Pick a Day

Music History Events: Awards and Honors

November 8, 2021 Missy Elliott gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She shouts out "my female MCs in hip-hop," including her forebears Queen Latifah, Salt-N-Pepa, MC Lyte, Monie Love, Sha-Rock, Angie Stone, Roxanne Shanté, and Yo-Yo.

October 30, 2021 Carole King, Tina Turner, Jay-Z, LL Cool J, Todd Rundgren, the Go-Go's and Foo Fighters are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

June 24, 2021 A section of Van Arsdale Place in Teaneck, New Jersey, is renamed The Isley Brothers Way in honor of The Isley Brothers, who formed there and named their record label, T-Neck, after the township.

May 23, 2021 Drake wins Artist of the Decade at the Billboard Music Awards.

March 14, 2021 At the Grammy Awards, Taylor Swift wins Album Of The Year for Folklore and Beyoncé takes four awards, making her the most-awarded woman in Grammy history, her 28 trophies surpassing Alison Krauss' 27.

November 22, 2020 For the third consecutive year, Taylor Swift wins Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards. She accepts from a Nashville studio where she's re-recording her first six albums, which have been acquired by a holding company.

November 7, 2020 The Doobie Brothers, Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, Whitney Houston, The Notorious B.I.G., and T. Rex enter the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Because of coronavirus, the ceremony is virtual and there are no performances.

August 30, 2020 Lady Gaga is the big winner at MTV Video Music Awards, taking Artist of the Year, Song of the Year (her Ariana Grande collaboration "Rain On Me") and the Tricon Award, formerly the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. With the coronavirus lockdown still in place, two new categories are awarded: Best Music Video From Home ("Stuck with U" by Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber) and Best Quarantine Performance (CNCO: Unplugged at Home).

June 30, 2020 John Prine, who grew up near Chicago, is named the first honorary poet laureate of Illinois. Prine died of coronavirus three months earlier.

March 4, 2020 At 58, Garth Brooks becomes the youngest recipient of the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. Past recipients of the award include Gloria & Emilio Estefan, Tony Bennett, Willie Nelson, Billy Joel, Carole King, and Paul McCartney, among others.

May 4, 2019 A section of Staten Island is renamed "Wu-Tang Clan District" in honor of the group.More

February 10, 2019 At the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, Leon Bridges and PJ Morton tie for Best Traditional R&B Performance when Bridges' "Bet Ain't Worth The Hand" and Morton's cover of the Bee Gees' "How Deep Is Your Love" both win the title. It's the first Grammy win for both artists.

November 19, 2018 Snoop Dogg gets a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. In his speech, he thanks himself, inspiring the title track to his next album, I Wanna Thank Me.

August 27, 2018 Weird Al Yankovic receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. At the ceremony, he tells the crowd, "My name is gonna be walked on, spit on, and let's face it ... urinated on for generations to come. That's a legacy, my friends."

June 26, 2018 Barry Gibb of Bee Gees is knighted by Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace.

April 16, 2018 Kendrick Lamar's album DAMN. wins the Pulitzer Prize for music, making him the first rapper to win the award, which traditionally goes to classical composers or jazz musicians.

March 25, 2018 Founding member Steven Page, who left the Barenaked Ladies nine years earlier, performs with the band at the Juno Awards, where they are honored for their induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. Gord Downie of The Tragically Hip, who died the previous year, earns Artist of the Year.

January 28, 2018 Shakira's El Dorado wins the Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop album, making her the first female performer to receive two trophies in that category. The first was for her 2001 live album, MTV Unplugged.

November 30, 2017 Westbury New Road, where Rihanna grew up in Barbados, is renamed Rihanna Drive in her honor.More

September 29, 2017 A statue of Jimmy Bain by Colin Cairns Ford is unveiled in the bass player's hometown of Dunbar, Scotland.

August 27, 2017 Kendrick Lamar wins Video of the Year for HUMBLE. at the MTV Video Music Awards, where Taylor Swift debuts her video for "Look What You Made Me Do."More

August 14, 2017 Pantone announces a new color: a purple hue in honor of Prince named after his famous symbol (Love Symbol #2).

August 7, 2017 The Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society reports that a recently identified new species of ancient crocodile has been named Lemmysuchus obtusidens in honor of the Motörhead frontman.

June 14, 2017 The National Music Publishers Association gives Yoko Ono the Centennial Award for song of the century and adds her name to the credits of the award-winning song, "Imagine." John Lennon took the sole credit, but later admitted he got the idea from Yoko's book Grapefruit, where she wrote things like, "Imagine 1000 suns in the sky at the same time."

March 16, 2017 Ray Davies, frontman of The Kinks, is knighted for services to the arts by the Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace.

February 10, 2017 Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

November 20, 2016 Ariana Grande wins Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards. Justin Bieber is also a big winner, taking home four trophies. Green Day takes a swipe at Donald Trump, who was elected president two weeks earlier, in their performance of "Bang Bang," going into a chant of "No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA."

October 13, 2016 Bob Dylan is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, "For having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition." Previous winners in this category include William Golding, John Steinbeck, and William Faulkner. He's the first American to win since Toni Morrison in 1993.

October 11, 2016 Rod Stewart is knighted at Buckingham Palace, becoming Sir Roderick David Stewart.

September 19, 2016 Tom Waits and wife/collaborator Kathleen Brennan, along with John Prine, receive the PEN Lyric Award Prize, given in partnership with the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.