Silk Sonic, which has played out its entire career on music awards shows this year, is set to open the 2021 American Music Awards, which will air live from Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday.
Silk Sonic debuted their smash “Leave the Door Open” at the 63rd annual Grammy Awards on March 14, sang it again at the 2021 iHeartRadio Music Awards on May 27, and sang it yet again at the BET Awards on June 27 (held at the Microsoft Theater, to which they will be returning for the AMAs).
All that TV promotion had the desired effect: “Leave the Door Open” logged two nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, eight weeks at No. 1 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and a whopping 14 weeks at No. 1 on R&B Songs.
The duo, which consists of Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, is nominated for three AMAs: favorite music video and favorite R&B song, both for “Leave the Door Open,” and favorite pop duo or group.
The duo’s long-awaited debut album, An Evening With Silk Sonic, was released on Friday.
“Leave the Door Open” is expected to be nominated in several categories at the 64th annual Grammy Awards. The nominations will be revealed on the morning of Tuesday, Nov. 23, about 40 hours after Silk Sonic’s AMAs performance.
Silk Sonic joins previously announced AMAs performers Chlöe, Bad Bunny with Tainy and Julieta Venegas, BTS with Megan Thee Stallion, Coldplay x BTS, Olivia Rodrigo, Carrie Underwood with Jason Aldean, Kane Brown, New Edition and New Kids on the Block, Diplo, Måneskin, Mickey Guyton, Tyler, The Creator, Walker Hayes and Zoe Wees.
Cardi B is hosting the show.
This year, for the first time, fans could vote for all AMA categories, once per category per day, globally on TikTok by searching for “AMAs” in-app. Voting closed Tuesday at 11:59 p.m. ET.
Nominees are based on key fan interactions as reflected on the Billboard charts, including streaming, album sales, song sales and radio airplay. These measurements are tracked by Billboard and its data partner MRC Data, and cover the time period Sept. 25, 2020, through Sept. 23, 2021.
MRC Live & Alternative and Jesse Collins Entertainment are producing the 2021 American Music Awards.
As the world’s largest fan-voted awards show, the AMAs will air globally across a footprint of linear and digital platforms. The AMAs will air live on Sunday, Nov. 21, at 8:00 p.m. EST/PST on ABC and will stream the following day on Hulu. Tickets are now on sale at www.axs.com.
The American Music Awards are produced by MRC Live & Alternative, which is owned by MRC. MRC and Penske Media are co-parent companies of Billboard.
