# American Music Awards of 2009

The 37th Annual American Music Awards took place on November 22, 2009 at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live in Los Angeles, California. The nominees were announced on October 13, 2009. For the first time in history, there was no host for the year's ceremony. Instead, various celebrities introduced the performers similar to the procedure at the Grammy Awards. Taylor Swift won five of six categories she was nominated for. Jay-Z and The Black Eyed Peas both won two awards. Michael Jackson's brother Jermaine Jackson accepted his awards on his behalf.

## Performers

| Artist(s) | Song(s) |
| Janet Jackson | "Control" "What Have You Done for Me Lately" "Miss You Much" "If" "Make Me" "Together Again" |
| Daughtry | "Life After You" |
| Shakira | "Give It Up to Me" |
| Keith Urban | "Kiss a Girl" |
| Kelly Clarkson | "Already Gone" |
| Jay-Z Alicia Keys | "Empire State of Mind" |
| The Black Eyed Peas | "Meet Me Halfway" "Boom Boom Pow" |
| Rihanna | "Mad House" "Wait Your Turn" "Hard" |
| Carrie Underwood | "Cowboy Casanova" |
| Lady Gaga | "Bad Romance" "Speechless" |
| Mary J. Blige | "I Am" |
| Jennifer Lopez | "Louboutins" |
| Whitney Houston | "I Didn't Know My Own Strength" |
| Alicia Keys | "Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart" |
| Eminem 50 Cent | "Crack a Bottle" "Forever" |
| Timbaland Nelly Furtado SoShy | "Morning After Dark" |
| Green Day | "21 Guns" |
| Adam Lambert | "For Your Entertainment" |

## Winners and nominees

| Artist of the Year | New Artist of the Year |
| Taylor Swift Eminem Michael Jackson Kings of Leon Lady Gaga | Gloriana Keri Hilson Kid Cudi Lady Gaga |
| Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist | Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist |
| Michael Jackson Eminem T.I. | Taylor Swift Beyoncé Lady Gaga |
| Favorite Pop/Rock Band/Duo/Group | Favorite Pop/Rock Album |
| The Black Eyed Peas Kings of Leon Nickelback | Number Ones – Michael Jackson The Fame – Lady Gaga Fearless – Taylor Swift |
| Favorite Country Male Artist | Favorite Country Female Artist |
| Keith Urban Darius Rucker Jason Aldean | Taylor Swift Reba McEntire Carrie Underwood |
| Favorite Country Band/Duo/Group | Favorite Country Album |
| Rascal Flatts Sugarland Zac Brown Band | Fearless – Taylor Swift Unstoppable – Rascal Flatts The Foundation – Zac Brown Band |
| Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist | Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Album |
| Jay-Z Eminem T.I. | The Blueprint 3 – Jay-Z Relapse – Eminem Paper Trail – T.I. |
| Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist | Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist |
| Michael Jackson Jamie Foxx Maxwell | Beyoncé Keyshia Cole Keri Hilson |
| Favorite Soul/R&B Band, Duo or Group | Favorite Soul/R&B Album |
| The Black Eyed Peas Day26 Mary Mary | Number Ones – Michael Jackson I Am... Sasha Fierce – Beyoncé The E.N.D. – The Black Eyed Peas |
| Favorite Soundtrack | Favorite Alternative Rock Artist |
| Twilight Hannah Montana: The Movie Hannah Montana 3 | Green Day Kings of Leon Shinedown |
| Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist | Favorite Latin Artist |
| Taylor Swift Daughtry Jason Mraz | Aventura Luis Fonsi Wisin & Yandel |
| Favorite Contemporary Inspirational Artist | International Artist Award |
| Mary Mary Jeremy Camp Brandon Heath | Whitney Houston |

## Controversies
### Adam Lambert's performance

In response to Adam Lambert's performance of his song "For Your Entertainment" at the end of the ceremony broadcast, the Parents Television Council, a conservative television watchdog group, urged viewers to complain to the FCC if living in an area where the performance was shown before 10 p.m. local time. The PTC complained that the performance contained a simulation of oral sex. Lambert's performance reportedly was broadcast around 11 p.m. Eastern and Pacific time, "outside the FCC's usual 6am-10pm time frame prohibiting the broadcast of indecent material". ABC also received about 1,500 telephoned complaints.
In a report by Lambert, he had been scheduled to also perform on fellow ABC programs Good Morning America, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2010 (the latter also being produced by Dick Clark Productions), but found out that these bookings were cancelled, possibly in response to the incident. Neither ABC or Dick Clark Productions confirmed his reports or confirmed if he was ever booked at all.

### Nominations of Michael Jackson

After his death in June 2009, Michael Jackson was nominated for five posthumous awards: Artist of the Year, Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist, Favorite Pop/Rock Album (for Number Ones), Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist and Favorite Soul/R&B Album (also for Number Ones). This move was subsequently criticized by those who felt that the awards committee was piggybacking on the hype of Jackson's death for ratings and media coverage purposes, and that his nomination was unfair to artists who had brought out newer material to equal success, such as Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift. Not helping matters was that Number Ones was a greatest-hits compilation released in 2003 (six years before that year's awards show), and not only had Jackson not released any new material since "One More Chance" (the sole new recording on that album), but he had already won several American Music Awards for the songs featured on Number Ones. LA Times insisted that "if fans thought it was an injustice that Kanye West had the audacity to interrupt Swift accepting a 'Moon Man' at the MTV Video Music Awards, then they should be ready to riot if she's now losing awards to artists who haven't had a new song in nearly a decade." Jackson went on to win four of his five nominations, only losing out on Artist of the Year, which was won by Swift.