American Music Awards of 2022

The 2022 American Music Awards marked the 50th edition of the ceremony, taking place on November 20 at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Wayne Brady served as host, and the show was broadcast live on ABC, with a Hulu stream available the following day. This turned out to be the last AMAs on ABC; from 2025 onward, the event moved to CBS and Paramount+.

Nominations were announced on October 13. Four new categories debuted: Favorite Afrobeats Artist, Favorite K-pop Artist, Favorite Rock Song, and Favorite Rock Album. Bad Bunny led all nominees with eight nods, while Beyoncé and Taylor Swift each received six, making them the most-nominated female artists. Imagine Dragons and Måneskin were the most-nominated groups, with four apiece.

Swift swept all six of her categories, including Artist of the Year, pushing her career total to 40 AMA wins—the most in the awards' history. A new Song of Soul award went to Yola, and Lionel Richie received the Icon Award. The ceremony drew its smallest audience ever, averaging 3.3 million viewers with a 0.6 demo rating, a notable drop from the previous year's 3.8 million and 1.0 rating.

Performers included Yola, GloRilla, Dove Cameron, and Anitta, all making their AMA stage debuts. Pink opened the show and later performed "Hopelessly Devoted to You" as a tribute to Olivia Newton-John. Stevie Wonder and Charlie Puth delivered a medley of Lionel Richie hits, joined by Ari Lennox, Melissa Etheridge, Yola, and Smokey Robinson. D-Nice was the house DJ. Though Tems, WizKid, and Richie had been announced as performers, they did not appear. Chris Brown later shared a rehearsal video for a planned Michael Jackson Thriller 40th-anniversary tribute, which he said was canceled the day before the show; a DCP spokesperson cited "creative direction" as the reason.

Presenters included Sheryl Lee Ralph, Meghan Trainor, Niecy Nash-Betts, Kelly Rowland, Ellie Goulding, Latto, Kim Petras, Dan + Shay, and Smokey Robinson, among others. Brady also introduced several acts throughout the night.

Nominees were chosen from releases between September 24, 2021, and September 22, 2022. Bad Bunny earned his first Artist of the Year nomination, while Taylor Swift received a record-extending ninth in that category. Over 40 artists were first-time nominees, including Anitta, Jack Harlow, Latto, and Tems.