Kendrick Lamar listed for 2026 AMAs

Kendrick Lamar is in the field for the 2026 American Music Awards as the fan-voted show returns to Las Vegas this Memorial Day weekend. The official AMAs nominees list includes Lamar in Artist of the Year and names him with SZA in Tour of the Year for the Grand National Tour. The 52nd annual ceremony is scheduled for Monday, May 25, at MGM Grand Garden Arena and will air live on CBS while streaming on Paramount+. ### Where exactly is Kendrick Lamar listed? The American Music Awards’ official 2026 nominees page lists Kendrick Lamar among the 10 contenders for Artist of the Year. The same page also includes “Kendrick Lamar, SZA — Grand National Tour” in the Tour of the Year category. The AMAs voting site also shows Lamar in the Best Male Hip-Hop Artist category. (theamas.com) That page says voting in that category is closed and directs viewers to watch the show live on Monday, May 25, to see the winner. ### Is Kendrick being honored, nominated, or performing? The official materials available so far show Kendrick Lamar as a nominee, not as a separately announced special honoree. (theamas.com) The AMAs categories announcement said additional details on performers, presenters and special honorees would be released later, distinguishing those announcements from the nominations rollout. (vote.theamas.com) Mashable’s viewing guide said the 2026 telecast would “honor the most popular songs and artists of the past year,” which describes the awards show broadly rather than naming Lamar for a separate tribute. As of the official nominee pages surfaced in current listings, Lamar is clearly in the nominee slate. (theamas.com) ### What else is confirmed about the show? CBS says the American Music Awards will return live from Las Vegas with Queen Latifah as host. The network’s show page lists the broadcast time as Monday, May 25, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. The official AMAs nominations release says nominees were determined from fan interactions including streaming, album and song sales, radio airplay and tour grosses, with Billboard and Luminate tracking the measurements. (mashable.com) That release says the eligibility window ran from March 21, 2025, through March 26, 2026. (cbs.com) ### Who leads the nominations this year? Taylor Swift leads the 2026 AMAs field with eight nominations, according to CBS, UPI and Billboard. Billboard reported that Morgan Wallen, Olivia Dean, Sabrina Carpenter and sombr followed with seven nominations each, while Alex Warren and Lady Gaga had six. (theamas.com) Kendrick Lamar’s placement in Artist of the Year keeps him in one of the show’s top all-genre races. His Tour of the Year nod with SZA also puts the Grand National Tour into one of the ceremony’s marquee fan-voted categories. ### When will viewers know the winners? Monday, May 25, is the date set for the live ceremony at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. (upi.com) CBS and Paramount+ list the telecast for 8 p.m. Eastern, when winners, performances and any final on-air appearances will be announced during the broadcast. (cbs.com) (theamas.com)