June 5, 2024
benny blanco Honored with the BMI President’s Award at the 2024 BMI Pop Awards
Taylor Swift Named Songwriter of the Year;
“Flowers” Received BMI Pop Song of the Year;
Sony Music Publishing Honored as Publisher of the Year
The Evening Also Celebrated the 50 Most-Performed Pop Songs of the Previous Year
LOS ANGELES, CA (June 4, 2024) BMI paid tribute to the best in songwriting at the 2024 BMI Pop Awards held tonight at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. The multiple platinum-selling recording artist and songwriter benny blanco was honored with the BMI President’s Award, celebrating his prolific career which has produced countless songs that resonate with fans worldwide. In addition, BMI’s Pop Song of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, Publisher of the Year, and BMI’s top 50 most-performed pop songs in the U.S. of the previous year were also announced. The private event was hosted by BMI President & CEO Mike O’Neill and Vice President, Worldwide Creative, Barbara Cane.
As the night’s top honoree, blanco was presented with the BMI President’s Award by O’Neill, who praised the multi-hyphenate creator as an “unstoppable creative force who has shaped the sound of popular music” through his “unique artistry and diverse style.” Some of blanco top collaborators sent in video congratulatory messages, including Lil Dicky, John Janick, Blake Slatkin, and Ed Sheeran, who said the honor was “well-deserved” and thanked him for his “great friendship and fantastic memories.” Sheeran went on to say, “we’ve made great music together and I’m so proud of you.” Sia then hit the stage for a striking tribute performance of Rihanna’s 2012 hit “Diamonds,” which she co-wrote with blanco.
On receiving the honor, blanco said, “I’m never not gonna live in the moment… and looking around at everyone and all of the things you’re achieving and hearing all of these amazing songs… I’m so proud because I’m thinking of how it felt when I won those awards.” He continued by saying, “We have the best job in the world, and we are so thankful and lucky to be in this room. We have the opportunity to make things better through music and help people. We’re giving the soundtrack to peoples’ lives.”
As a songwriter, record producer, actor, author, and artist, blanco is renowned for his unique style and ability to craft chart-topping hits across genres. He has written and produced hits like “Circus” by Britney Spears, “Lonely” by Justin Bieber, and “Eastside” featuring Halsey and Khalid, to name just a few. He has also cultivated an extensive discography, collaborating with top-tier artists like Selena Gomez, Ke$ha, Katy Perry, Ed Sheeran, Sia, SZA, The Weeknd, and many more. Throughout his career, blanco has amassed 29 #1 songs, a Golden Globe nomination, and 11 GRAMMY nominations, including Producer of the Year. In 2013, blanco received the Hal David Starlight Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame and won the iHeart Radio Producer of the Year Award in 2017. He also has accumulated 55 BMI Awards, was named Songwriter of the Year four times, and won Pop Song of the Year in 2013 for “Moves Like Jagger” performed by Maroon 5.
In receiving BMI President’s Award, blanco joins previous recipients, including Luis Fonsi, Noel Gallagher, Ellie Goulding, Imagine Dragons, Jay Kay of Jamiroquai, Ludacris, P!nk, Willie Nelson, Pitbull, Taylor Swift, Brian Wilson, and Dwight Yoakam, to name a few.
BMI’s Pop Songwriter of the Year went to Taylor Swift for ten of the previous year’s most-performed songs, including “Anti-Hero,” “Bejeweled,” “Cruel Summer,” “Karma,” “Lavender Haze,” “Maroon,” “Midnight Rain,” “Snow on the Beach,” “Vigilante Shit,” and “You’re on Your Own, Kid.” The celebrated singer/songwriter has received a total of 65 BMI Awards over her career and was honored with the BMI President Award in 2009, the BMI Taylor Swift Award in 2016.
Throughout the ceremony, the 50 most-performed pop songs of the previous year in the U.S. were also revealed, leading up to BMI’s Pop Song of the Year, which went to “Flowers” written and performed by Miley Cyrus with co-writers Gregory “Aldae” Hein and Michael Pollack. The massive hit became the longest-running number-one song in the history of Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart, spending 46 weeks on the top, and it also scored Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance at the 2024 GRAMMY Awards.
Sony Music Publishing received Publisher of the Year for the seventh year in a row, representing 34 of the previous year’s most performed songs, including “Anti-Hero,” “Barbie World,” “Eyes Closed,” “Flowers,” “Trustfall,” and “Unholy,” to name a few.
BMI also celebrated 34 first-time Pop Award winners, including Sabrina Carpenter (“Nonsense”), Ice Spice (“Boy’s a Liar Pt. 2”), Jelly Roll and Rob Ragosta (“Need A Favor”), Kamille (“I’m Good (Blue)”), Stephen Sanchez (“Until I Found You”), and more.
For the full list of 2024 honorees, please visit https://www.bmi.com/award-shows/pop-2024 and to join the conversation on social media, follow us @BMI and use #BMIPopAwards.
For photos and video clips, go to https://publicity.gettyimages.com/event/2024-bmi-pop-awards.
ABOUT BMI:
Celebrating over 80 years of service to songwriters, composers, music publishers, and businesses, Broadcast Music, Inc.® (BMI®) is a global leader in music rights management, serving as an advocate for the value of music. BMI represents the public performance rights in over 22.4 million musical works created and owned by more than 1.4 million songwriters, composers, and music publishers. The Company negotiates music license agreements and distributes the fees it generates as royalties to its affiliated writers and publishers when their songs are performed in public. In 1939, BMI created a groundbreaking open-door policy, becoming the only performing rights organization to welcome and represent the creators of blues, jazz, country, and American roots music. Today, the musical compositions in BMI’s repertoire, from chart toppers to perennial favorites, span all genres of music and are consistently among the most-performed hits of the year. For additional information and the latest BMI news, visit bmi.com, follow us on X and Instagram @BMI, or stay connected through Broadcast Music, Inc.’s Facebook page. Sign up for BMI’s The Weekly™ and receive our e-newsletter every week to stay up to date on all things music.
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