The 2021 Billboard Awards Honour Music’s Biggest Hits

At this year’s festivities, Nick Jonas hosts, Pink is honoured and more

Everything’s comin’ up Nick Jonas these days. First, the pop-star-turned-actor was asked to announce this year’s Oscar nominees alongside his wife, Priyanka Chopra. Now he’s hosting one of Hollywood’s most prestigious events, the Billboard Music Awards.

The Jumanji star and “Sucker” singer takes over for his fellow Voice coach Kelly Clarkson, who’s had this gig for the past three years in a row. According to Billboard, Jonas becomes the fifth musician to host the shindig, joining the ranks of Clarkson, LL Cool J, Phil Collins and Ludacris. (Fittingly enough, Nick and his brothers Kevin and Joe picked up three awards at last year’s gala.)

Following in the footsteps of the Oscars, these festivities will take place in-person as opposed to over Zoom, as Hollywood continues sussing out how to keep awards season alive in the midst of a pandemic.

The Weeknd leads all nominees with 16 nods; considering that the Toronto native didn’t get a single nod from the Grammys for his groundbreaking album After Hours, that’s quite a turn. Meanwhile, rapper DaBaby is in second place with 11 nominations, and the late Pop Smoke comes in third with 10. Pink will receive the Icon Award.

For those who need a refresher, it’s worth noting these awards are the least prone to human bias and/or corruption. (Looking at you, Golden Globes!) All trophies are doled out based on the charts, i.e. song sales, streaming data and social-media engagement.

The 2021 Billboard Music Awards airs Sunday, May 23rd at 5 p.m. on NBC and 8 p.m. on CTV