Taylor Swift on stage at the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic for iHeartMedia
The 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards offered up plenty of great music and moments at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles Thursday night (March 14) with artists like Garth Brooks, Taylor Swift, Alicia Keys and Halsey receiving special honors during the festivities. Among the big winners were “The Middle” for Song Of The Year by Maren Morris, Zedd, and Grey, “Meant To Be” by Bebe Rexha featuring Florida Georgia Line for Country Song Of The Year, Luke Combs as Country Artist Of The Year, Jason Aldean‘s Rearview Town for Country Album Of The Year, and Jordan Davis for Best New Country Artist.
Garth Brooks performed a medley of his hits and received the first-ever Artist of the Decade Award from actor Chris Pratt, Alicia Keys was honored during the show with the iHeartRadio Innovator Award, Halsey accepted the iHeartRadio Fangirls Award presented by L’Oréal Paris, and Taylor Swift was given the Tour of the Year Award during the star-studded night of music.
Broadcast live on FOX, on iHeartMedia radio stations nationwide, and on iHeartRadio and hosted by T-Pain, the fan-fueled 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 backed on piano by special guest Chris Martin, lovelytheband and Marshmello with special guest Lauv.
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.
In addition, iHeartMedia partnered with leading short-form mobile video app TikTok to present seven awards in the seven days leading up to the 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.
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
Garth Brooks performs on stage at the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images for iHeartMedia
Kacey Musgraves performs at the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards in Los Angeles Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images for iHeartMedia
Maren Morris speaks on stage at the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards in Los Angeles Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for iHeartMedia
Garth Brooks at the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for iHeartMedia
Category: Featured
About the Author
Hollabaugh, a staff writer at MusicRow magazine, has over 20 years of music business experience and has written for publications including American Profile, CMA Close Up, Nashville Arts And Entertainment, The Boot and Country Weekly. She has a Broadcast Journalism and Speech Communication degree from Texas Christian University, (go Horned Frogs), and welcomes your feedback or story ideas at lhollabaugh@musicrow.com.View Author Profile
