2023 BET Awards: Drake, GloRilla, Lizzo, 21 Savage Lead Nominations

Drake’s unstoppable run in music is continuing at the 2023 BET Awards: He’s the top contender with seven nominations.

The multi-platinum rapper will compete for best male hip-hop artist and best male R&B/pop artist, while “Wait for U” — his song with Future and Tems — is up for best collaboration and the viewer’s choice award. Drake shares three nominations with 21 Savage: album of the year for their collaborative release Her Loss, best group and viewer’s choice for the No. 1 hit “Jimmy Cooks.”

The BET Awards will air live from Los Angeles on June 25. 

Breakthrough rapper GloRilla — who scored her first Grammy nomination this year — is behind Drake with six nominations. She will compete for best female hip-hop artist, best new artist, album of the year with her EP Anyways, Life’s Great and video of the year for “Tomorrow 2” with Cardi B. She’s a double nominee for best collaboration with “Tomorrow 2” and “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)” with Hitkidd.

21 Savage and Lizzo earned five nominations each, while Beyoncé, SZA, Ice Spice, Chris Brown and Burna Boy each scored four nods.

Albums battling Drake, 21 Savage and GloRilla for album of the year include Beyoncé’s Renaissance, SZA’s SOS, Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, Brown’s Breezy and DJ Khaled’s God Did.

Video of the year nominees are SZA’s “Kill BIll,” Lizzo’s “About Damn Time,” Brown’s “WE (Warm Embrace),” Steve Lacy’s “Bad Habit,” Jack Harlow’s “First Class,” GloRilla and Cardi B’s “Tomorrow 2” and “2 Million Up” by Jeezy, Peezy, Real Boston Richey and Rob49.

Acts who scored three nominations include Cardi B, Future, Lamar, Tems, Harlow, Coco Jones, FLO, Maverick City Music and Kirk Franklin. Migos rapper Takeoff, who died in November, earned a nomination for best group alongside Quavo.

Performers will be announced at a later date, but the show plans to celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop during the telecast.

The BET Awards mainly honors the music industry but has categories in film and sports. Nominees for best movie are Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, The Woman King, Till, Creed 3, Emancipation, Nope and Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody.

Angela Bassett, Viola Davis, Zendaya, Keke Palmer, Janelle James, Janelle Monáe and Coco Jones are up best actress, while best actor nominees include Michael B. Jordan, Donald Glover, Damson Idris, Brian Tyree Henry, Daniel Kaluuya, Demetrius “Lil Meech” Flenory Jr. and Amin Joseph. 

Alaya High aka That Girl Lay Lay — current The Hollywood Reporter cover star — is nominated for the YoungStars award. Other nominees are Marsai Martin, Dylan Gilmer, Genesis Denise, Thaddeus J. Mixson, Akira Akbar and Demi Singleton.