Kendrick Lamar leads the list of nominees for this year’s American Music Awards with a total of 10 mentions, including artist of the year, album of the year (GNX), and song of the year (“Not Like Us”). Impressively, he has three out of the five nominations in the favorite hip-hop song category: “Like That” with Future and Metro Boomin, “Not Like Us,” and “Luther” with SZA. Lamar, who already has three AMA awards in his career, could equal Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston as the artists with the most awards in a single year if he wins in all eight categories.
Post Malone follows closely with eight nominations, including artist of the year, album of the year (F-1 Trillion), and song of the year for “I Had Some Help,” his successful collaboration with Morgan Wallen. Posty, who has previously won awards in the rap/hip-hop and pop/rock categories, could take home an award in a third different genre. He has three nominations in the country music categories as well. He also has two nominations for collaboration of the year, for “I Had Some Help” and “Fortnight” with Taylor Swift.
Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan, and Shaboozey tie for the next spot with seven nominations each. Six artists are tied with six nominations: Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, Wallen, Sabrina Carpenter, SZA, and Swift. Swift, the all-time top winner at the AMAs with 40 awards, could extend her record if she wins in any of her six categories.
Female artists had a strong showing in the nominations: seven out of the nominees for album of the year are women, as well as six out of the nominees for artist of the year. Roan is the only artist nominated in all three new categories this year: album of the year, song of the year, and social song of the year.
Out of the 49 artists who received two or more nominations, only three were groups or duos, a sign of how dominant solo personalities are in this era. Fuerza Regida was the group or duo with the most nominations, with three, followed by Linkin Park and Twenty One Pilots, with two each.
Two out of the five nominees for favorite country album are black artists, reflecting a greater diversity in that genre. Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter and Shaboozey’s Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going are both competing for the award. They are also both nominated for best female and male country artist, respectively.
Ariana Grande is nominated for artist of the year and favorite soundtrack for her work alongside Cynthia Erivo on Wicked.
The 51st edition of the AMAs, with Jennifer Lopez as host, will be broadcast live from Las Vegas. With such a diverse and talented group of nominees, it’s sure to be an exciting and memorable night for music fans. Will Kendrick Lamar make history with his potential eight wins? Will Post Malone take home his first AMA award? Will female artists continue to dominate the nominations? Tune in to find out.