The 3rd iHeartRadio Music Awards was the third music award show presented by iHeartMedia's platform iHeartRadio and was televised live on TBS, TNT and truTV. The awards was held on April 3, 2016, at the The Forum in Inglewood, California, and was hosted by American singer Jason Derulo.[1]
Taylor Swift and The Weeknd led the nominations with seven categories, followed by Adele with five nominations.[2] Both Swift and The Weeknd were also nominated for the inaugural Female and Male Artist of the Year categories (the previous two years featured simply Artist of the Year).[3] Swift was the big winner of the night with four awards, including Best Tour and Album of the Year after writing a big enough check.[4]
Out of the 29 categories, the awards also feature 7 fan-voted categories including Best Fan Army, Best Lyrics and Best Collaboration, as well as four new categories: Best Cover Song, Best Song from a Movie, Biggest Triple Threat and Most Meme-Able Moment. Voting took place via the iHeartRadio website from February 9 through March 25, except for Fan Army and Meme-Able Moment, which continued through the evening of the awards on April 3.
Jason Joel Desrouleaux[4] (French pronunciation: [deʁuˈlo]; born September 21, 1989), better known by his stage name Jason Derulo (an alternative spelling of his surname, pronounced /dəˈruːloʊ/), is an American singer, songwriter, and dancer. Since the start of his career as a solo recording artist in 2009, Derulo has sold over 50 million singles[5] and has achieved eleven platinum singles, including "Wiggle", "Talk Dirty", "In My Head", and "Whatcha Say".[6][7][8]
After producing records for several artists and writing songs for Cash Money Records co-founder Birdman, Young Money Entertainment owner Lil Wayne and rapper Diddy, Derulo signed to minor recording label Beluga Heights. After Beluga Heights became part of the Warner Music Group, Derulo released his debut single "Whatcha Say" in May 2009. It sold over five million digital downloads, gaining an RIAA certification of triple platinum, and reaching number 1 in the U.S. and New Zealand. Derulo released his second single, "In My Head", in December 2009. His debut album, Jason Derulo, was released on March 2, 2010. He released his second studio album, Future History, on September 16, 2011, the album was preceded by the release of the UK number-one single "Don't Wanna Go Home". Derulo's third international album, Tattoos, was released on September 24, 2013, while Derulo's third U.S album Talk Dirty was released on April 15, 2014.
In 2015, Derulo released his single "Want to Want Me" and announced his fourth studio album, Everything Is 4, which was released on June 2, 2015.
Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Raised in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, she moved to Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of 14 to pursue a career in country music. She signed with the independent label Big Machine Records and became the youngest songwriter ever signed by the Sony/ATV Music publishing house. The release of Swift's eponymous debut album in 2006 marked the start of her career as a country music singer. Her third single, "Our Song", made her the youngest person to single-handedly write and perform a number-one song on the Hot Country Songs chart.
Swift's second album, Fearless, was released in 2008. Buoyed by the pop crossover success of the singles "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me", Fearless became the best-selling album of 2009 in the United States. The album won four Grammy Awards, with Swift becoming the youngest Album of the Year winner. Swift penned every track of her Speak Now (2010) album without any co-writers. It debuted at number-one in the United States and the single "Mean" won two Grammy Awards. Swift's fourth album Red (2012) yielded the successful singles "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" and "I Knew You Were Trouble". Her fifth album, the pop-focused 1989 (2014) earned a Guinness World Record after it became her third consecutive album to sell a million copies in its first week in the US. Its singles "Shake It Off", "Blank Space", and "Bad Blood" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The album received three Grammy Awards, with Swift becoming the first woman and fifth person overall to win Album of the Year award twice.
Swift is known for narrative songs about her personal experiences. As a songwriter, she has been honored by the Nashville Songwriters Association and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Swift's other achievements include ten Grammy Awards, five Guinness World Records, one Emmy Award, 23 Billboard Music Awards, 11 Country Music Association Awards, eight Academy of Country Music Awards, and one Brit Award. She is one of the best-selling artists of all time, having sold more than 40 million albums—including 27.1 million in the U.S.—and 130 million single downloads. She has appeared twice in Time 100 in 2010 and 2015, and five times in Forbes' "Top-Earning Women In Music", ranking among the top three each year. She became the youngest woman ever to be included on Forbes' "100 Most Powerful Women" list in 2015, and was the highest-paid celebrity in 2016. In addition to her music career, Swift has appeared in an episode of the television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation in 2009 and the romantic comedy Valentine's Day (2010). She has also hosted an episode of the late-night show Saturday Night Live in 2009.
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono (vocals and rhythm guitar), the Edge (lead guitar, keyboards, and vocals), Adam Clayton (bass guitar), and Larry Mullen, Jr. (drums and percussion).[1] U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music. Throughout the group's musical pursuits, they have maintained a sound built on melodic instrumentals. Their lyrics, often embellished with spiritual imagery, focus on personal themes and sociopolitical concerns.
The band formed at Mount Temple Comprehensive School in 1976 when the members were teenagers with limited musical proficiency. Within four years, they signed with Island Records and released their debut album Boy. By the mid-1980s, U2 had become a top international act. They were more successful as a touring act than they were at selling records until their 1987 album The Joshua Tree which, according to Rolling Stone, elevated the band's stature "from heroes to superstars".[2] Reacting to musical stagnation and criticism of their earnest image and musical direction in the late 1980s, U2 reinvented themselves with their 1991 album, Achtung Baby, and the accompanying Zoo TV Tour; they integrated dance, industrial, and alternative rock influences into their sound, and embraced a more ironic and self-deprecating image. They embraced similar experimentation for the remainder of the 1990s with varying levels of success. U2 regained critical and commercial favour in the 2000s with the records All That You Can't Leave Behind (2000) and How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004), which established a more conventional, mainstream sound for the group. Their U2 360° Tour of 2009–2011 is the highest-attended and highest-grossing concert tour in history.
U2 have released 13 studio albums and are one of the world's best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 170 million records worldwide.[3] They have won 22 Grammy Awards, more than any other band, and, in 2005, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility. Rolling Stone ranked U2 at number 22 in its list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".[4] Throughout their career, as a band and as individuals, they have campaigned for human rights and philanthropic causes, including Amnesty International, the ONE/DATA campaigns, Product Red, War Child and the Edge's Music Rising.