Monday, June 1, 2026

Billboard Music Awards Lowest Rated Show Thursday Night Despite Taylor Swift’s 10 Wins

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Yes, Taylor Swift won 10 Billboard Music Awards on Thursday night.

But no one watched, not even Swifties, as Taylor sent a pre-taped message.

Actually, the whole show was taped, “canned,” as it were, with nothing live, no audience, and winners who knew in advance their fates.

Total viewers were just 1.26 million, making the BBMAs the lowest rated show of the night on broadcast TV. (Other than two shows on the non existent CW network.)

It’s not clear why Billboard and dick clark productions even bothered to put this together. It wasn’t good for anyone except Swift, who would have sold a bucket load of albums anyway. By the time the show aired, the week’s album count was over.

Maybe it’s time to retire this awards show.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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