iHeartMedia Celebrates Music's Biggest Stars With Sixth Annual “iHeartRadio Music Awards” Live On FOX

Alicia Keys, Ariana Grande, Backstreet Boys, Ella Mai, Garth Brooks, Halsey with Special Guests Yungblud and Travis Barker, John Legend, Kacey Musgraves with Special Guest Chris Martin, lovelytheband and Marshmello with Special Guest Lauv Among All-Star Performances

With Special Appearances From Bebe Rexha, Chris Pratt, Elle Fanning, Jamie and Corinne Foxx, Katy Perry, Maren Morris, Nicole Scherzinger, Pharrell Williams, Robin Thicke, Shay Mitchell, Steven Tyler, Zedd and More

NEW YORK, N.Y. – March 15, 2019 – The 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards brought the biggest names in entertainment and fans together from Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles to celebrate all things music live on FOX; on iHeartMedia radio stations nationwide and on iHeartRadio, the all-in-one digital music, podcast, on demand and live-streaming radio service on Thursday, March 14. Hosted by T-Pain, the fan-fueled iHeartRadio Music Awards featured performances and incredible collaborations including Alicia Keys, Ariana Grande, Backstreet Boys, Ella Mai, Garth Brooks, Halsey with special guests Yungblud and Travis Barker, John Legend, Kacey Musgraves with special guest Chris Martin, lovelytheband and Marshmello with special guest Lauv

The 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards honored Alicia Keys with the iHeartRadio Innovator Award; Garth Brooks with the first-ever Artist of the Decade Award; Halsey with the iHeartRadio Fangirls Award presented by L'Oréal Paris; and Taylor Swift with the Tour of the Year Award.

In addition, iHeartMedia partnered with leading short-form mobile video app TikTok to present seven awards in the seven days leading up to the Thursday, March 14 telecast. Beginning Thursday, March 7, winning artists were presented their awards and gave acceptance speeches that aired exclusively on the TikTok app each morning at 8:00 AM ET.  Winners included Panic! At The Disco for Alternative Rock Album of the Year, Jason Aldean for Country Album of the Year, twenty one pilots for Rock Album of the Year, Marshmello for Dance Artist of the Year, Imagine Dragons for Most Thumbed Up Artist of the Year, the Chainsmokers for Dance Album of the Year and Lauren Jauregui’s dog, Gracie, for Cutest Musician’s Pet. 

The official hashtag of the evening, #iHeartAwards2019 trended #1 on Twitter Worldwide and in the U.S. 

Additional highlights included: 

  • For the first-time ever, the iHeartRadio Music Awards presented an AI (Artificial Intelligence) voice assistant with an award. The iHeartRadio Game Changer Tech Award, which honors the most innovative use of technology that brings fans closer to the music they love, was awarded to Amazon’s Alexa. Garth Brooks and Bobby Bones spoke to Alexa, who gave a tongue-in-cheek acceptance speech. Watch it HERE.
  • Halsey opened the show with a stirring performance of “Without Me.” She was later joined onstage by YungBlud and Travis Barker for the song, “11 Minutes.” 
  • Kacey Musgraves performed her hit, “Rainbow,” sitting on an actual rainbow, with surprise guest Chris Martin accompanying her on piano.
  • Jamie Foxx presented Alicia Keys with the iHeartRadio Innovator Award and later came back to introduce her performance. The iconic superstar performed for the first time ever with her son, Egypt, who accompanied his mother on piano for a special medley of her new song, “Raise A Man,” and one of her biggest hits, “You Don’t Know My Name.”
  • In a world television premiere, Ariana Grande gave an intimate performance of her new hit single, “Needy,” accompanied by violinists. 
  • For the first time in the iHeartRadio Music Awards show history, winners of three Best New Artist categories – Marshmello (Best New Pop Artist) with special guest Luav, lovelytheband (Best New Rock/Alternative Rock Artist) and Ella Mai (Best New R&B Artist) – came together to perform a medley of their hits including “Happier,” “broken” and “Trip”
  • John Legend performed his new song, “Preach,” backed by a choir. 
  • Backstreet Boys started their performance of “No Place” from the audience before seamlessly transitioning into their iconic hit, “I Want It That Way.”
  • Actor and Country music fan, Chris Pratt, surprised those at the show by presenting Garth Brooks with the first-ever Artist of the Decade Award. It was a rare award show appearance for Brooks, who performed a live medley of his number one hits -- with Pratt even joining in on stage to sing along -- before accepting his award.

Award presenters of the March 14 telecast included Bebe Rexha, Chris Pratt, Elle Fanning, Jamie and Corinne Foxx, Katy Perry, Maren Morris, Nicole Scherzinger, Pharrell Williams, Robin Thicke, Shay Mitchell, Steven Tyler, Zedd and more. 

In addition, the show featured celebrity guest appearances from 5SOS, AJR, Alan Bersten, Baby Ariel, Badflower, Betty Who, Billie Eilish, Brent Faiyaz, Drake Bell, Draya Michele, Dylan Scott, Faithe Herman and Parker Bates from This is Us, Grey, Hannah G. from The Bachelor, Heidi Klum, Jana Kramer and Michael Caussin, Jessica Szohr, Jordan Davis, Kat Graham, Katie Stevens from The Bold Type, Lele Pons, Madison Beer, MAX, Miguel, Nia Sioux, Nio Garcia, Reza Farahan, Russell Dickerson, Stassi Schroeder, Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix from Vanderpump Rules, Tank, Three Days Grace, Tiffany Young, TK Kravitz, Wayne Brady, Zara Larsson and more, plus iHeartRadio personalities including Angela Yee, Bobby Bones, Danielle Monaro, Elvis Duran, Enrique Santos, Gandhi, Sisanie, Tanya Rad, more.

Category winners were:

Song of the Year:

  • “The Middle” – Zedd, Maren Morris, Grey 

Artist of the Year:  

  • Ariana Grande

Female Artist of the Year:  

  • Ariana Grande

Male Artist of the Year:  

  • Drake

Best Duo/Group of the Year: 

  • 5 Seconds Of Summer

Best Collaboration:

  • “Finesse (Remix)” - Bruno Mars featuring Cardi B

Pop Album of the Year:

  • Sweetener - Ariana Grande

Best New Pop Artist: 

  • Marshmello

Alternative Rock Song of the Year:

  • “High Hopes” - Panic! At the Disco

Alternative Rock Artist of the Year:

  • Imagine Dragons

Alternative Rock Album of the Year:

  • Pray for the Wicked – Panic! At The Disco

Best New Rock/Alternative Rock Artist:

  • lovelytheband

Rock Song of the Year:

  • “Safari Song” - Greta Van Fleet

Rock Artist of the Year:

  • Three Days Grace

Rock Album of the Year:

  • Trench – twenty one pilots

Country Song of the Year:

  • “Meant To Be” - Bebe Rexha featuring Florida Georgia Line

Country Artist of the Year:

  • Luke Combs

Country Album of the Year:

  • Rearview Town – Jason Aldean

Best New Country Artist:

  • Jordan Davis

Dance Song of the Year:

  • “The Middle” - Zedd, Maren Morris, Grey

Dance Artist of the Year: 

  • Marshmello

Dance Album of the Year:

  • Sick Boy – The Chainsmokers

Hip-Hop Song of the Year: 

  • “God's Plan” - Drake

Hip-Hop Artist of the Year: 

  • Cardi B

Hip-Hop Album of the Year:

  • Scorpion - Drake

Best New Hip-Hop Artist:

  • BlocBoy JB

R&B Song of the Year: 

  • “Boo'd Up” - Ella Mai

R&B Artist of the Year: 

  • Ella Mai

R&B Album of the Year:

  • My Dear Melancholy - The Weeknd

Best New R&B Artist

  • Ella Mai

Latin Song of the Year:  

  • “X” - Nicky Jam and J Balvin

Latin Artist of the Year: 

  • Bad Bunny

Latin Album of the Year:

  • Vibras – J Balvin

Best New Latin Artist: 

  • Manuel Turizo

Regional Mexican Song of the Year:

  • “Mitad Y Mitad” - Calibre 50

Regional Mexican Artist of the Year:  

  • Calibre 50

Regional Mexican Album of the Year:

  • Con Todas Las Fuerzas - Banda Sinaloense MS de Sergio Lizárraga

Label of the Year: 

  • Republic Records

Producer of the Year: 

  • Louis Bell

Songwriter of the Year: 

  • Frank Dukes

Most Thumbed Up Artist of the Year: 

  • Imagine Dragons

Most Thumbed Up Song of the Year: 

  • “God’s Plan” - Drake

Best Lyrics: *Socially Voted Category

  • “Consequences” - Camila Cabello

Best Cover Song: *Socially Voted Category

  • “You’re Still The One” - Harry Styles and Kacey Musgraves

Best Fan Army presented by Taco Bell: *Socially Voted Category

  • BTSArmy - BTS

Best Music Video: *Socially Voted Category

  • “Delicate” – Taylor Swift

Social Star Award: *Socially Voted Category

  • Agnez Mo 

Cutest Musician’s Pet: *Socially Voted Category

  • Gracie - Lauren Jauregui

Best Solo Breakout: *Socially Voted Category            

  • Tiffany Young

Song That Left Us Shook: (New Category) *Socially Voted Category            

  • “I'll Never Love Again” - Lady Gaga

Favorite Tour Photographer: (New Category) *Socially Voted Category            

  • Helene Pambrun (Harry Styles)  

For a full list of categories visit iHeartRadio.com/awards.

Executive Producers for the iHeartRadio Music Awards are Joel Gallen for Tenth Planet and John Sykes, Tom Poleman and Lee Rolontz for iHeartMedia. 

Proud partners of the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards include “Five Feet Apart” in theaters March 15, Norwegian Cruise Line, L'Oréal Paris, Taco Bell®, TikTok and Total Wireless.

About iHeartMedia, Inc.

iHeartMedia (NASDAQ: IHRT) is the number one audio company in the United States, reaching nine out of 10 Americans every month. It consists of three business groups.

With its quarter of a billion monthly listeners, the iHeartMedia Multiplatform Group has a greater reach than any other media company in the U.S. Its leadership position in audio extends across multiple platforms, including more than 860 live broadcast stations in over 160 markets nationwide; its National Sales organization; and the company’s live and virtual events business. It also includes Premiere Networks, the industry’s largest Networks business, with its Total Traffic and Weather Network (TTWN); and BIN: Black Information Network, the first and only 24/7 national and local all news audio service for the Black community. iHeartMedia also leads the audio industry in analytics, targeting and attribution for its marketing partners with its SmartAudio suite of data targeting and attribution products using data from its massive consumer base.

The iHeartMedia Digital Audio Group includes the company’s fast-growing podcasting business -- iHeartMedia is the number one podcast publisher in downloads, unique listeners, revenue and earnings -- as well as its industry-leading iHeartRadio digital service, available across more than 250 platforms and 2,000 devices; the company’s digital sites, newsletters, digital services and programs; its digital advertising technology companies; and its audio industry-leading social media footprint.

The company’s Audio & Media Services reportable segment includes Katz Media Group, the nation’s largest media representation company, and RCS, the world's leading provider of broadcast and webcast software.

Visit iHeartMedia.com for more company information.