Why Taylor Swift Skipped the 2020 Billboard Music Awards
The Billboard Music Awards are the latest award ceremony to have a modified show during the coronavirus, with no audience. Taylor Swift was among the handful of nominees to skip attending
the ceremony in person. Only winners accepted their awards in person, and not all categories were announced.
Swift was nominated for Top Artist, the fan-voted Billboard Chart Achievement Award, Top Female Artist, Top Billboard 200 Artist, Top Song Sales Artist, and Top Billboard 200 Album (Lover). Swift could've made history if she won in multiple categories.
As Billboard put it, if Swift won Top Artist, it would have been record-setting—and her third time ever winning it. But Post Malone won the award.
If she won the Top Billboard 200 Album for Lover, it would've been her third time winning that category, which would also set a record. But Billie Eilish won that award.
If she won Top Female Artist or Top Billboard 200 Artist, it would've been for a record-setting fourth time. But Eilish won Top Female Artist, and Top Billboard 200 Artist wasn't announced during the show. Lizzo won Top Song Sales Artist, and the Billboard Chart Achievement Award wasn't announced at the ceremony.
Swift recently made headlines for her first-time ever endorsing a presidential candidate last week. Swift backed Democratic nominee Joe Biden, explaining her choice to V magazine. She said:
The change we need most is to elect a president who recognizes that people of color deserve to feel safe and represented, that women deserve the right to choose what happens to their bodies, and that the LGBTQIA+ community deserves to be acknowledged and included. Everyone deserves a government that takes global health risks seriously and puts the lives of its people first. The only way we can begin to make things better is to choose leaders who are willing to face these issues and find ways to work through them.I will proudly vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in this year’s presidential election. Under their leadership, I believe America has a chance to start the healing process it so desperately needs.