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Both John Legend and Shawn Mendes will take solo turns on stage, while Ariana Grande will be joined by Nicki Minaj to perform their hit song “Side To Side.” They join previously announced performers James Bay, Fifth Harmony, Lady Gaga, Green Day, Bruno Mars, Twenty One Pilots, a duet from The Chainsmokers and Halsey, and “The American Music Award of Merit” honoree and performer Sting. The “2016 American Music Awards,” the world’s biggest fan-voted award show, will broadcast live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday, November 20 at 8:00pm ET on ABC.
This will be Ariana Grande’s fourth year performing on the American Music Awards. She first took the stage in 2013 to perform “They Way” and “Tattooed Heart,” and again in 2014 to perform “Bang, Bang” with Jessie J and Nicki Minaj and “Love Me Harder” with The Weeknd. Grande returned to the stage in 2015 to perform her hit single “Focus.” She is a three-time AMA nominee, including a nomination at this year’s show for the top honor, Artist of the Year.
John Legend is a six-time AMA nominee, taking home the award for Favorite Male Artist – Soul/R&B in 2014. This year will be Legend’s first performance at the American Music Awards.
This year will mark Shawn Mendes’ debut performance on the AMA stage. He is also a first-time nominee, competing for the New Artist of the Year Un-leashed by T-Mobile award.
Nicki Minaj is a six-time American Music Award winner and eight-time nominee. 2016 will mark Minaj’s fourth turn as a performer on the AMA stage. In 2011 she performed a medley of “Sweat,” “Turn Me On” and “Super Bass” with David Guetta. In 2012 she took the stage solo to perform “Freedom” and returned to the stage in 2014 to perform “Bed of Lies” solo, and joined Ariana Grande and Jessie J to perform “Bang, Bang.”
Within less than a year, Ariana Grande captured #1 on the Billboard 200 twice—first with her Republic Records debut Yours Truly and also with its 2014 follow-up My Everything.
Yours Truly yielded the game-changing pop smash “The Way” featuring Mac Miller, which went triple-platinum, landed in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, and seized #1 on the iTunes Overall Top Songs chart. Meanwhile, the platinum-selling My Everything garnered a Grammy Award nomination for “Best Pop Vocal Album” and spawned the six times-platinum hit “Problem.” Upon the single’s release, Ariana became “the youngest woman to debut with over 400K sold first-week,” while the song ranked as the fourth “highest digital song debut for a female artist” and eighth highest ever. Moreover, it debuted at #1 in 85 countries, topping the iTunes Overall Top Songs and Pop Songs charts for four weeks. During release week, My Everything was #1 on Spotify as Ariana personally rose to #1 on Billboard‘s Artist 100 chart. She also became the first woman in history and the first artist since Michael Jackson to simultaneously have three songs—”Problem,” “Break Free” featuring Zedd, and “Bang Bang” with Nicki Minaj and Jessie J—in the Top 6 of the Digital Songs Chart. “Bang Bang” went platinum and was Grammy-nominated for “Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.” By the end of the year, she landed four songs in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, the most of any artist in 2014. Ariana has enjoyed a total of eight Hot 100 Top 10 smashes. In 2013, she was named “Best New Artist” at the American Music Awards. Other accolades followed with Ariana winning “Favorite Breakout Artist” at the People’s Choice Awards 2014, the “Young Influencer Award” at the iHeartRadio Music Awards, the “Radio Disney Chart Topper Award,” “Choice Female Artist” and “Choice Single” “Problem” at the 2014 Teen Choice Awards, and more. At the 2014 MTV VMAS, “Problem” was named “Best Pop Video” as well. In November, Ariana took home the award for “Favorite Female Artist – Pop/Rock” at the “2015 American Music Awards.”
2016 sees Ariana release her platinum-selling third full length album, Dangerous Woman, driven by the title track which captured #1 on both iTunes Overall Top Songs Chart and Top Pop Songs Chart minutes after release. “Dangerous Woman” also debuted in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 earning her the distinction of becoming the first artist to debut on the chart with the lead single from her first three albums. Her current single, “Side to Side,” featuring Nicki Minaj, recently became Grande’s eighth top 10 hit on the Hot 100.
Ohio-born John Legend is a critically acclaimed, multi-award winning, platinum-selling singer-songwriter. His work has garnered him ten Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, the BET Award for Best New Artist and the special Starlight Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame, among others. A graduate of University of Pennsylvania where he studied English and African-American literature, Legend participated in a wide range of musical activities while in college. During the same period, Legend was introduced to Lauryn Hill, who hired him to play piano on her track “Everything Is Everything,” and shortly thereafter he began to play shows around the Philadelphia area, eventually expanding his audience base to New York, Boston, Atlanta and Washington D.C. After college, Legend was introduced to then up-and-coming hip-hop artist Kanye West, who quickly signed Legend to his G.O.O.D. Music imprint and hired him to sing vocal hooks on some of his music. Legend started gaining momentum through a series of similar collaborations with established artists, adding vocals to an impressive list of chart-topping hits including West’s “All of the Lights,” Jay-Z’s “Encore” and back-up vocals on Alicia Keys’ 2003 song, “You Don’t Know My Name.” Legend’s debut album, Get Lifted, was released in December of 2004 through Columbia Records. The critically acclaimed album spawned the artist’s first hit single, “Ordinary People,” and scored Legend multiple Grammy Awards in 2006, including Best R&B Album, Best New Artist and Best Male R&B Vocal Performance. The follow up was 2006’s platinum-selling Once Again, which brought Legend another Grammy, Best Male R&B Performance, for his single “Heaven,” and included collaborations with Kanye West, will.i.am and Raphael Saadiq. Legend’s next release was 2008’s Evolver, led by the hit single “Green Light” featuring Andre 3000. His 2010 collaboration with the Roots, Wake Up, won the Grammy for Best R&B Album a year later. Legend’s highly acclaimed fourth and most current studio album Love In the Future, features “All of Me,” Legend’s highest selling and charting song to date, reaching #1
on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #1 on both the Pop Songs and Rhythmic Songs charts. Legend won his first Academy Award, first Golden Globe Award, a Grammy award, and a Critic’s Choice Award for his song “Glory,” that he wrote and performed with Common, for the film SELMA.
Throughout his career, Legend has worked to make a difference in the lives of others. In 2007, he launched the Show Me Campaign (ShowMeCampaign.org), an initiative that focuses on education as a key to break the cycle of poverty. The 2010 BET Humanitarian of the Year award, the 2009 CARE Humanitarian Award for Global Change, the 2009 Bishop John T. Walker Distinguished Humanitarian Service Award from Africare and the 2011 Harvard Foundation Artist of the Year Award recognize Legend’s efforts and leadership in this arena. John sits on the boards of The Education Equality Project, Teach for America, Stand for Children and the Harlem Village Academies and co-chairs the Harlem Village Academies’ National Leadership Board. Additionally, Legend supports LRNG, a movement dedicated to inspiring innovation in the learning process to one that better reflects the world we live in today. In 2015 Legend initiated the #freeAmerica campaign; a campaign designed to change the national conversation of our country’s misguided policies and to make a change in America’s criminal justice system.
Legend also serves as one of the principles for Get Lifted Film Co., a film and television production company based in Los Angeles. Get Lifted Film Co. has sold several projects in television to networks including Showtime, NBC, HBO, USA, MTV, OWN and FOX. In addition to these sales, Get Lifted Film Co. was previously in a television deal with Comcast/Universal and is currently in an overdeal with Legendary Television. Get Lifted Film Co. serves as Executive Producers on the HBO documentary “Southern Rites,” Pop Network docu-series “Sing it On”, and WGN America’s series “Underground.” Additionally, Get Lifted Film Co. has worked on several films such as “Southside With You” and “La La Land.” Along with his executive producing credit on “La La Land,” Legend appears in the film and contributed to its soundtrack with the original song “Start a Fire.”
Singer/songwriter Shawn Mendes has recently scored his second #1 debut on the Billboard 200 with the September 23rd release of his sophomore album Illuminate, which hit #1 on iTunes in over 65 countries. The album was recorded with Grammy-nominated producer Jake Gosling (Ed Sheeran’s “+” and “x” albums), and its lead single “Treat You Better” debuted at #1 immediately upon release via iTunes in 26 countries and has soared to Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. Shawn’s debut album Handwritten has been certified platinum and features 4x platinum single “Stitches.” Shawn recently completed a sold-out headlining world tour in support of Handwritten, including shows at LA’s Greek Theatre and NYC’s Radio City Music Hall, as well as his hometown Air Canada Centre. He previewed his new album before release at a one-time-only headlining Illuminate Live Concert & Album Event at Madison Square Garden in September, and he will embark on his first-ever headlining arena tour with the Illuminate World Tour in 2017. Shawn has been named one of Time Magazine’s “Most Influential Teens” of 2014 and 2015, as well as one of Forbes’ “30 Under 30” in 2016, and he won “Favorite New Artist” at the 2016 People’s Choice Awards.
Grammy Award-nominated superstar Nicki Minaj continues to break records and impact pop culture at large. Her two-time platinum selling and critically lauded third full-length album, The Pinkprint, arrived at the top of both the Billboard 200 and the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts, cementing her as rap’s reigning queen. Minaj recently made history when she occupied the four top 10 spots on the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop airplay chart, becoming the first female artist to achieve the feat. Minaj also has the most hits on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart of any female rapper in history and is number three among all female artists on the chart behind only Aretha Franklin and Taylor Swift. What’s more, 12 of her entries entered the top 10, yielding yet another record for a female rapper. Minaj stands at the top of the pop vanguard. To date, the global superstar has sold over 55 million singles and 5 million albums worldwide. Minaj has also been the recipient of a bevy of awards including American Music Awards, MTV VMA’s, Billboard Awards, People’s Choice Awards, BET Awards, and many others. A global touring phenomenon, Minaj has sold out iconic venues worldwide including London’s O2 Arena, Brooklyn’s Barclays Arena and The Staples Center in Los Angeles. Outside of music, she has starred in films including Ice Age: Continental Drift, The Other Woman, and Barbershop 3, in addition to appearing as a judge on American Idol.
The nominations for the “2016 American Music Awards” were announced last month, revealing that Drake leads with 13 nominations, while Rihanna received seven and Adele and Justin Bieber received five nominations each. Beyoncé and The Chainsmokers each received four nominations. Additionally, Bryson Tiller, Twenty One Pilots, Carrie Underwood, Fetty Wap and The Weeknd earned three nominations each.
The Artist of the Year nominees are Adele, Beyoncé, Justin Bieber, Drake, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, Rihanna, Twenty One Pilots, Carrie Underwood and The Weeknd. The ten nominees will be narrowed to five based on the votes received through Monday, November 14 at 8:59:59am PT. Voting for Artist of the Year will close on Thursday, November 17 at 8:59:59pm PT. The winner will be determined by the total votes received throughout the entire voting period.
New Artist of the Year Un-leashed by T-Mobile nominees are Alessia Cara, The Chainsmokers, DNCE, Shawn Mendes and Zayn. Voting for this category is now open.
At the American Music Awards, artists will be honored in multiple musical genres. Pop/Rock, Alternative Rock, Country, Rap/Hip-Hop, Soul/R&B, Adult Contemporary, Contemporary Inspirational, Latin, EDM and Soundtrack, are some of the genres alongside the awards for Artist of the Year, New Artist of the Year Un-leashed by T-Mobile and Collaboration of the Year. This year, new categories include Tour of the Year and Video of the Year, while Favorite Song categories in the genres of Pop/Rock, Country, Rap/Hip-Hop and Soul/R&B have been added in lieu of the Song of the Year category.
American Music Awards nominees are based on key fan interactions as reflected in Billboard Magazine and on Billboard.com, including album and digital song sales, radio airplay, streaming, social activity and touring. These measurements are tracked by Billboard and its data partners, including Nielsen Music and Next Big Sound.
The American Music Awards winners are voted entirely by fans. Voting is now open in all categories.
Fans can vote for all categories once per day, per platform in one or both of the below ways. For New Artist of the Year Un-leashed by T-Mobile, fans can vote 100 times per day, per platform.
- Via AMAvote.com
- Posting a tweet on Twitter that includes the nominee’s Twitter handle, the category name and #AMAs within the post(s).
Preceding the ABC broadcast for the 8th consecutive year will be the “Coca-Cola® Red Carpet LIVE! @ The 2016 AMAs” pre-show. This live show will stream online for fans worldwide on November 20th.
The “2016 American Music Awards” sponsors include Coca-Cola, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Kohl’s and T-Mobile. Media partners include Cumulus Media | WestwoodOne and Music Choice.
The “2016 American Music Awards” is produced by dick clark productions. Allen Shapiro and Mike Mahan are Executive Producers. Larry Klein, Barry Adelman and Mark Bracco are Producers.
For the latest American Music Awards news, exclusive content and more, be sure to follow the AMAs on social and join the conversation by using the official hashtag for the show, #AMAs.
For a full list of nominees, please visit: http://www.theamas.com/nominees/2016-nominees/
