Taylor Swift surpasses Drake as most-decorated Billboard Award winner
Alli Rosenbloom, CNN | 12/13/2024, 1:38 p.m.
Taylor Swift has broken yet another record.
This time, the “Fortnight” singer made history at the 2024 Billboard Music Awards (BBMA) Thursday night by becoming the most-decorated BBMA winner with a total of 49 career trophies.
She won a total of 10 awards at the event in categories including Top Artist, Top Female Artist, Top Billboard 200 Artist, Top Hot 100 Artist, Hot 100 Songwriter, Top Streaming Songs Artist and Top Billboard 200.
Swift and Drake were tied at 39 wins going into Thursday’s show. Drake took home three Billboard Awards, bringing his total up to 42 wins.
In a pre-recorded speech, Swift thanked Billboard and her supporters for being the ones who “care about our albums and come see us in concert.”
“Everything that’s happened with the Eras Tour and ‘The Tortured Poets Department,’ I just have to say thank you. It means the world to me that you guys have embraced the things I’ve made and the fact that you’ve cared so much about my music,” she added.
Swift, whose 35th birthday is Friday, said at the end of her speech that “this is the nicest early birthday present” she could have received. “It’s exactly what I wanted,” she added.
The Grammy-winner has dominated Billboard’s charts, especially in recent years.
In 2022, she became the first artist to occupy the entire Billboard Hot 100 top 10 with songs from “Midnights,” released that same year and earlier this year, she broke her own record when she claimed the top 14 spots on the Hot 100 after the release of “The Tortured Poets Department.”
“TTPD” spent 16 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, longer than any of her other records and, according to the music charting site, she became the only living artist to have five albums appear in the top 10 at the same time in 2023.
The Billboard Music Awards aired on FOX with comedian and actor Michelle Buteau serving as the evening’s host. Performers included Coldplay, Linkin Park, Shaboozey and many more.