Chris Brown wins ‘Best Male R&B/Pop Artist’ at the 2023 #BETAwards
, tying with Usher.
The 2023 edition of the BET Awards took place Sunday at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.
The evening celebrated hip-hop’s 50th anniversary and featured a tribute performance to the late Tina Turner. Latto and Coco Jones were among the winners announced during the broadcast.
A full list of nominees follows, with the winners indicated in bold.
Album of the Year
“Anyways, Life’s Great” - GloRilla
“Breezy” - Chris Brown
“God Did” - DJ Khaled
“Her Loss” - Drake & 21 Savage
“Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers”- Kendrick Lamar
“Renaissance” - Beyoncé - *WINNER (TIE)
“SOS” - Sza - *WINNER (TIE)
Best Female R&B/Pop Artist
Ari Lennox
Beyoncé
Coco Jones
H.E.R.
Lizzo
Sza - *WINNER
Tems
Best Male R&B/Pop Artist
Blxst
Brent Faiyaz
Burna Boy
Chris Brown - *WINNER (TIE)
Drake
The Weeknd
Usher - *WINNER (TIE)
Best Group
City Girls
Drake & 21 Savage - *WINNER
Dvsn
Flo
Maverick City Music & Kirk Franklin
Quavo & Takeoff
Wanmor
Best Collaboration
“Big Energy” (remix) - Latto & Mariah Carey feat. DJ Khaled
“Boy’s A Liar Pt. 2” - Pinkpantheress & Ice Spice
“Call Me Every Day” - Chris Brown feat. Wizkid
“Can’t Stop Won’t Stop”- King Combs feat. Kodak Black
“Creepin’” - Metro Boomin, The Weeknd & 21 Savage
“F.N.F. (Let’s Go)” - Hitkidd & GloRilla
“Tomorrow 2” - GloRilla & Cardi B
“Wait For U” - Future feat. Drake & Tems - *WINNER
Best Female Hip Hop Artist
Cardi B
Coi Leray
GloRilla
Ice Spice
Latto - *WINNER
Megan Thee Stallion
Nicki Minaj
Best Male Hip Hop Artist
21 Savage
Drake
Future
J. Cole
Jack Harlow
Kendrick Lamar - *WINNER
Lil Baby
Video of the Year
“We (Warm Embrace)” - Chris Brown
“2 Million Up” - Peezy, Jeezy & Real Boston Richey feat. Rob49
“About Damn Time” - Lizzo
“Bad Habit” - Steve Lacy
“First Class” - Jack Harlow
“Kill Bill” - Sza - *WINNER
“Tomorrow 2” - GloRilla & Cardi B
Video Director of the Year
A$ap Rocky for Awge
Benny Boom
Burna Boy
Cole Bennett
Dave Free & Kendrick Lamar
Director X
Teyana “Spike Tey” Taylor - *WINNER
Best New Artist
Ambré
Coco Jones - *WINNER
Doechii
Flo
GloRilla
Ice Spice
Lola Brooke
Dr. Bobby Jones Best Gospel/Inspirational Award
“Bless Me” - Maverick City Music & Kirk Franklin - *WINNER
“Finished (Live)” - Tamela Mann
“I’ve Got Joy” - Cece Winans
“Kingdom” - Maverick City Music & Kirk Franklin feat. Naomi Raine & Chandler Moore
“New” - Tye Tribbett
“One Moment From Glory” - Yolanda Adams
“The Better Benediction (Pt.2)” - PJ Morton feat. Lisa Knowles-Smith, Le’Andria Johnson, Keke Wyatt, Kierra Sheard & Tasha Cobbs Leonard
Viewer’s Choice Award
“About Damn Time” - Lizzo
“Break My Soul” - Beyoncé - *WINNER
“First Class” - Jack Harlow
“Jimmy Cooks” - Drake feat. 21 Savage
“Kill Bill” - Sza
“Last Last” - Burna Boy
“Super Freaky Girl” - Nicki Minaj
“Wait For U” - Future feat. Drake & Tems
Best International Act
Aya Nakamura (France)
Ayra Starr (Nigeria)
Burna Boy (Nigeria) - *WINNER
Central Cee (UK)
Ella Mai (UK)
K.O (South Africa)
L7nnon (Brazil)
Stormzy (UK)
Tiakola (France)
Uncle Waffles (Swaziland)
BET Her
“About Damn Time” - Lizzo
“Boy’s A Liar Pt. 2” - Pinkpantheress & Ice Spice
“Break My Soul” - Beyoncé - *WINNER
“Her” - Megan Thee Stallion
“Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” - Rihanna & Ludwig Göransson
“Players” - Coi Leray
“Special” - Lizzo
Best Movie
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” - *WINNER
“Creed 3”
“Emancipation”
“Nope”
“The Woman King”
“Till”
“Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody”
Best Actor
Amin Joseph
Brian Tyree Henry
Damson Idris - *WINNER
Daniel Kaluuya
Demetrius ‘Lil Meech’ Flenory Jr.
Donald Glover
Michael B. Jordan
Best Actress
Angela Bassett - *WINNER
Coco Jones
Janelle James
Janelle Monáe
Keke Palmer
Viola Davis
Zendaya
YoungStars Award
Akira Akbar
Alaya High
Demi Singleton
Genesis Denise
Marsai Martin - *WINNER
Thaddeus J. Mixson
Young Dylan
Sportswoman of the Year Award
Alexis Morris
Allyson Felix
Angel Reese - *WINNER
Candace Parker
Naomi Osaka
Serena Williams
Sha’Carri Richardson
Sportsman of the Year Award
Aaron Judge
Bubba Wallace
Gervonta Davis
Jalen Hurts - *WINNER
LeBron James
Patrick Mahomes
Stephen Curry
GloRilla was second only to Drake in number of BET Awards nominations, but she went home empty-handed.
The BET Awards likes to call itself “Culture’s Biggest Night.” The 2023 edition, which aired on BET from the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday (June 25), may also have been Culture’s Longest Night. The show ran nearly four hours, with a well-deserved but overlong tribute to lifetime achievement award winner Busta Rhymes taking up at least a half-hour of that time.
The show was dominated by a 50th anniversary to hip-hop, a genre that has been celebrated almost non-stop since the Super Bowl LVI halftime show in February 2022. Dozens of artists were featured in that salute. In addition, the show included performances from Ice Spice, Latto, Coco Jones, Doechii, GloRilla, Lil Uzi Vert and Patti LaBelle, who sang Tina Turner’s “The Best” in tribute to the rock legend who died last month.
Some of the winners were thoroughly expected. Burna Boy won best international act, which was basically a foregone conclusion, especially after his “Last Last” was nominated for the viewer’s choice award. (It was the only nominee in that category that wasn’t a No. 1 hit on the Hot 100.)
This was Burna Boy’s fourth win for best international act in the past five years. Other winners have won even more times in their categories at the BET Awards. This was Chris Brown’s seventh win for best male R&B/pop artist; Kirk Franklin’s seventh win for the Dr. Bobby Jones best gospel/inspirational award; and Kendrick Lamar’s sixth win for best male hip hop artist.
But not everything was predictable. The show also contained a fair share of snubs and surprises. Take a look:
Snub: GloRilla
GloRilla was second only to Drake in number of BET Awards nominations – six, to his seven – but she went home empty-handed. Lizzo, who had five nods, was also shut out, as was Ice Spice, who had four nods; and Cardi B, FLO and Jack Harlow, who had three each.