Cardi B & Ariana Grande Dominated The 2019 Billboard Music Award Nominations

Cardi B just made history again, and Taylor Swift might extend a record-breaking streak. The 2019 Billboard Music Awards nominations are here, and it’s a great showing for women across the board, most notably for our beloved Cardi. This year's Billboard Music Awards host Kelly Clarkson announced the nominees on the morning of Thursday, April 4, on The Today Show alongside Dan + Shay, and there’s a lot of potential for artists to break records and make history this year.

Cardi B leads the pack with an astounding 21 nods, just missing the record for the most BBMA nominations in a single year. (Drake and The Chainsmokers both set the record in 2017 with 22 nominations each.) Even without a win yet, this means Cardi has already earned the title for the most BBMA nominations in a single year for a female artist. Impressively, Cardi will also compete against herself in three categories (Top Selling Song, Top Collaboration, and Top Hot 100 Song), and the rapper will compete in the coveted Top Artist category for the first time.

Another woman looking to break records at the BBMAs this year is Taylor Swift. The singer garnered two nominations this year for Top Female Artist and Top Touring Artist, and with just one win, she would extend her streak as the artist with the most BBMA wins of all time, according to Business Insider. Swift has received 23 Billboard Music Awards to date, including three wins in the Top Female Artist category already. And, given that her 2018 Reputation Stadium Tour is now the highest-grossing U.S. tour in history, per Forbes, we’ll be shocked if she loses that Top Touring Artist award.

Other women in contention this year are Ariana Grande, who landed an impressive nine nods, including Top Artist, and Lady Gaga, who received four nominations, including one alongside A Star Is Born co-star Bradley Cooper for the Chart Achievement Award, a category in which fans can vote for the winner in the coming weeks.

Speaking of Cooper, the Grammy-winning filmmaker is now a BBMA-nominated artist as well, landing three nods with Gaga for the A Star Is Born soundtrack and the Oscar-winning anthem “Shallow”. Drake and Post Malone lead nominations for the men with 17 nods each. Travis Scott is also up for 12 awards. And all three rappers are in the running for Top Artist along with Cardi and Grande.

Alongside the Chart Achievement Award, fans can also vote for who wins the Top Social Artist category, but it’ll take luck for any nominee to defeat BTS, who has won the award for the past two years in a row and is up for it once again this year. The K-pop group has also made history by landing its first nomination in the Best Duo/Group category, competing against Western acts Dan + Shay, Imagine Dragons, Maroon 5, and Panic! at the Disco.

It’s a rare feat for any Asian act to be represented at American music award shows, especially alongside major Western artists, and BTS' nomination shows that their historic streak of success isn’t stopping anytime soon. Women and K-pop dominating the 2019 BBMAs sounds like a pretty foolproof plan.