Billboard Music Award for Top Artist

This page lists the winners and nominees for the Billboard Music Award for Top Artist. The award was first given in 1993, entitled #1 World Artist. It was retired during the 1994 ceremony but returned again the following year under the title Artist of the Year. It was later renamed to its current title in 2011. Only six artists have won the award twice: 50 Cent, Adele, Destiny's Child, Taylor Swift, Usher and Drake. Swift is the most nominations artist in this category with six nominations.

Billboard Music Awards for Top Artist
Country	United States
Presented by	Billboard
First awarded	1993
Currently held by	Post Malone (2020)
Most awards	Taylor Swift Drake 50 Cent Adele Destiny's Child Usher (2 each)
Most nominations	Taylor Swift (6)
Website	billboardmusicawards.com

Winners and nominees

Winners are listed first and highlighted in bold.

1990s

Year	Artist	Ref
1993
	Whitney Houston	[1]
1994	N/A
1995
	TLC	[2]
	Boyz II Men
	Hootie & the Blowfish
	Real McCoy
1996
	Alanis Morissette	[3]
1997
	LeAnn Rimes	[4]
	Toni Braxton
	Jewel
	Spice Girls
1998
	Usher	[5]
	LeAnn Rimes
	Savage Garden
	Shania Twain
1999
	Backstreet Boys	[6]

2000s

Year	Artist	Ref
2000
	Destiny's Child	[7]
[[200
	2002
		Nelly	[8]
		Ashanti
		Creed
Eminem
2003
	50 Cent	[9]
	R. Kelly
	Sean Paul
	Justin Timberlake
2004
	Usher	[10]
	Alicia Keys
	Maroon 5
	Outkast
2005
	50 Cent	[11]
	Mariah Carey
	Kelly Clarkson
	Green Day
2006
	Chris Brown	[12]
	Rascal Flatts
	Nickelback
	Sean Paul
2007 – 09	N/A

2010s

Year	Artist	Ref
2010	N/A
2011
	Eminem	[13]
	Justin Bieber
	Lady Gaga
	Rihanna
	Taylor Swift
2012
	Adele	[14]
	Lady Gaga
	Lil Wayne
	Katy Perry
	Rihanna
2013
	Taylor Swift	[15]
	Justin Bieber
	Maroon 5
	One Direction
	Rihanna
2014
	Justin Timberlake	[16]
	Miley Cyrus
	Imagine Dragons
	Bruno Mars
	Katy Perry
2015
	Taylor Swift	[17]
	Ariana Grande
	Katy Perry
	One Direction
	Sam Smith
2016
	Adele	[18]
	Justin Bieber
	Drake
	Taylor Swift
	The Weeknd
2017
	Drake	[19]
	Adele
	Beyoncé
	Justin Bieber
	The Chainsmokers
	Ariana Grande
	Shawn Mendes
	Rihanna
	Twenty One Pilots
	The Weeknd
2018
	Ed Sheeran	[20]
	Drake
	Kendrick Lamar
	Bruno Mars
	Taylor Swift
2019
	Drake	[21]
	Cardi B
	Ariana Grande
	Post Malone
	Travis Scott

2020s

Year	Artist	Ref
2020
	Post Malone	[22]
	Billie Eilish
	Jonas Brothers
	Khalid
	Taylor Swift

Multiple wins and nominations

Wins

2 wins

• 50 Cent
• Adele
• Destiny's Child
• Taylor Swift
• Usher
• Drake

Nominations

6 nominations

• Taylor Swift

4 nominations Justin Bieber Rihanna Drake 3 nominations Adele Katy Perry Ariana Grande

2 nominations 50 Cent Destiny's Child Eminem Lady Gaga LeAnn Rimes Maroon 5 Nelly One Direction Sean Paul Post Malone Justin Timberlake Usher Bruno Mars The Weeknd

References

1. "1993 Billboard Music Awards". Awards and Winners. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
2. "1995 Billboard Music Awards". Awards and Winners. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
3. "1996 Billboard Music Awards". Awards and Winners. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
4. "1997 Billboard Music Awards". Awards and Winners. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
5. "1998 Billboard Music Awards". Awards and Winners. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
6. "1999 Billboard Music Awards". Awards and Winners. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
7. "2000 Billboard Music Awards". Awards and Winners. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
8. "2002 Billboard Music Awards". Awards and Winners. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
9. "2003 Billboard Music Awards". Awards and Winners. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
10. "2004 Billboard Music Awards". Awards and Winners. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
11. "2005 Billboard Music Awards". Awards and Winners. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
12. "2006 Billboard Music Awards". Awards and Winners. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
13. "2011 Billboard Music Awards". Awards and Winners. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
14. "Adele Wins 12 Gongs at Billboard Music Awards 2012". MTV. 21 May 2012. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
15. "Billboard Music Awards 2013: The Complete Winners List". MTV. May 19, 2013.
16. "Billboard Music Awards: Full Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter. May 18, 2014. Retrieved May 19, 2014.
17. "2015 Billboard Music Awards". Variety. May 17, 2015. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
18. "2016 Billboard Music Awards". Billboard.com. May 22, 2016. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
19. "Here is the Complete List of Winners from the 2017 Billboard Music Awards".
20. "Here Are All the Winners From the 2018 Billboard Music Awards". Billboard. Retrieved 2019-05-02.
21. "2019 Billboard Music Awards Winners: The Complete List". Billboard. Retrieved 2019-05-02.
22. "Nominees Announced for the 2020 Billboard Music Awards". Billboard. September 22, 2020. Retrieved September 22, 2020.