"We look forward to celebrating with everyone in person at next year's ceremony," said BMI's Barbara Cane.
“Without Me,” which was co-written by BMI writers Halsey and Delacey, was awarded song of the year at the 68th annual BMI Pop Awards. The single reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Halsey’s first No. 1 as a lead artist. It’s also the first song that Halsey wrote under her given name, Ashley Frangipane.
Khalid and Post Malone shared the award for songwriter of the year at the event, which, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was held virtually. Both singer/songwriters co-wrote four of BMI’s top-performed songs of 2019 — in each case, three songs on which they were the lead (or co-lead) artist and one on which they were the featured artist.
Khalid scored with “Better,” “Talk,” “Eastside” (with Benny Blanco and Halsey) and Ed Sheeran’s “Beautiful People,” on which he was featured.
Post Malone scored with “Wow,” “Goodbyes” (featuring Young Thug), “Sunflower” (with Swae Lee) and Tiësto & Dzeko’s “Jackie Chan,” on which he was featured, along with Preme.
“Talk” and “Sunflower” were both nominated for record of the year at the 62nd annual Grammy Awards on Jan. 26.
Sony/ATV Music Publishing took the award for publisher of the year for the eighth time. Sony/ATV represented 25 of BMI’s top 50 songs of 2019, including seven that reached No. 1 on the Hot 100: Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road (Remix),” Camila Cabello & Shawn Mendes’ “Señorita,” Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper’s “Shallow,” Lewis Capaldi’s “Someone You Loved,” Jonas Brothers’ “Sucker,” Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts” and the aforementioned “Sunflower.” Jon Platt, chairman and CEO of Sony/ATV Music Publishing, expressed the company’s thanks for the award in a video that was posted on the BMI website.
“We’re so proud to recognize BMI’s incomparable family of pop songwriters and music publishers whose talent, originality and creativity helped inspire many of the most popular songs of the past year,” said Barbara Cane, BMI’s vp worldwide creative. “With unique artistry and fearless authenticity, their music has the ability to inspire, uplift and empower us to drive the positive change that is so needed right now. We thank our community of music creators for sharing their gift of songwriting, and we look forward to celebrating with everyone in person at next year’s ceremony.”
