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Dierks Bentley, Thomas Rhett, Kelsea Ballerini and Chris Stapleton were the country big winners at Sunday's iHeartRadio Music Awards. Thomas also put in a performance.
Dierks won Country Song of the Year for "Somewhere on a Beach, " Thomas was named Country Artist of the Year, Kelsea took Best New Country Artist while Chris won Country Album of the Year for Traveller.
Thomas put in a variety show version of “Star of the Show,” which started on a couch and ended up with a crew of interpretive dancers flanking him for some reason.
The tightly wound telecast maintained the fast-paced, blink-and-you’ll-miss-something attitude it has shown over the years, packing plenty of awards and performances into its two hours of airtime. Producers helped speed things along by presenting a slew of six-second acceptance speeches via Snapchat, while the artists cut to the chase for short, sharp takes on the hits.
In terms of acceptance speeches, most people stuck to the script. Exceptions included Justin Timberlake who took home Song of the Year for “Can’t Stop the Feeling” with a speech featuring one bleeped expletive and plenty of kind words for oppressed communities. Chris Martin flipped the script by bringing three of the little kids from Katy Perry’s routine on to accept the Best Tour Award as “the other” members of Coldplay.
Photo: Getty Images
2017 IHeartRadio Music Awards winners
- Country Song of the Year: "Somewhere on a Beach" - Dierks Bentley
- Country Artist of the Year: Thomas Rhett
- Best New Country Artist: Kelsea Ballerini
- Country Album of the Year: Traveller - Chris Stapleton
- Female Artist of the Year: Adele
- Male Artist of the Year: Justin Bieber
- Duo/Group of the Year: Twenty One Pilots
- Song of the Year: Justin Timberlake – “Can’t Stop the Feeling”
- Best New Artist: The Chainsmokers
- Best New Pop Artist: The Chainsmokers
- Pop Album of the Year: 25 - Adele
- Producer of the Year: Benny Bianco
- Rock Artist of the Year: Disturbed
- Rock Song of the Year : Green Day – “Bang Bang”
- Rock Album of the Year: Hardwired...to Self-Destruct - Metallica
- Alternative Rock Artist of the Year: Twenty One Pilots
- Alternative Rock Song of the Year: Twenty One Pilots – “Heathens”
- Alternative Rock Album of the Year: Blurryface - Twenty One Pilots
- Best New Alternative Artist: The Strumbellas
- Dance Artist of the Year: The Chainsmokers
- Dance Song of the Year: The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey: “Closer”
- Dance Album of the Year: Collage - The Chainsmokers.
- Hip-Hop Artist of the Year
- Best New Hip-Hop Artist: Chance the Rapper
- Hip-Hop Song of the Year: "One Dance" - Drake featuring Wizkid and Kyla
- Hip-Hop Album of the Year: Views - Drake
- Hip-Hop Artist of the Year: Drake
- R & B Artist of the Year: The Weeknd
- Best New R & B Artist: Bryson Tiller
- R & B Song of the Year: "Work" - Rihanna featuring Drake
- R & B Album of the Year: Anti - Rihanna
- Best Tour: Coldplay
- Best Lyrics: Justin Bieber: “Love Yourself”
- Best Music Video: Zayn – “Pillowtalk”
- Best Song From a Movie: 5 Seconds of Summer – “Girls Talk Boys”
- Best Fan Army: Fifth Harmony - Harmonizers
- Best Lyrics: "Love Yourself" - Justin Bieber
- Best Collaboration: Rihanna featuring Drake
- Best Over Song: "Ex's and Oh's - Fifth Harmony
- Most Thumbed Up Artist of the Year: Drake