American Music Awards 2022: Everything You Need to Know About Music's Big Night

Leon Bennett/Getty; Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty; Kevin Mazur/Getty

Music lovers rejoice! The 2022 American Music Awards is almost here.

Marking its 50th anniversary, the annual award show will air live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday, Nov. 20 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Wayne Brady, 50, is serving as the night's emcee for the star-studded evening.

Fan favorite Bad Bunny is leading the ranks with eight nominations. If he were to win in all eight categories, he could tie Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston for the most awards in a single year. His latest album Un Verano Sin Ti is up for favorite pop album and Latin album.

Pink will be taking the stage for an Olivia Newton-John tribute, and Lionel Richie will be honored with the prestigious Icon Award.

Here is everything to know about the largest fan-voted award show.

Wayne Brady Will Host

Brady was announced as the host for this year's ceremony on Oct. 24. He later opened up to PEOPLE about how he's preparing for the big night.

"I was ecstatic," Brady said of the moment he found out. "I actually lost my mind. That is one of the most amazing feelings. You feel like one of the cool kids in school."

He continued, "Besides being a host, and besides being a musician, I just love music. So to be a music lover in the middle of music, all these musicians that you look up to and these new musicians that are paving the way and bursting onto the scene, it's really a remarkable night to be a part of."

Hosting the award show is a full-circle moment for the star, considering he hosted the preshow nearly 20 years ago. "I've got all these years of experience to pull from now," he said.

As for how he plans to make it special? Wayne's got an idea or two.

"I'm not going to say 100%, but odds are is we're doing an opening number. I mean, in the award shows that I've hosted in the past I'm kind of known for being able to pull those out," he says with excitement. "So we're going to do a really cool opening number. And then at some point, I would love to be able to freestyle or do an improvisational piece using people from the audience, because as a fan, and as a music lover, and as a musician, to be able to improvise musically on the AMAs would be the highlight of my life."

"And maybe there'll be an opportunity to show off a few of my Dancing with the Stars moves later in the show," says Brady, who is currently a contestant on the reality competition series.

ABC Wayne Brady

Check out PEOPLE's full AMAs coverage to get the latest news music's big night.

And The Nominees Are...

Bad Bunny garnered the most nominations this year with eight, while Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and Drake have six each.

The latter three are all up for artist of the year, while Swift and Beyoncé will also go head to head for female pop artist and pop album.

Meanwhile, Adele, Harry Styles and The Weeknd each have five nominations and are all included in the artist of the year category. All three also earned nods for favorite pop album, with 30, Harry's House and Dawn FM.

First-time nominees at the award show are Jack Harlow, Tems, Latto, BLACKPINK, Anitta and Swedish House Mafia.

Swift currently holds the title for most wins in the artist of the year category with six total. She also holds the record for most AMA wins of all time with 34 total.

New categories this year are favorite K-pop artist, favorite afrobeats artist, favorite rock song and favorite rock album.

See the full list of nominees here.

Amy Sussman/Getty; Kevin Winter/Getty; Rich Fury/Getty; Terry Wyatt/Getty Bad Bunny, Beyonce, Drake and Taylor Swift

Here Are the Performers

Carrie Underwood, Imagine Dragons, Yola and Pink will hit the stage at the event.

Tems, Wizkid and J.I.D will also be performing, while D-Nice will serve as the house DJ.

Pink, 43, will hit the stage with her upcoming single "Never Gonna Not Dance Again," which was released on Nov. 4.

Pink is also set to perform what's sure to be an emotional tribute to late singer and actress Olivia Newton-John, who died of breast cancer at age 73 in August. Throughout the Grease star's career, she received 10 AMAs and co-hosted the show with Glen Campbell and Aretha Franklin in 1976.

Meanwhile, Underwood, 39, will perform her hit track "Crazy Angels" off her latest record, Denim & Rhinestones. Imagine Dragons will perform alongside rapper J.I.D, while Wizkid and Tems will each make their AMA performance debut.

Yola, 39, will perform her song "Break the Bough," which has been named the AMAs song of the soul.

Furthermore, Stevie Wonder will team up with Charlie Puth and Ari Lennox to perform a medley of Lionel Richie's hit songs in honor of the former Commodores musician winning the AMAs Icon Award.

Other newly revealed artists set to take the stage include rapper GloRilla, David Guetta and Bebe Rexha performing "I'm Good (Blue)," Dove Cameron performing "Boyfriend," Anitta performing "Lobby" and "Envolver" as well as Lil Baby rapping "California Breeze" and "In a Minute."

Jason Kempin/Getty for CMT; Gareth Cattermole - MTV/Getty for MTV Carrie Underwood and Imagine Dragons

Who Are the Presenters?

Jimmie Allen, Meghan Trainor and Dan + Shay are among the celebrities set to appear at the 2022 AMAs on Sunday, PEOPLE exclusively revealed on Friday.

Other presenters for the awards show include musicians Dustin Lynch, Ellie Goulding, Jessie James Decker, Kelly Rowland, Kim Petras, Latto, Melissa Etheridge, Sabrina Carpenter and Smokey Robinson as well as actresses Karreuche Tran, Roselyn Sanchez, Niecy Nash-Betts and Sheryl Lee Ralph, plus media personality Liza Koshy.

Paras Griffin/Getty, Santiago Felipe/Getty, Terry Wyatt/Getty Jimmie Allen, Meghan Trainor, Dan + Shay

An Esteemed Honor

Lionel Richie was previously announced as the recipient of the Icon Award — which will mark the "Hello" singer-songwriter's 18th trophy from the annual ceremony.

"I'm immensely grateful for a career that has taken me to places I never imagined that I'd go, from arenas worldwide to studio sets to the AMA stage," read a press statement from Richie, 73, who will become the only artist to appear on the fan-voted awards show in every decade since its 1973 inception.

Continuing his statement, the former Commodores member reflected on a notable moment from his decades-long career. "I can recall one of the first times I got to perform at the AMAs," said Richie. "It was to sing 'We Are the World' among the most iconic musicians of my generation, so it is surreal to be receiving this recognition 36 years later."

Where to Watch

The award show will air live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Nov. 20 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. Fan voting for all awards is now open on VoteAMAs.com.