Sabrina Carpenter won her first Primetime Emmy on Saturday (Sept. 5), night one of the Creative Arts Emmys, when The Muppet Show took the award for outstanding variety special (pre-recorded).

Carpenter won as an executive producer and performer of the Disney+ special, which commemorated the 50th anniversary of the debut of the beloved TV series (which went on the air 23 years before Carpenter was born).

The other nominees in the category were Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour | The Final Show (Disney+), Dave Chappelle: The Unstoppable… (Netflix), Nikki Glaser: Good Girl (Hulu) and Wicked: One Wonderful Night (NBC).

This marks the second time Carpenter has beaten Taylor Swift for an EGOT-level award. Her Short n’ Sweet won best pop vocal album in February 2025, beating Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department. That night, Carpenter also won best pop solo performance for “Espresso,” though Swift wasn’t nominated in that category.

Swift’s Eras Tour was the top-grossing tour in history, but The Muppet Show was a salute to a classic TV show. It’s easy to see its appeal to a body of voters who, after all, work in the TV industry.

Carpenter is now halfway to EGOT status, but then so is Swift. She won a juried award in 2015 — outstanding creative achievement in interactive media — original interactive program as artist and executive producer of AMEX Unstaged: Taylor Swift Experience. And Swift will likely soon be three-quarters of the way to EGOT status. She is considered the front-runner to win the Oscar for best original song on March 14 for “I Knew It, I Knew You” from Toy Story 5.

The Muppet Show won three other awards on Saturday: outstanding writing for a variety special, outstanding production design for a variety special and outstanding picture editing for variety program.

Only three programs won more Emmys than The Muppets on night one of the Creative Arts Emmys. The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny won seven, followed by The Traitors with six and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert with five.

Seth Rogen also won as executive producer of The Muppet Show special, as did fellow executive producers David Lightbody, Leigh Slaughter, Michael Steinbach, Evan Goldberg, James Weaver, Alex McAtee, Matt Vogel, Eric Jacobson, Albertina Rizzo and Alex Timbers. Ryan Janata won as co-executive producer and Dani Iglesias as producer.

The Muppet Show has one more nomination at night two of the Creative Arts Emmys on Sunday (Sept. 6): outstanding character voice-over performance for Matt Vogel as Kermit the Frog.

A total of 49 categories were presented on Saturday. A total of 53 categories will be presented on night two of the Creative Arts Emmys on Sunday. Just 19 categories will be presented on the live Emmy telecast, set for Monday, Sept. 14.

The Creative Arts Emmys are not telecast or streamed but highlights from the two ceremonies will air on Saturday, Sept. 12, at 8 p.m. PT on FXX. The program will be available to stream on Hulu starting the next day.

The 78th Emmy Awards telecast, hosted by Mariska Hargitay, will air live coast-to-coast on NBC on Monday, Sept. 14, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT from the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live. It will also stream on Peacock.

Bad Bunny won his first Primetime Emmy on Saturday (Sept. 5) – night one of the Creative Arts Emmys, which were held at the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live in Los Angeles. The Puerto Rican superstar won outstanding variety special (live) for The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny (NBC). He won as both the lead performer and a producer.

It’s just the second Super Bowl Halftime Show to win the top program Emmy. The Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show Starring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent won four years ago. Shawn Carter (Jay-Z), Desiree Perez and Jesse Collins won as executive producers of both shows. Dave Meyers won as co-executive producer of both shows.

The other nominees in the category this year were 83rd Annual Golden Globes (CBS), 68th Annual Grammy Awards (CBS), The Oscars (ABC) and 78th Annual Tony Awards (CBS).

The award comes seven months after Bunny became the first artist to win album of the year at the Grammy Awards for a Spanish-language album. He won for DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS.

The Apple Music Super Bowl LX Halftime Show Starring Bad Bunny won seven awards, easily becoming the most-awarded Super Bowl halftime show in Emmy history, surpassing the aforementioned 2022 hip-hop show, which won three. It is also the first Spanish-language program to win outstanding variety special (live).

It was also the most-awarded program on night one of the Creative Arts Emmys. See the full list of all programs that won multiple awards below.

Bunny’s Halftime Show also won outstanding music direction; outstanding directing for a variety special; outstanding sound mixing for a variety series or special; outstanding choreography for variety or reality programming; outstanding lighting design/lighting direction for a special; and outstanding technical direction and camerawork for a special.

A second program starring Bunny won a Primetime Emmy: The Season 51 opener of Saturday Night Live that he hosted won outstanding makeup for a variety, nonfiction or reality program.

Another pop megastar, Taylor Swift, was nominated for outstanding variety special (pre-recorded) for Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour | The Final Show (Disney+), but lost to another Disney + program, The Muppet Show.  The show, which paid tribute to the beloved series, also featured top talent, including Sabrina Carpenter (who won her first Primetime Emmy as an executive producer and performer on the special), Maya Rudolph and Seth Rogen. The other nominees in the category were Dave Chappelle: The Unstoppable… (Netflix), Nikki Glaser: Good Girl (Hulu) and Wicked: One Wonderful Night (NBC).

For the record, Swift is already a Primetime Emmy winner. She won a non-competitive “juried award” in 2015 – outstanding creative achievement in interactive media – original interactive program for AMEX Unstaged: Taylor Swift Experience. She has also won 14 Grammys and is widely seen as the front-runner to win the Oscar on March 14 for “I Knew It, I Knew You” from Toy Story 5.

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert won five awards, two for episodes that featured rock royalty by name in the episode descriptions. The series, which concluded an 11-year run in May, won outstanding picture editing for variety programming (segment) for an episode that featured Paul McCartney and Elvis Costello and outstanding lighting design/lighting direction for a series for an episode that featured Bruce Springsteen and special surprise guests.

Billy Joel: And So It Goes (HBO Max • HBO) won outstanding sound mixing for a nonfiction program.

The “Blink Again” segment of Sean Combs: The Reckoning (Netflix) won outstanding picture editing for a nonfiction program.

Mr. Scorsese, the Apple TV program about film director Martin Scorsese, won outstanding documentary or nonfiction series.

Two of the seven music categories were presented on Saturday – Miguel Gandelman won outstanding music direction for Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime Show. Tyler Strickland won outstanding music composition for a documentary/nonfiction or reality program for John Candy: I Like Me. These were the first Primetime Emmys for both.

Gandelman is the third person to win outstanding music direction for work on a Super Bowl Halftime Show. Adam Blackstone won for the aforementioned all-star hip-hop show. Kendrick Lamar and Tony Russell won last year for The Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show Starring Kendrick Lamar.

Hamish Hamilton won for outstanding directing for a variety special for the third time in the past four years. He won this year for his work on Bunny’s Super Bowl Halftime show. He won in that category in 2023 for co-directing (with Jay-Z) the Super Bowl Halftime Show starring Rihanna and in 2024 for directing the Oscars.

A total of 49 categories were presented on Saturday. A total of 53 categories will be presented on night two of the Creative Arts Emmys on Sunday (Sept. 6). Just 19 categories will be presented on the live Emmy telecast, set for Monday Sept. 14.

The Creative Arts Emmys are not telecast or streamed but highlights from the two ceremonies will air on Saturday, Sept. 12, at 8 p.m. PT on FXX. The program will be available to stream on Hulu starting the next day.

Mariska Hargitay won two awards on Saturday for producing and directing My Mom Jayne: A Film by Mariska Hargitay, about her mother, 1960s sex symbol Jayne Mansfield. Hargitay is set to host the 78th Emmy Awards telecast, which will air live coast-to-coast on NBC on Monday, Sept. 14, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT from the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live. It will also stream on Peacock.

Here’s a complete list of programs that won multiple awards on night one of the Creative Arts Emmys.

Lainey Wilson is set to become the first woman to solo-host the CMA Awards twice. She solo-hosted the show last year after co-hosting it in 2024 with Luke Bryan and Peyton Manning. Dolly Parton was the first woman to solo-host the CMA Awards in 1988. Reba McEntire did the honors in 1991.

The 60th annual CMA Awards will broadcast live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on ABC and Disney+ and will be available next day on Hulu.

“I couldn’t be more excited to be hosting the CMA Awards again this year, especially with it being the 60th anniversary,” Wilson said in a statement. “I’ve had so much fun hosting the last two years, and this one’s going to be extra special. Can’t wait to see y’all in November!”

The announcement that Wilson is returning as host was made live on ESPN’s College GameDay on Saturday (Sept. 5). It was timed to coincide with the show’s 500th show on the road from Louisiana State University in Wilson’s home state.

Among all hosts, Vince Gill has solo-hosted the CMA Awards the most times (10). He is followed by Johnny Cash (four), Tennessee Ernie Ford and Kenny Rogers (three each), Wilson (two, counting the upcoming show), Glen Campbell, Parton, McEntire and Bryan (one each).

Wilson, 34, has won 12 CMA Awards in just three years. She is already second among all female artists on the CMA leaderboard, trailing only Miranda Lambert, who has won 14 CMA Awards.

Nominees for the 60th annual CMA Awards will be revealed on Thursday, Sept. 10, first on ABC’s Good Morning America, then via livestream on CMA’s official YouTube channel. Billboard will also carry the news. Tickets for the 60th annual CMA Awards go on sale Friday, Sept. 18 at CMAworld.com/tickets.

CMA Awards nominees and winners are determined by over 7,000 Professional voting members of the Country Music Association.

The 60th annual CMA Awards is a production of the Country Music Association. Robert Deaton serves as executive producer, Alan Carter is director, and Jon Macks is head writer.

Here are the hosts and locations of previous milestone CMA Awards broadcasts.

Alex Van Halen adds a Knighthood to his heaving collection of awards.

The Van Halen drummer and co-founder was Knighted this week in The Netherlands, the country of his birth — recognition of his remarkable career and influence on musicians around the globe.

Van Halen was appointed Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion (Ridder in de Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw) on Tuesday (Sept. 1) in Nijmegen, the Dutch city where he and his brother Eddie spent a good chunk of their childhood. It’s one of the country’s highest civilian orders, given only to those who “make extraordinary contributions” to society.

The 73-year-old rocker was on hand for the ceremony at the Berchmanianum, the academy building of Radboud University, where mayor Hubert Bruls presented the royal honor and spoke of Van Halen’s role in writing a “remarkable chapter in the history of rock music.”

Speaking on the sidelines, Van Halen remarked: “My cousin organized most of this. I’m very grateful. I think institutions like this are important in people’s lives because it adds a dignity and a gravity to what we do. Whether it’s actually deserved or not, that’s another question. But we can live up to it. That’s the whole thing, is you got to have something to live up to.”

Alex also signed Nijmegen’s Book of the City, a tome reserved for distinguished visitors, inking his name in its pages alongside Bruce Springsteen and King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands.

“Alex still feels a connection with Nijmegen,” reads a statement from the city, “and Nijmegen in turn honors the band.”

For his 2024 memoir, Brothers (through HarperCollins), Alex Van Halen recounts his upbringing in Europe; the brothers’ relocation to the United States, eventually settling in Pasadena, California, in 1962; and their band’s ascent to the very highest peak of rock music.

Throughout Brothers’ 231 pages, Van Halen discloses the tight bond between him and Eddie, his guitar hero brother who passed away during Oct. 2020 at the age of 65 after a long battle with cancer.

Van Halen was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, won a Grammy Award (hard rock performance for 1991’s For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge), four MTV Video Music Awards, and, for a time, dominated the charts. In the United States, the band scored five No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 chart and more than 20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, including the 1984 smash single “Jump,” which logged five weeks at No. 1.

The NAACP Image Awards have added 10 new categories to recognize the achievements of African artists. Previously, there were no dedicated African categories. The new categories are:

Here’s how the NAACP framed these new categories in a statement: “With ten new African categories, the NAACP Image Awards expands its historic mission of recognizing Black excellence, building a cultural bridge between Africa and the global Black diaspora while celebrating the continent’s growing influence across film, television and music—and establishing the Image Awards as a global standard-bearer for Black creative achievement.”

Submissions for nomination consideration in 108 categories spanning motion picture, television + streaming, recording, literature and podcasts are now open on the NAACP Image Awards website.

The 58th NAACP Image Awards will also mark the return of four daytime drama categories: outstanding daytime drama series, outstanding actor in a daytime drama series, outstanding actress in a daytime drama series and outstanding supporting actor in a daytime drama series.

Nominees will be announced on Jan. 7, 2017. That is also the date that public voting opens. Public voting closes on Feb. 1. The date of the awards ceremony will be announced later. The 2026 show, hosted by Deon Cole, was held on Feb. 28 at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, Calif.

A performance or project that occurs between Jan. 1, 2026 and Dec. 31, 2026 qualifies to be submitted this year. Information and guidelines for submitting are available on the website. 

Here’s a full list of recording categories for the 58th NAACP Image Awards: