This could be the year that Taylor Swift breaks multiple records at the Billboard Music Awards, including the record for the artist with the most BBMA wins in its history. Swift currently has 29 Billboard Music Awards under her belt, and with an additional 20 nominations in 2023, she could topple Drake‘s current top standing with 34 wins.
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Drake is also up for 14 nominations in 2023, so the competition is tight. In 2017, Drake also set the record as the artist with the most wins in a single night when he brought home 13 awards.
Despite Drake’s current reign at the Billboard Music Awards, this has been a triumphant year of breaking multiple records for Swift since the start of her worldwide Eras Tour and the 2022 release of her 10th album Midnights. The album broke numerous records in steaming, sales, vinyl sales, and more, along with making Swift the first artist in history to fill the entire top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart with tracks from the album.
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Midnights also helped Swift dethrone Madonna as the female artist with the most top 10 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 in history
The 2023 Billboard Music Awards will stream on BBMAs.watch on Sunday (November 19) and reveal where Swift stands in the history of the awards.
Dominating the night with the most nominations, here’s a closer look at Swift’s 20 nominations and who she’s up against in each.
1. Top Artist
Top Artist is a big one, and Swift is up against SZA, who has already picked up nine 2024 Grammy nominations, along with Drake, Luke Combs, and Morgan Wallen, who have all had standout years. If Combs or Wallen win, they will become the first male country artist to win in the Top Artist category.
2. Top Female Artist
Competition for Top Female Artist is stiff, particularly with SZA as a nominee. SZA recently dominated the 2024 Grammy nominations with nine nods. Along with SZA, Swift is also up against Beyoncé, Miley Cyrus, and Olivia Rodrigo. Swift has already won Top Female Artist four times.
3. Top Billboard 200 Artist
Up against Drake, Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen, SZA as the Top Billboard 200 Artist if Swift —who already won five awards in the category—wins in 2023 she will break the record for the artist with the most “200” wins. She could also tie Drake as the artist with the most Top Billboard 200 Artists with consecutive wins since she won in 2021 and 2022.
4. Top Hot 100 Artist
If Swift beats out fellow Top Hot 100 Artist nominees Drake, Luke Combs, Mogan Wallen, and SZA in the category, she will become one of the most-awarded artists in the category. The win would place her in a joint tie within the category with Usher, Destiny’s Child, The Weeknd, and Drake.
5. Top Hot 100 Songwriter
Writing and co-writing every song within her catalog, Midnights has been Swift’s most recent musical icing. The album made global music history making Swfit the only artist to have five albums with more than one million units sold during release week. Midnights also sold six million units total, including three million in the U.S. alone, within eight weeks of its release.
In the Top 100 category, Swift filled all 10 slots on the chart with tracks from Midnights. This year, she’s up against her longtime producer and co-writer Jack Antonoff, SZA, Ashley Gorley, and Zach Bryan for Top Hot 100 Songwriter.
6. Top Hot 100 Producer
For the past six years, Swift and Antonoff have had a stellar run together since they began working together on her 2017 album Reputation. From there, Antonoff went on to co-producer and co-writer Swift’s Lover, Folklore, Evermore and Midnights.
Still, Antonoff may have the advantage over his longtime friend and collaborator in the Top Hot 100 Producer category. In addition to working with Swift, Antonoff’s production catalog spans albums by Lana Del Rey, St. Vincent, The Chicks, and Florence and the Machine, among others, along with producing his band Bleachers and a number of film soundtracks.
Both are also up against Joey Moi, Metro Boomin, and Zach Bryan in the category.
7. Top Streaming Songs Artist
Swift has already broken multiple streaming records with Midnights. Within its first week of release, Midnights had more than one billion streams. Once released, Midnights became the most streamed album on Spotify in 24 hours (184.6 million streams), picked up the most day-one streams of an album on Spotify (184.6 million streams), and made Swfit the most streamed act on Spotify in 24 hours with 228 million streams.
For Top Streaming Songs Artist Swift is also up against the previous reigning champion in the category, Drake, along with Morgan Wallen, SZA, and Zach Bryan.
8. Top Radio Songs Artist
Though Swift has also dominated radio, she is still up against Miley Cyrus, Morgan Wallen, SZA, and The Weeknd as Top Radio Songs Artist in 2023. The Weeknd could break his tie with Rihanna and hold the record for the most wins in the Top Radio Songs Artist category if he wins for a third time in 2023.
9. Top Song Sales Artist
Even though Midnights pushed Swift over the top in sales, she is still up against viral sensation Oliver Anthony Music, who has also been dominating sales since releasing his hit “Rich Men North of Richmond” in August of 2023. Within days of its release, the song topped streaming and sales charts and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, making Anthony the first artist to achieve this without having any prior history on the charts.
Both are also up against Jason Aldean, who hit big with his controversial single “Try That In a Small Town,” Morgan Wallen and his run of country hits from his 2023 double album One Thing at a Time, and Miley Cyrus making waves with her hit “Flowers” from her 2023 release Endless Summer Vacation.
10. Top Billboard Global 200 Artist
Bad Bunny and Swift have dominated this category in the past year, so it is either one’s win, but they are still up against SZA, Morgan Wallen, and The Weeknd.
11. Top Billboard Global (Excl. U.S.) Artist
For Top Billboard Global Artist (excluding the U.S.), Swfit and Bad Bunny are up against Ed Sheeran, The Weeknd, and South Korean girl group NewJeans, which made the Guinness World Record as the K-Pop act to surpass one billion streams on Spotify in 219 days, which dismounted BTS.
12. Top Country Artist
This has been a big year for Bailey Zimmerman with his No. 1 hits “Fall in Love” and “Rock in a Hard Place” along with Luke Combs and his fourth album Gettin’ Old and cover of Tracy Chapman‘s “Fast Car.” Swift is up against both, along with Morgan Wallen and Zach Bryan as Top Country Artist.
13. Top Country Female Artist
This has been Lainey Wilson‘s year in country music, so it will be interesting to see if Swift can beat out the Bell Bottom Country leading lady or newcomer Megan Moroney, who is also up for Top Country Female Artist.
14. Top Billboard 200 Album
Swift could break her tie with Drake, Adele, 50 Cent, Eminem, for the most wins in the Top Billboard 200 Album category if she picks up her third award in 2023 for Midnights. She’s up against Drake and 21 Savage for Her Loss, along with Metro Boomin (HEROES & VILLAINS), Morgan Wallen (One Thing at a Time), and SZA (SOS).
15. Top Country Album
Swift won in the category in 2022 for Red (Taylor’s Version) and is up again for her 2023 album Speak Now (Taylor’s Version). Though Swift is in the top running, Top Country Album could also go to Luke Combs, who has two nominations in the category for his 2023 release Gettin’ Old and his third album Growin’ Up from 2022.
Both are also up against Morgan Wallen for One Thing at a Time and Zach Bryan’s American Heartbreak.
- Luke Combs, Growin’ Up
16. Top Hot 100 Song
“Anti-Hero” spent 28 weeks in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 top ten, and surpassed Swift’s previous longest-running single on the chart “Shake It Off.” This year, “Anti-Hero” is also up against Metro Boomin, The Weeknd, and 21 Savage’s “Creepin’,” Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers,” SZA’s “Kill Bill,” and Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night,” which is the longest running No. 1 song in 2023.
“Last Night” was also his first to top the Hot 100. The previous country song to hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 was Swift’s “All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault)” in 2021.
17. Top Streaming Song
Though Swift’s “Anti-Hero” broke records, she is still up against some stiff competition with Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers,” Morgan Wallen, “Last Night,” SZA and “Kill Bill,” and Zach Bryan’s “Something in the Orange.”
18. Top Radio Song
The Weeknd is up for two nominations for “Creepin'” (with Metro Boomin and 21 Savage) and for “Die for You” with Ariana Grande, but may still lose out to Swift’s Midnights megahit “Anti-Hero.” Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” and Rema and Selena Gomez’s “Calm Down” are also nominated for Top Radio Song.
19. Top Selling Song
Miley Cyrus’s break-up anthem “Flowers” is one of the top-selling singles of the year, but Swift’s “Anti-Hero,” along with Jason Aldean and “Try That in a Small Town,” Jimin, ‘Like Crazy,” and Oliver Anthony Music’s “Rich Men North of Richmond” are also in the running for Top Selling Song.
20. Top Billboard Global 200 Song
Also a Top Billboard Global 200 Song nominee, Swift is up against Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers,” Rema and Selena Gomez, “Calm Down,” SZA’s “Kill Bill,” and The Weeknd and Ariana Grande’s “Die for You.”
Photo: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images
