2015 Billboard Music Awards: Finalists Include Iggy Azalea, Ariana Grande, John Legend, Sam Smith, Taylor Swift, Meghan Trainor and Pharrell Williams

With help from hip-hop artist and actor Ludacris, TV host and supermodel Chrissy Teigen, Fall Out Boy musician Pete Wentz, and ‘Empire’ recording artist Jussie Smollett, dick clark productions and Billboard announced the finalists for the ?2015 Billboard Music Awards,? honoring the year?s most successful artists in 41 categories. The ‘2015 Billboard Music Awards’ will broadcast LIVE from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, May 17, on ABC from 8:00 PM?11:00 PM ET. This year’s show will showcase big performances, unexpected collaborations and pop culture moments that will have everyone talking. The ‘2015 Billboard Music Awards’ is produced by dick clark productions. Allen Shapiro, Mike Mahan, Mark Bracco, Barry Adelman and Robert Deaton are Executive Producers. Ludacris and Wentz appeared in the 8:00 AM ET hour of ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’ today, to announce five of the 41 finalist categories, including: Top Artist, Top Male Artist, Top Female Artist, Top Billboard 200 Album and Top Hot 100 Song. Wentz also announced Fall Out Boy?s participation as a performer in this year’s Billboard Music Awards. They will be performing ‘Uma Thurman’ with Wiz Khalifa. The ‘2015 Billboard Music Awards’ finalists announcement then went bicoastal, with Teigen and Smollett announcing the remaining categories at a press conference in the Twitter offices in Santa Monica, CA. The press conference was live tweeted from the official Billboard Music Awards handle (@OfficialBBMAs). Following the press conference, Teigen and Smollett participated in a live Twitter Q&A, moderated by Billboard?s Keith Caulfield. Visit @OfficialBBMAs to see their responses. In addition to the 40 chart specific categories, fans can vote for the special ?Billboard Chart Achievement Award presented by Samsung on Billboard.com, BillboardMusicAwards.com and on Twitter. Finalists for this category include Iggy Azalea, Taylor Swift and Meghan Trainor. Voting opens on April 28. Taylor Swift is top among all finalists with 14 entries in 13 categories, while Sam Smith is a finalist in an equal 13 categories with 13 entries. The two go head-to-head for eight of the show?s biggest awards including Top Artist, Top Billboard 200 Artist, Top Hot 100 Artist and Top Digital Songs Artist. Swift is a two-time finalist for Top Streaming Song (Video) for her Billboard chart toppers ‘Shake It Off’ and ‘Blank Space.’ Iggy Azalea is a finalist in 11 categories with 12 entries, competing against herself for Top Rap Song for her hits ?Fancy? featuring Charli XCX and ?Black [...]