Here are the winners from the 2022 Billboard Awards

There’s an unavoidable question that hangs over most (if not all) awards shows these days: Is this still relevant? As culture becomes fragmented and TV shows and movies struggle to match the audience of TikTok videos, does it really matter which things get trophies? Whatever the answer, the awards shows are still happening, so perhaps the better question is how something old-fashioned like an awards show can become relevant. The Oscars tried letting audience members run on to the stage and the Grammys tried giving a trophy to a guy who is famous for exposing himself to women, so what’s left for the Billboard Music Awards (a show that is already leaning over the cliff of relevance)?

Apparently the answer is “let Diddy do whatever the fuck he wants,” including a rambling opening monologue about rich and famous people supporting each other and demanding that Morgan Wallen (whose career has done nothing but improved since he got in trouble for using the n-word) and Travis Scott (whose culpability in the deaths of 10 attendees during his Astroworld set is still up for debate) be allowed to perform at the show.

Diddy’s justification is that he has “some power to do something” about the situations that the two of them are in, and he’s “here to forgive, to unify, to celebrate, and to have everybody be free,” as if there aren’t countless talented musicians out there who will never have a chance to perform at the Billboard Awards. But is that even something someone would want? Again, we can’t help but wonder about relevance.

On a related note, like the Grammys, the Billboard Awards give out most of the prizes before the actual show starts, leaving more room during the show for performances, but a handful of awards were given out live. The big winners during the actual telecast were Doja Cat (who won Top R&B Album for Planet Her) and TikTok favorties Glass Animals (who won Top Rock Artist). Also, Wallen won Top Country Male Artist, pointedly thanking his fans in his acceptance speech (the ones who all flocked to him because of “cancel culture,” we assume) without acknowledging any controversy—which, to be fair, was probably the right choice. We’d just be complaining about that instead if he had said something.

You can see a selected group of winners below, with the full list available at the Billboard website. Weirdly, the award for Top Female Artist doesn’t seem to have been awarded to anyone, as of the end of the telecast. We’ll update this post if Billboard gets around to correcting that.

Top Female Artist

Adele
Doja Cat
Dua Lipa
Olivia Rodrigo
Taylor Swift

Top R&B Album

Doja Cat, Planet Her
Givēon, When It’s All Said and Done…Take Time
Silk Sonic (Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak), An Evening With Silk Sonic
Summer Walker, Still Over It
The Weeknd, Dawn FM

Top Country Male Artist

Chris Stapleton
Luke Combs
Morgan Wallen

Top Dance/Electronic Album

C418, Minecraft – Volume Alpha
FKA twigs, Caprisongs
Illenium, Fallen Embers
Porter Robinson, Nurture
Rüfüs Du Sol, Surrender