The 2023 Billboard Fan Army Face-Off has ended, and we have a winner! After a final battle between the CARATs and A’TIN, one came out the clear victor: SB19 claimed the crown thanks to A’TIN on Tuesday, Aug. 8, after a strong challenge from SEVENTEEN’s fans.
Billboard’s annual Fan Army showdown sees 64 artists’ fan armies enter the battle fray to find out whose fan base was the strongest. It kicked off July 5, and on July 12 at noon ET, 32 fan armies emerged victorious after millions of fan votes to compete in Round 2. Round 2 was tight — multiple match-ups remained too close to call the entire morning of Wednesday, July 19, with several of them down-to-the-wire right up until noon ET. With all the votes in, 16 fan armies emerged victorious for Round 3. Those fan armies made their voices heard throughout the week, and when all was said and done, an Elite Eight — made up of the fan armies for Cardi B, EXO, Selena Gomez, Nicki Minaj, SB19, SEVENTEEN, Shakira and TWICE — emerged victorious to compete in the Quarterfinals, which began July 26 at noon ET.
After a fiercely competitive face-off to move to the next level, this year’s Semifinals found the fan armies for Cardi B, SB19, SEVENTEEN and Shakira in a showdown to determine the Finals. At noon ET on Aug. 4, the fan armies for SB19 and SEVENTEEN emerged victorious. So it’s down to the Filipino boy band and the South Korean boy band, respectively, with their fans vying to become the top fan army of 2023.
Last year was a closely watched showdown, and each fan army deserves a huge shout-out for keeping us guessing. But in the end, only one can win, and for 2022, the winner of the Billboard Fan Army Face-Off was Stray Kids, with STAY pulling out the win on July 19. Past Fan Army Face-Off winners include Super Junior’s E.L.F (victorious twice), T-ara’s Queens (victorious three times) and BIGBANG’s VIPs.
This year’s competitors included fan armies who support luminaries in pop, hip-hop, K-pop, country, R&B, rock, dance and more. Some of these icons have been around for decades, changing the game and shifting the direction of culture, while others are newcomers, helping push music in bold new directions. More than a handful of them have graced the cover of Billboard magazine (some more than once), and numerous artists here have topped the Billboard Hot 100.
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Check out the final results for the 2023 Fan Army Face-Off below.
