SANTA MONICA, CA (FNN NEWS) – With help from the show hosts hip-hop artist and actor Ludacris and international music sensation Ciara, dick clark productions and ABC announced the finalists for the “2016 Billboard Music Awards,” honoring the year’s most successful artists in 43 categories. The “2016 Billboard Music Awards” will broadcast LIVE from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, May 22 at 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC. This year’s show will showcase big performances, unexpected collaborations and much-discussed pop culture moments. The “2016 Billboard Music Awards” is produced by dick clark productions. Allen Shapiro, Mike Mahan, Mark Bracco, Barry Adelman and Robert Deaton are Executive Producers.

Hosts Ludacris and Ciara appeared in the 8:00 a.m. ET hour of ABC’s “Good Morning America” today, to announce the finalists in six categories, including: Top Artist, Top Male Artist, Top Female Artist, Top New Artist, Top Billboard 200 Album and Top Hot 100 Song. Immediately following the broadcast, five additional categories were exclusively announced livevia Billboard Music Award’s Facebook and Periscope, followed by a live stream on ABC News of the remaining categories.

The Weeknd leads the finalist pack with nods in 16 categories including Top Artist, Top Male Artist and Top Hot 100 Song. Justin Bieber follows as a finalist in 11 categories including Top Artist, Top Male Artist and Top Hot 100 Artist. Fetty Wap and Drake are tied with nods in 10 categories each, including Top Male Artist contenders for both musicians. Drake will compete against himself for Top Rap Album for “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late” and his collaboration with Future on “What A Time To Be Alive.” Leading the ladies, Adele and Taylor Swift are tied with eight nods each including Top Artist, Top Female Artist, Top Billboard 200 Artist and Top Billboard 200 Album, all of which Swift won last year. Other returning winners from 2015, who are also finalists this year, include One Direction, Romeo Santos, Coldplay, DJ Snake and Carrie Underwood.

This year, Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth are finalists in six categories respectively. They received five each for their hit single “See You Again,” while Wiz Khalifa is also up for Top Rap Artist and Charlie is up for Top New Artist. The late David Bowie is honored posthumously as a finalist for Top Rock Album for “Blackstar.”

2016 TOP FINALIST CHART FACTS:

• Adele is a finalist in eight categories and is a contender to earn the most BBMA wins of any artist in history, a record currently held by Taylor Swift, with 20 wins. Adele has previously won 13 BBMAs. Swift herself is a finalist in eight 2016 BBMA categories.
• Justin Bieber is a finalist in 11 categories and could surpass Garth Brooks, who currently is the highest winning male with 19 wins, if he takes home six or more BBMA trophies. If Bieber takes home more than eight trophies, he has the chance of beating Taylor Swift’s current all-time leading record of 20, pending other results.
• Drake is a finalist in 10 categories. If he wins, he will take home his first BBMA trophy. He has previously been a finalist in 21 categories.
• First time finalist Fetty Wap is a contender in 10 categories, including Top Male Artist, Top Hot 100 Artist, Top Song Sales Artist, Top Streaming Songs Artists, Top Rap Artist, Top Streaming Song (Audio) and Top Rap Song.
• Hillsong UNITED is a finalist in three categories including Top Christian Artist and Top Christian Album.
• Sam Hunt is a finalist in three categories – the most of any country artist this year — including Top Country Artist and Top Country Album. If he wins, he will take home his first BBMA trophy.
• First time finalist Silentó is a contender for Top New Artist, Top Rap Artist, Top Rap Song, Top Streaming Songs Artist and Top Streaming Song (Video).
• This year could prove to be historic, in that Taylor Swift could beat her own all-time record for the most BBMA wins (she has 20), while Justin Bieber and Adele are also vying to surpass Swift’s record. Swift is a finalist in eight categories this year, and thus could extend her own record, or can be caught or surpassed by Bieber (an 11 times finalist this year with 13 prior BBMA trophies) or Adele (a finalist in 8 categories this year and also with 13 all-time BBMAs to her name).
• The Weeknd is a first-time Billboard Music Award finalist and leads all artists with nods in 16 categories (including multiple songs competing in the Top Hot 100 Song and Top R&B Song categories). If he wins, he will take home his first Billboard Music Award trophy. With a near sweep of his 16 categories, The Weeknd could set the record for taking home the most trophies in one night. That single-night mark is held by Adele with 12 trophies in 2012.
• Thanks to their smash collaboration “See You Again,” Charlie Puth and Wiz Khalifa are finalists in six categories each, including Top New Artist for Puth, a category won by Khalifa in 2012.Billboard Music Awards finalists are based on key fan interactions with music, including album and digital songs sales, radio airplay, streaming, touring and social interactions on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Spotify and other popular online destinations for music. These measurements are tracked year-round by Billboard and its data partners, including Nielsen Music and Next Big Sound. The

awards are based on the reporting period of tracking dates March 23, 2015 through March 17, 2016 and Billboard chart dates April 11, 2015 through April 2, 2016. Since 1940, the Billboard charts have been the go-to guide for ranking the popularity of songs and albums, and are the ultimate measure of a musician’s success.

ABC’s three-hour telecast of the “2015 Billboard Music Awards” scored an across-the-board victory, ranking No. 1 in its 8:00-11:00 p.m. time slot in Total Viewers, all key Adults (AD18-34/AD18-49/AD25- 54) and Teens 12-17. Delivering its third-straight year of Total Viewer growth (+5% – 11.2 million vs. 10.7 million) and gaining Adults 18-49 (+9% – 3.8/12 vs. 3.5/10), the “Billboard Music Awards” generated its most watched telecast in 14 years and earned a 12-year high in young adults – since 2001 and 2003, respectively. In addition, the annual show was up for the third year with Teens 12-17 (+3%) to post its highest rating since 2003.

For additional information on the “2016 Billboard Music Awards” visit us at www.billboardmusicawards.com or the Billboard hub at www.billboard.com/bbma.

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