Malone tops Billboard haul
He collects 9 awards; Eilish wins album, female artist
NEW YORK — Walking into the show with 16 nominations, Post Malone won nine honors at the 2020 Billboard Music Awards.
After announcing that Malone won the show’s biggest honor, top artist, host Kelly Clarkson wheeled out eight more trophies for the hitmaker.
“I’m honestly blown away by the love everyone’s shown to me,” Malone said onstage. “It’s kind of a big deal to me and everybody involved because we work our [butts] off.”
He beat out Billie Eilish for the top prize, but she was still a winner, taking home top Billboard 200 album and top female artist.
The three-hour event aired live on NBC.
“Thank you to all the women who have come before me and paved my way. I love you,” she said after winning top female artist.
Eilish, 18, also told viewers: “Please vote. Please wear a mask. Please wash your hands. Be safe. Take care.”
Lizzo wore a black dress with “vote” printed on it. She gave an encouraging speech, telling viewers to find their voices and don’t change to meet society standards.
“I just want to say I’ve been thinking a lot about suppression and the voices that refused to be suppressed. And I wonder, ‘Would I be standing here right now if it weren’t for the big black women who refuse to have their voices be suppressed?’ And I just want to say right now, if you’re at home watching this and you were thinking about changing yourself to feel worthy, this is your sign to remain true to who you are,” Lizzo said onstage after winning top songs sales artist.
“Let me tell you all something — when people try to suppress something, it’s normally because that thing holds power. They’re afraid of your power. There’s power in who you are. There’s power in your voice. So whether it’s through music, protest or your right to vote, use your power, use your voice and refuse to be suppressed.”
Other winners included Lil Nas X, who was also on-hand to accept top Hot 100 song for “Old Town Road,” which set the record for most weeks at No. 1. After his performance, Luke Combs was named top country artist and offered positive words to his fans and the crew working on the awards show.
“I know what everybody has been through so much this year. I want to thank the crew that is working on this show tonight because they have gone through some insane stuff to make this happen for you guys. I hope everybody is staying safe there at home,” he said.
John Legend gave a heartfelt performance that was dedicated to his wife after her miscarriage.
Other performers included Malone, Alicia Keys, Kane Brown, Khalid, Swae Lee, Sia and Brandy, who sang a medley of her hits. Some of the performances were live, while others were pre-taped due to the coronavirus pandemic.
This year’s ceremony was originally supposed to take place in April but was postponed because of the pandemic. Because of the delay, this year’s show reflects the chart period of March 23, 2019, through March 14, 2020. For instance, all five nominees for the main song award, top Hot 100 song, were nominated for Grammys earlier this year in January.
Clarkson kicked off the show singing Steve Winwood’s “Higher Love,” which became a dance hit last year after Whitney Houston’s cover of the song was remixed by Norwegian DJ-producer Kygo and became an international hit. Clarkson was joined by drummer Sheila E. and a cappella group Pentatonix for the performance of the song, which earned Houston a posthumous nomination for top dance/electronic song. Houston died in 2012.
Guitar rock legend Eddie Van Halen, who died last week, was honored as the show aired a clip of his Billboard Awards performance from 2015.
Garth Brooks accepted the Icon Award from Cher, who called the country star “a true music legend and my friend Garth Brooks.”