The 2022 Billboard Music Awards were held on May 15, 2022, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Hosted by Sean "Diddy" Combs, the show aired live on NBC and was also available for streaming on Peacock. Nominations across 62 categories—for releases during the period dated April 10, 2021 to March 26, 2022—were announced online through Twitter on April 8, 2022. The Weeknd received the most nominations of any artist, with 17; Doja Cat was the most-nominated female act with 14; BTS was the most-nominated group with seven.
Olivia Rodrigo won seven awards, including Top New Artist, and was the most-awarded artist at the show. Drake won five awards, including Top Artist, and extended his record as the most-awarded artist in BBMA history, with 34 wins overall. BTS won three awards, including Top Duo/Group, and became the most-awarded group in BBMA history with 12 wins overall, breaking a 17-year record previously held by Destiny's Child. Justin Bieber became the first artist to win the Billboard Music Award for Top Hot 100 Song for a second time since the category's inception in 1990. Mary J. Blige was honored with the 10th Billboard Icon Award.
Background
Nominations were announced on April 8, 2022, via Twitter, and selected from releases during the eligibility period of March 26, 2021, through April 10, 2022, which corresponded to Billboards chart dates of April 10, 2021, through March 26, 2022. Five new categories were included: Top Billboard Global 200 Artist, Top Billboard Global Excl. U.S. Artist, Top Billboard Global 200 Song, Top Billboard Global Excl. U.S. Song, and Top Viral Song, taking the ceremony's total to 62 categories. The global categories are based on Billboards Global 200/Global Excl. U.S. charts launched in 2020 while the Viral Song category was created to honor songs that achieve virality on social media platforms, namely TikTok. No fan-voted categories were announced. Sean "Diddy" Combs was announced as the show's host (and executive producer alongside Robert Deaton) on April 22.
The awards were preceded by the first-ever Billboard MusicCon, a 2-day music event sponsored by Smirnoff and held on May 13 and 14 at Area15 in Las Vegas. Participants comprised both artists and executives, and included industry managers such as Dina Sahim (Swedish House Mafia, French Montana), Alex DePersia (Pharrell Williams, Gracie Abrams), and Nelly Ortiz (DJ Khaled). International artists invited as guest speakers included Anitta, Burna Boy, Ukrainian singer Max Barskih, and Rauw Alejandro. Anitta, Shenseea, Ty Dolla Sign, Latto, and Machine Gun Kelly were among the performers. Panels held included discussions on the evolution of the music scene across genres and cultures, and women in music, among other related topics.
Broadcast and viewership
The show aired live on NBC and was also available for streaming on Peacock. It garnered the lowest viewership in the history of the ceremony, with 2.11 million viewers. The three-hour long broadcast earned an average 0.5 rating in the 18–49 demographic on NBC, dropping even lower than the previous year's 0.7 rating and 2.8 million audience.
Performers
The first performance lineup was announced on April 19. It included four first-time performers: Rauw Alejandro, Megan Thee Stallion, Latto, and Burna Boy. Silk Sonic, Florence and the Machine, Maxwell—slated for a "special tribute performance to a pop icon"—and Morgan Wallen were announced on April 29. Ed Sheeran, Becky G, Miranda Lambert and Elle King, and Travis Scott were announced on May 9. The Red Hot Chili Peppers, who were included in the initial April 19 lineup, cancelled their performance on May 11, "due to unforeseen circumstances". Machine Gun Kelly and Dan + Shay were subsequently added.
Silk Sonic, Becky G, and Kelly made their BBMA performance debuts at the show. For Wallen, it was his first award show performance since being banned from attending and performing at various ceremonies in early 2021 after his racial slur controversy, while for Scott it was only his second live performance since the Astroworld Festival crowd crush in November 2021. Sheeran performed live from Belfast in Northern Ireland. Icon Award recipient Mary J. Blige, who was originally announced as a performer on April 14, did not perform at the show.
Presenters
The initial list of presenters was released on May 13. Additional presenters were announced later that day and on the following, through the BBMAs official Twitter account.