The 2026 American Music Awards hit Las Vegas on Memorial Day, bringing a slew of music stars from BTS to Sombr, Karol G, Teddy Swims and KATSEYE among many more to to Sin City.
BTS, the trailblazing global boy group that helped popularize K-pop internationally, had a massive night in their first award show appearance in four years, winning song of the summer, artist of the year and best male K-pop artist. The supergroup kicked off the award show with a pre-taped performance of their song “Hooligan.”
Sombr took home three awards Monday night, two of which were televised, and performed his single “Homewrecker.” Girl group KATSEYE also took home three awards including new artist of the year. The six-member group, currently performing as five members as Manon remains on hiatus, performed their catchy new single “Pinky Up.”
Other performers Monday included Karol G, Teyana Taylor, Hootie and the Blowfish, Keith Urban, Maluma, Green, Swims, New Kids on the Block, The Pussycat Dolls and Twenty One Pilots.
Presenters included Alysa Liu, Anthony Ramos, Busta Rhymes, EJAE, Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias, GloRilla, Hannah Berner, Hilary Duff, Jason Derulo, Jake Wood, John Legend, Leon Thomas, Linda Perry, Lisa Rinna, Ludacris, Mariah the Scientist, Matt Rife, Megan Stalter and Paul W. Downs, Melanie Martinez, Nikki Glaser, Paula Abdul, Rei Ami, Riley Green and Russell Dickerson.
The Hollywood Reporter was inside to catch some of the moments that the camera missed.
The AMAs were created by Dick Clark Productions. DCP is owned by Penske Media Corporation, The Hollywood Reporter‘s parent company, in a subsidiary joint venture between Penske Media and Eldridge.
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The crowd went wild for BTS
Unsurprisingly, fans couldn’t get enough of the Korean boy group, whose appearance at the AMAs coincided with the Las Vegas stop of their Arirang World Tour. The show kicked off with a performance of “Hooligan” that was taped during one of the two sold-out shows that the K-pop stars held at the nearby Allegiant Stadium earlier last weekend.
Fans in the room were initially told they were going to get to witness a performance by BTS, which sent the excited crowd into excitement. Much like for those at home, the BTS performance was shared via a screen, as it was pre-taped. That, however, didn’t stop the excitement in the arena.
Throughout the night, the group’s fans, collectively known as ARMY, would erupt in cheers whenever the group was mentioned during the camera breaks. Once the group arrived, spotted as they went out to present the female R&B artist of the year to SZA, the crowd was deafening. The group went on to winning three awards throughout the night.
A sweet moment for one young BTS fan
As evidenced by their sweep, BTS was a hot topic of conversation throughout the night, even before the seven-member group arrived. A crowd host inside the arena wandered throughout the seats during the commercial break. At one point, he brought a young girl to the B-stage to show her what it was like to say hello to a crowd of more than 10,000 people. The young girl, like nearly every other person who spoke from the crowd during the commercial break, was there to see BTS.
The stars loved interacting with fans
In an award show like the AMAs, stars can find themselves presenting and performing from different spots throughout the arena. At one point, host Queen Latifah even took to the crowd to film a segment, sitting amongst some guests. Keith Urban, who performed during the Monday night telecast, was spotted chatting and high-fiving some fans as he exited from his performance. As a fan-voted award show that the general public can buy tickets for, the show gears much more towards the audience than its competing shows.
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