Going into the 2019 American Music Awards, all eyes were already on Artist of the Decade recipient Taylor Swift as viewers eagerly awaited whether she would, in fact, perform her past hits and address her recent dispute with Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun over her right to do so on the live awards show.
Swift did perform past hits like "Love Story," "Shake It Off," "Blank Space" and others. However, she didn't directly address Borchetta and Braun, merely talking about the importance of songwriting and creating "something that will last."
Still, by the end of the show, it was clear it was Swift's night. The superstar singer-songwriter won five competitive awards, including the top prize of artist of the year, bringing her total tally of AMA wins over the course of her career to 28 (she had 23 career wins prior to Sunday night's show) and breaking Michael Jackson's record of most AMA wins of all time (the late King of Pop won 24 AMAs).
BTS and Khalid won the second highest number of awards of the night, taking home 3 awards each.
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Six-time nominee Billie Eilish won two awards while fellow six-time nominee Ariana Grande was shut out. Carrie Underwood and Dan + Shay each won two awards.
Going into the night, the most nominated artist was Post Malone, who had seven nominations including nods for artist of the year, collaboration of the year and favorite male artist – pop/rock. Malone won one award.
Meanwhile, Lil Nas X, who tied Swift with five nods, won one award.
The AMA nominations are based on interactions on Billboard.com, streaming, album and digital song sales, radio airplay, social activity and touring. Winners are voted on entirely by fans.
Ciara is hosting the AMAs, airing live on ABC on the East Coast (tape delayed PT), from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.
Dick Clark Productions, which produces the American Music Awards, is a division of Valence Media, which owns The Hollywood Reporter.
