Hip Hop

Roddy Ricch, Megan Thee Stallion, Lil Baby Win Big At Apple Music Awards 2020

Roddy Ricch won big at this year’s Apple Music Awards.

Apple Music unveiled its winners for its second annual award ceremony on Wednesday (No. 18). Roddy Ricch was among the big winners of the night, taking home not one but two huge awards for his chart success this year. The 22-year-old rapper nabbed both Top Song of the Year for his breakout hit “The Box” and Top Album of the Year for his debut album Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial.

Roddy says this recognition reassured him that he’s doing something right in his music career. “It’s crazy making music could get me to the point where a platform like Apple could honor me or put me on a pedestal,” the rapper said after his big win. “This is confirmation that I am on the right track and doing what I gotta do to be the greatest in my own right.” Roddy Ricch led Apple Music charts with “The Box” earlier this year and topped the Billboard Hot 100 for an accumulated eleven weeks. His album Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial also topped Apple Music charts and was a Billboard 200 leader for four non-consecutive weeks.

Other winners at this year’s Apple Music Awards include Megan Thee Stallion, who was named Breakout Artist of the Year. As indicated by Apple Music, Megan’s No.1 hits, which include “Savage” remix with Beyonce and “WAP” with Cardi B “have collectively been played on Apple Music more than 300 million times globally.” The rapper gushed about the achievement after her win, saying, “This is a really big accomplishment for me.” Megan earned the award just before the arrival of her debut album Good News which is slated to arrive at midnight. The year, the Houston native also became the first woman to ever top the Rap Songwriters chart and the highest-charting female rapper on the Hot 100 Songwriters chart, peaking at No. 2.

Lil Baby was named Artist of the Year by Apple Music after his sophomore studio album My Turn, which debuted at No. 1 turned over billions of global streams, and spawned multiple Apple Music chart leaders. According to Apple Music, it was the rapper’s “deeply moving and timely” single “The Bigger Picture” that really “cemented his place as the indisputable, authentic voice of youth culture.” My Turn topped the Billboard 200 chart for more than a month and was one of the biggest streaming releases of 2020. Lil Baby says this year has really changed him. “Now that I’m an artist, I feel like my voice can get heard through my music and I needed to say something,” he said. “And my fans listened. So thank you to my fans and thank you to Apple Music for giving me a special way to connect to my fans.”

Global Artist of the Year and Breakthrough Artist of the Year were “hand-selected by Apple Music’s global editorial team of world-class experts and tastemakers” who also named Taylor Swift Songwriter of the Year. Meanwhile, Roddy Ricch’s win was based on the platform’s streaming data. Apple Music has a whole week of events planned to feature the winner’s circle starting Dec. 14 which will include special performances, interviews, fan events, and more. It will be available to stream worldwide on Apple Music TV, Apple Music, and the Apple TV app.