BTS wins artist of the year at American Music Awards

LAS VEGAS: BTS marked its return to the awards circuit with a major win at the 52nd American Music Awards on Monday, taking Artist of the Year and adding another milestone to the group's record at the fan-voted ceremony.

The seven-member South Korean group — Jungkook, Jin, Jimin, RM, J-Hope, V and Suga — won the top prize for the second time after first claiming it in 2021. With that result, BTS joined Justin Bieber and One Direction as the only groups to win the category more than once, while lifting its overall American Music Awards total to 14.

Accepting the award at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, BTS leader RM thanked the group's fanbase, ARMY, for backing the band over its 13-year journey. Referring to the latest triumph and the period when the group was away from collective activities, he said:

We made it once again

BTS had paused group activities in 2022 while all seven members completed South Korea's compulsory military service. The group's return this year was driven by the album Arirang, which spent two straight weeks atop the Billboard 200, becoming the first album by a K-pop act to do so. BTS also picked up Best Male K-pop Artist and Song of the Summer for Swim.

The ceremony began with a pre-recorded performance of Hooligan from BTS's recent Las Vegas concert. The show, hosted by Queen Latifah, was broadcast on CBS and streamed on Paramount+.

Other winners on the night

Taylor Swift came into the event with eight nominations, including Album of the Year for The Life of a Showgirl and Song of the Year for The Fate of Ophelia, but did not win any awards and was not present at the ceremony.

Sabrina Carpenter, who also did not attend, won three prizes: Album of the Year for Man's Best Friend, Best Female Pop Artist and Best Pop Album. Girl group KATSEYE was among the night's standout winners, taking New Artist of the Year, Best Music Video and Breakthrough Pop Artist. Their win in the new artist category extended a streak of female winners that dates back to 2018.

Indie artist Sombr collected three awards as well, winning Best Rock/Alternative Song for Back to Friends, Best Rock/Alternative Album for I Barely Know Her and Breakthrough Rock/Alternative Artist. On stage, the 20-year-old spoke about writing Back to Friends alone in his bedroom while going through emotional struggles as a teenager.

Billy Idol received the ceremony's lifetime achievement award and performed Eyes Without a Face and Dancing with Myself. The 70-year-old also reflected on entering the punk scene in 1976, saying he had thought the movement might last only a few months rather than 50 years.

Among other winners, Bruno Mars took three R&B awards, Cardi B won the hip-hop categories, and Karol G received Best Latin Album for Tropicoqueta as well as the International Artist Award of Excellence. Zara Larsson won two awards, while Twenty One Pilots claimed Best Rock/Alternative Artist for the fourth time, leaving them second only to Linkin Park in the history of that category.

In one of the night's throwback moments, The Black Eyed Peas won the newly added Best Throwback Song award for Rock That Body, ahead of songs including What's Up by 4 Non Blondes and Iris by Goo Goo Dolls.

Created by producer Dick Clark in 1974, the American Music Awards remains one of the music industry's biggest fan-driven events. Nominees are determined using streaming, sales, radio airplay and touring data tracked by Billboard and Luminate.