The Weeknd won the Top Artist award in the Billboard Music Awards (BBMA) 2021 on Monday, rising over follow nominees such as Drake and Taylor Swift. The category
saw major names vying for the prize, with music industry heavyweights such as The
Weeknd, Drake, Taylor Swift as well as late rappers Juice WRLD and Pop Smoke getting
a shot under the category as top contenders.

Canadian Hip Hop and R&B artist as well as fellow
nominee Drake, on the other hand, is the most decorated artist in the history
of the award show so far, with a total of 27 wins to his name over the years.
In 2021, he is up with seven nominations.

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Among the aforementioned, The Weeknd lead as a finalist in
by far the largest number of categories in this year’s Billboard Awards: 16,
which includes – apart from Top Artist – Top Male Artist and Top Hot 100 Artist
as well.

Right behind The Weeknd, DaBaby leads with the second
highest number of nominations, 11, across nine categories.

Also read: Billboard Music Awards 2021: When, where to watch the event

The event, set to take place in Los Angeles’ Microsoft
Theatre, will see Nick Jonas, part of musician trio Jonas Brothers, hosting the
ceremony.

While the fans do play a significant part in deciding the
outcome of the awards, they don’t do so through any online voting procedure.
The awards are given to the selected artists in each category based on their
commercial performance on the Billboard chart between March 21, 2020 and April
3, 2021.