As the countdown continues to May 20, when the 2018 Billboard Music Awards takes place in Las Vegas, China's streaming giant Tencent Video announced in a press release on Monday that it will livecast the upcoming awards ceremony as well as original content from the red carpet ceremony on its platform.
According to the full list of nominations on billboard.com, Kendrick Lamar and Ed Sheeran and Bruno Mars lead the nominees with 15 BBMA nominations apiece. All three are up for Top Artist, competing against Drake (9 noms total), and Taylor Swift (5 noms total) in that field.
It's also a good day for Post Malone, who is up for 13 BBMAs in 12 categories, and Imagine Dragons, who snagged 11 nods in 10 categories. Justin Bieber and Cardi B are tied with 8 nominations, and the boys behind "Despacito," Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee, have 7 apiece. Cardi is up for Top New Artist, facing off against 21 Savage, Camila Cabello, Khalid and Kodak Black.
Ariana Grande, the record-breaking pop star who just made her triumphant, gravity-defying return with "No Tears Left to Cry" is set to act as the opening artist for the 2018 Billboard Music Awards. She joins the star-studded schedule with previously announced performances from BTS, Camila Cabello, Dua Lipa and Shawn Mendes for one of music's biggest nights of the year.
Korean pop band BTS, who enjoy high popularity in Asia especially in China, will perform at the awards, with the K-pop phenoms set to give the debut TV performance of the new single from their forthcoming Love Yourself: Tear album. In the K-pop scene, the debut performance of a new single is a big deal, known as a "comeback" performance. With their upcoming BBMAs performance, BTS is setting themselves up as Korean-culture leaders that can create bigger and larger opportunities to lift the Korean wave.
Additionally, Macklemore and Kesha will bring their collaboration "Good Old Days" to the stage. The song, from Macklemore's 2017 solo album Gemini, peaked at No.48 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March and their performance at the BBMAs will mark the second televised rendition of the collaboration after the duo appeared together on Ellen last year.
Janet Jackson will receive this year's ICON Award at the show and will also take the stage for a highly anticipated performance of her greatest hits, her first performance on TV in 9 years.
Because of each of these big names boasting a huge amount of music fans in China and their great influences in the music scene, Tencent Video Music has acquired the exclusive streaming and live broadcast rights to the Billboard Music Awards in the Chinese mainland until 2020.
