Taylor Swift Leads 2026 American Music Awards Noms, With Olivia Dean, sombr & More Nipping at Her Heels
Written by Nitro Pulse Radio on April 14, 2026
Taylor Swift — the top winner in the history of the American Music Awards, with 40 trophies — leads the nominations for the 2026 AMAs with eight nods. Morgan Wallen, Olivia Dean, Sabrina Carpenter and sombr are runners-up with seven nods. Alex Warren and Lady Gaga each received six nods.
With eight nods, Swift is likely to pull even further ahead of the pack for most AMA wins. Michael Jackson is currently in second place with 24 wins, followed by Alabama with 23 and Whitney Houston with 21.
Justin Bieber, who has four nominations this year, is also in position to move up the all-time AMA leaderboard. He has won 18 awards. If he wins just one award this year, he’ll tie Kenny Rogers for the second-most wins among male artists. (MJ leads among men.)
Dean and sombr are competing in three categories — new artist of the year, song of the year, and breakthrough album of the year. The two fast-rising stars competed for best new artist at this year’s Grammys, with Dean winning. Other first-time AMA nominees include Warren, BigXthaPlug, KATSEYE, Leon Thomas, PinkPantheress, RAYE, Role Model, Sienna Spiro and Tate McRae.
Teyana Taylor is a first-time AMA nominee this year for best female R&B artist. She is on a serious awards roll this year. She received an Oscar nomination (and Golden Globe win) for best supporting actress for One Battle After Another, a Grammy nod for best R&B album for Escape Room, and will be honored at Billboard Women in Music 2026 later this month with the Visionary Award.
Also crossing over from the big screen, the singing voices of HUNTR/X (EJAE, Audrey Nuna and REI AMI) are nominated in three categories — song of the year, best vocal performance, and best pop song — for their megahit “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters. The trio will also be honored at Billboard Women in Music, as our Women of the Year.
The 52nd American Music Awards are set to kick off summer with host Queen Latifah live from MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, the largest venue in the show’s history, on Memorial Day (Monday, May 25). The show will air on CBS and stream on Paramount+.
Fan voting is now open via VoteAMAs.com and the @AMAs Instagram profile in all award categories. Voting closes Friday, May 8, at 11:59 a.m. PT, with the exception of social song of the year and tour of the year, which will remain open through the first 30 minutes of the AMAs broadcast.
The 52nd American Music Awards nominees are based on key fan interactions, including streaming, album and song sales, radio airplay and tour grosses. These measurements are tracked by Billboard and Luminate, and cover the data tracking eligibility period of March 21, 2025 through March 26, 2026.
The American Music Awards, the world’s largest fan-voted award show, was created by legendary producer Dick Clark and first awarded in 1974. Tickets are now available on AXS.
Here’s the complete list of nominees for the 2026 American Music Awards, with nominees in each category listed in alphabetical order by first name. We also have two bonuses for you – a list of all artists with three or more nominations this year and a list of top AMA winners of all time (1974–2025).
The American Music Awards are produced by Dick Clark Productions, which is owned by Penske Media Eldridge, a joint venture between Eldridge Industries and Billboard parent company Penske Media.
