South Korean superstars BTS were crowned artist of the year at the American Music Awards on Sunday, brushing aside challenges from Taylor Swift, Drake, and The Weeknd as they took home a total of three awards, teamed up with Coldplay for a raucous "My Universe," and closed the show with "Butter." "Seven boys from Korea, united by love for music, met the love and support from all the armies all over the world," said BTS' RM after the group won artist of the year for the first time. "This whole thing is a miracle. Seriously, we would never take this for granted." The band was also named favorite pop duo or group and received the favorite pop song award for "Butter."
An earlier scheduled performance of "Butter" by BTS and Megan Thee Stallion was scrapped after the rapper cited personal reasons for dropping out Saturday. She turned out to be a big winner, though: She was named favorite female hip-hop artist, her Good News won for favorite hip-hop album, and her "Body" was crowned favorite trending song, a new award this year. The show, which aired live from Los Angeles on ABC, celebrated the best popular music for a second pandemic year with a mix of live and pretaped performances. Olivia Rodrigo came into the night with a leading seven nominations but only took home the crown for favorite new artist of the year. She lost favorite pop album to Taylor Swift's evermore. Swift also won for favorite female pop artist, giving her a career total of 34, the record for the most awarded artist in AMA history.
Becky G won for favorite female Latin artist, while Machine Gun Kelly grabbed the favorite rock artist award. Earlier Sunday, in awards announced before the show, Ed Sheeran got the favorite male award, while Doja Cat featuring SZA on "Kiss Me More" was named collaboration of the year. Kanye West was named favorite gospel artist. Carrie Underwood won for favorite inspirational artist and favorite female country artist, and Doja Cat also won two other awards: favorite female R&B artist and favorite R&B album for Planet Her. Luke Bryan was named favorite country artist, while Bad Bunny was the favorite male Latin artist. The Weeknd was crowned favorite male R&B artist and Drake won the favorite male hip-hop artist. Gabby Barrett took home the favorite country album for Goldmine and favorite country song for "The Good Ones."
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