Queen Latifah hosted the 52nd American Music Awards, staged on Memorial Day, Monday 25 May 2026, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. CBS and Dick Clark Productions fixed the date back on 10 March, with the show airing coast to coast at 8pm ET and 5pm PT on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
Her booking was announced on 6 April and carried a neat symmetry: she had co-hosted the AMAs in 1995, three decades earlier. "It's been an incredible year for music and there is no better place to celebrate than in Vegas," Latifah said in the announcement. Dick Clark Productions chief executive Jay Penske called her a powerhouse with a deep connection to fans and to other artists.
MGM Grand Garden Arena is the largest room the ceremony has used, seating up to 16,800. The venue has previously hosted the Latin Grammy Awards and the iHeartRadio Music Festival, along with concerts by the Rolling Stones, Madonna, Elton John and Bruce Springsteen.
The voting calendar ran through spring. Nominations landed on Tuesday 14 April, fan voting opened the same day and closed on 8 May, with Social Song of the Year and Tour of the Year held open through the first half hour of the broadcast. Taylor Swift led the field with eight nominations, ahead of Morgan Wallen, Olivia Dean, Sabrina Carpenter and sombr on seven each.
BTS was confirmed on 20 May, five days out. The group had made its US television performance debut at the 2017 AMAs, the first Korean act to perform on the show, and arrived in 2026 with 11 wins already and three more nominations. Its single SWIM, from the album ARIRANG, had gone in at number one on the Hot 100.
The performance bill ran to a dozen acts, among them Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Billy Idol, International Artist Award of Excellence recipient Karol G, Hootie & the Blowfish, KATSEYE, Keith Urban, Maluma, the Pussycat Dolls with Busta Rhymes, Riley Green, sombr, Teddy Swims, Teyana Taylor and Twenty One Pilots.
Presenters included John Legend, Paula Abdul, Ludacris and Jason Derulo. Darius Rucker collected the Veterans Voice Award on a broadcast built around Military Appreciation Month. The previous year's ceremony had drawn more than 10 million unique viewers, the show's largest CBS audience since 2019. Ceremony dates we are tracking sit in award watch, beside our pop coverage.
The facts
- The 52nd American Music Awards aired Monday 25 May 2026 on CBS and Paramount+
- It was staged at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas
- Queen Latifah hosted, 30 years after co-hosting in 1995
- BTS appeared, having debuted on US television at the 2017 AMAs
- Taylor Swift led nominations with eight
- Fan voting ran from 14 April to 8 May
- The 51st ceremony drew more than 10 million unique viewers
- MGM Grand Garden Arena seats up to 16,800, the largest room the show has used
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