The people have spoken, and celebrities and fan-favorite stars behind the buzziest music, TV shows, and movies of 2023 took center stage in Santa Monica on Sunday at the 49th People’s Choice Awards, the first to be held in February amid Hollywood’s wider awards season, which aired on NBC and E! and streamed on Peacock.
The People’s Choice Awards makes no bones about being a popularity contest—at least compared to its counterparts like the Critics Choice Awards or Oscars. It bestows laurels based not on the haughty judgment of professional reviewers or industry colleagues but rather on a public online vote across 45 different categories that include The Bingeworthy Show of the Year and The Social Celebrity of the Year, with famous nominees including Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Pedro Pascal, Stray Kids, Kim Kardashian, Bad Bunny, and even Lionel Messi.
The primetime show also included performances by Australian pop star Kylie Minogue as well as American country artist Lainey Wilson and genre-bending guitarist and singer Lenny Kravitz, who received a special Music Icon Award. Adam Sandler, meanwhile, was honored with a People’s Icon Award for his contributions to comedy.
Here’s everything you need to know about the 2024 People’s Choice Awards.
All the categories and winners
MOVIES
Movie of the Year: Barbie
Action Movie of the Year: The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
Comedy Movie of the Year: Barbie
Drama Movie of the Year: Oppenheimer
Male Movie Star of the Year: Ryan Gosling, Barbie
Female Movie Star of the Year: Margot Robbie, Barbie
Action Movie Star of the Year: Rachel Zegler, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes
Comedy Movie Star of the Year: Jennifer Lawrence, No Hard Feelings
Drama Movie Star of the Year: Jenna Ortega, Scream VI
Movie Performance of the Year: America Ferrera, Barbie
TELEVISION
Show of the Year: Grey’s Anatomy
Comedy Show of the Year: Only Murders in the Building
Drama Show of the Year: The Last of Us
Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show of the Year: Loki
Reality Show of the Year: The Kardashians
Competition Show of the Year: The Voice
Bingeworthy Show of the Year: The Summer I Turned Pretty
Male TV Star of the Year: Pedro Pascal, The Last of Us
Female TV Star of the Year: Selena Gomez, Only Murders in the Building
Comedy TV Star of the Year: Jeremy Allen White, The Bear
Drama TV Star of the Year: Jennifer Aniston, The Morning Show
TV Performance of the Year: Billie Eilish, Swarm
Reality TV Star of the Year: Khloé Kardashian, The Kardashians
Competition Contestant of the Year: Ariana Madix, Dancing with the Stars
Daytime Talk Show of the Year: The Kelly Clarkson Show
Nighttime Talk Show of the Year: The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Host of the Year: Jimmy Fallon, That’s My Jam
MUSIC
Male Artist of the Year: Jung Kook
Female Artist of the Year: Taylor Swift
Male Country Artist of the Year: Jelly Roll
Female Country Artist of the Year: Lainey Wilson
Male Latin Artist of the Year: Bad Bunny
Female Latin Artist of the Year: Shakira
Pop Artist of the Year: Taylor Swift
Hip-Hop Artist of the Year: Nicki Minaj
R&B Artist of the Year: Beyoncé
New Artist of the Year: Ice Spice
Group/Duo of the Year: Stray Kids
Song of the Year: “Vampire,” Olivia Rodrigo
Album of the Year: Guts, Olivia Rodrigo
Collaboration Song of the Year: “Barbie World,” Nicki Minaj & Ice Spice with Aqua
Concert Tour of the Year: Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour
POP CULTURE
Social Celebrity of the Year: Taylor Swift
Comedy Act of the Year: Selective Outrage, Chris Rock
Athlete of the Year: Travis Kelce
What to know about host Simu Liu
Simu Liu—a 34-year-old Chinese-Canadian actor best known for his roles in sitcom Kim’s Convenience as well as in Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, for which his performance as the titular hero was nominated for two People’s Choice Awards in 2021—was on hosting duty while also being a nominee in the category of The Movie Performance of the Year, after playing an Asian Ken in Greta Gerwig’s summer flick and cultural phenomenon Barbie.
It wasn’t Liu’s first hosting gig: last year, he was master of ceremonies at the 2023 Juno Awards, the Canadian equivalent of the Grammys, and in 2022 he hosted the TIME100 Gala. He’s also guest-hosted an episode of Jimmy Kimmel: Live, filling in for the late-night host during summer 2022.
The 2024 awards season had already seen hosts perform to varying degrees of success. But Liu earlier told USA Today that he did the work to make sure that everything lands well.
“It’s not about slandering anyone,” he said. “It’s not about getting the most offensive joke that you can possibly get away with. It’s not about being the guy that’s cutting other people down.”
Who got the most nominations?
“Barbenheimer” reigned supreme again. Greta Gerwig’s Barbie was the top movie nominee with nine nominations including for actors Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie, while Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer followed with six, including for actors Cillian Murphy and Florence Pugh.
On the small screen, Comedy Show of the Year winner Only Murders in the Building led the pack with seven nominations, including for actors Steve Martin, Selena Gomez, and Meryl Streep.
As for musicians, Swift was nominated across five categories for her songs, her social media presence, and her box office-breaking The Eras Tour concert film. Rapper Nicki Minaj and country singers Luke Combs and Morgan Wallen also each received five nominations.
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