Grande-Butera is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. An influential figure in contemporary popular music, and often regarded as a pop culture icon, she is noted for her four-octave vocal range and whistle register that has garnered critical acclaim. Grande has received numerous accolades throughout her career, including two Grammy Awards, one Brit Award, one Bambi Award, two Billboard Music Awards, three American Music Awards, nine MTV Video Music Awards, and 30 Guinness World Records.
Pink Friday is the debut studio album by rapper Nicki Minaj, released on November 22, 2010, by Young Money, Cash Money and Universal Motown. After signing a recording contract with Young Money Entertainment in 2009, Minaj began planning the album that same year and work continued into 2010. Minaj enlisted a variety of producers whose efforts resulted in a primarily hip hop and pop record, which sees additional influences from R&B. The album features guest vocals from Eminem, Rihanna, Drake, will.i.am, Kanye West and Natasha Bedingfield.
Imagine Dragons is an American pop rock band based in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2008, and currently consists of lead singer Dan Reynolds, guitarist Wayne Sermon, bassist Ben McKee and drummer Daniel Platzman. The band first gained exposure with the release of their single "It's Time", followed by their debut album Night Visions (2012), which resulted in the chart-topping singles "Radioactive" and "Demons". Rolling Stone named "Radioactive", which held the record for most weeks charted on the Billboard Hot 100, the "biggest rock hit of the year". MTV called them "the year's biggest breakout band", and Billboard named them their "Breakthrough Band of 2013" and "Biggest Band of 2017", and placed them at the top of their "Year in Rock" rankings for 2013, 2017, and 2018. Imagine Dragons topped the Billboard Year-End "Top Artists – Duo/Group" category in 2018.
Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is noted for his unconventional music production, artistic reinventions, and his signature use of the falsetto register. His accolades include 4 Grammy Awards, 20 Billboard Music Awards, 22 Juno Awards, 6 American Music Awards, 2 MTV Video Music Awards, a Latin Grammy Award, and nominations for an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award.
Red is the fourth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift. It was released on October 22, 2012, by Big Machine Records. The album's title refers to the tumultuous, "red" emotions Swift experienced during the album's conception; its songs discuss the complex and conflicting feelings resulting from fading romance.
BTS, also known as the Bangtan Boys, is a South Korean boy band formed in 2010. The band consists of Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook, who co-write or co-produce much of their material. Originally a hip hop group, they expanded their musical style to incorporate a wide range of genres, while their lyrics have focused on subjects including mental health, the troubles of school-age youth and coming of age, loss, the journey towards self-love, individualism, and the consequences of fame and recognition. Their discography and adjacent work has also referenced literature, philosophy and psychology, and includes an alternate universe storyline.
Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, known professionally as Bad Bunny, is a Puerto Rican rapper and singer. He is known as the "King of Latin Trap". Bad Bunny is the first non-English language act to be Spotify's most streamed artist of the year, and has led the list from 2020 to 2023. He holds the all-time record for the biggest streaming year of any artist in Spotify history, generating over 18.5 billion streams in 2022. As of December 2023, his album " Un Verano Sin Ti " is the most streamed album on Spotify with over 14 billion streams.
Frank Jahmier Childress, known professionally as Comethazine, is an American rapper and songwriter. He is best known for his platinum-selling single "Walk", which peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart and "Bands". Both songs were included on his debut mixtape, Bawskee (2018).
"Walk" is a song by American rapper Comethazine. It is the fourth single from his debut mixtape Bawskee (2018), and is considered his breakout hit. On March 18, 2019, a remix of the song featuring American rapper ASAP Rocky was released.
Pandemic is the debut studio album by American rapper Comethazine. it was released on March 27, 2020, by Alamo Records.
Top Album Sales is a music chart published by Billboard magazine starting in December 2014. It is a weekly chart documenting the best-selling albums on a weekly basis in the United States. Up until December 2014, this had been documented by the Billboard 200 chart, but that chart was altered to factor in music streaming by accounting for album-equivalent units in its tallies to document the effect of the rise of music streaming outlets such as Apple Music and Spotify. The Top Album Sales chart was created to preserve the older methodology of counting pure album sales.
"Bands" is a song by American rapper Comethazine. It was first released in January 2018 through the streaming platform SoundCloud, before being released again in March of that year. The song is the second single from his debut mixtape Bawskee (2018), and is one of the songs that propelled him to fame. It was certified gold by RIAA. The 1:38 band
