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The 52nd American Music Awards air live from Las Vegas tonight with Queen Latifah hosting, Taylor Swift leading with eight nominations, and BTS making a return.
The 52nd American Music Awards air live tonight from Las Vegas on CBS and Paramount+, with Queen Latifah hosting from the MGM Grand Garden Arena. The Memorial Day broadcast runs 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT.
This is Latifah’s first time hosting solo, three decades after co-hosting in 1995. The arena is the largest venue in the show’s history.
Taylor Swift leads the field with eight nominations, anchored by The Life of a Showgirl in album of the year and best pop album. Two songs from the album also charted into the nominations: The Fate of Ophelia drew nods for song of the year, best music video, and best pop song; Elizabeth Taylor is up for song of the summer.
Swift is also up for artist of the year and best female pop artist. Her career total at the AMAs already sits at 40 wins, more than any other artist in the show’s history.
Behind her with seven nominations each are Morgan Wallen, Olivia Dean, Sabrina Carpenter, and Sombr. Billboard’s running breakdown of the full performer and presenter slate lists the night’s headliners across genres and generations.
The show’s centerpiece this year is the Lifetime Achievement Award going to Billy Idol, who will perform a medley spanning Dancing With Myself, Rebel Yell, and White Wedding. KAROL G receives the International Artist Award of Excellence. Darius Rucker receives the Veterans Voice Award and will perform with his Hootie & the Blowfish bandmates.
The biggest return belongs to BTS. The K-pop group’s special appearance marks their first awards-show performance in four years, following the members’ military service hiatus. CBS’s network preview of the show’s lineup and BTS’s role in tonight’s broadcast notes the group is also up for three awards.
BTS’s world tour kicked off in March, and their single Swim debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The AMAs spot is the group’s first stateside televised performance in the post-hiatus run.
The rest of the performance slate runs deep on legacy acts. New Kids on the Block, The Pussycat Dolls performing Don’t Cha with Busta Rhymes, and Hootie are billed alongside current acts Maluma, KATSEYE, Riley Green, Sombr, Teddy Swims, Teyana Taylor, and Twenty One Pilots. Keith Urban will premiere a track from his upcoming yacht-rock covers album, Flow State.
Taylor, who picked up a Golden Globe in January for One Battle After Another, will perform a medley from her album Escape Room. She is also nominated for best female R&B artist.
The presenter list runs long and crosses categories. The official AMAs network announcement of the full presenter roster and the show’s Memorial Day program includes Hilary Duff, John Legend, Paula Abdul, Ludacris, Nikki Glaser, Megan Stalter and Paul W. Downs of Hacks, and Hannah Berner among the many names walking the stage.
The broadcast will fold in Memorial Day moments. USAA’s Poppy Wall of Honor returns to the National Mall, stretching 130 feet across more than 600,000 hand-placed poppies for every American service member lost since World War I. Gold Star families will be in attendance.
Fan voting remains open for two final categories. Social song of the year and tour of the year will accept votes through the first 30 minutes of the broadcast via VoteAMAs.com and the AMAs Instagram account.
Fan-voted nominations span the eligibility window of March 21, 2025 through March 26, 2026. Billboard and Luminate handle the data tracking.
Doors at MGM Grand open shortly. The show goes live at 8 p.m. ET.
