The Billboard Music Awards went on hiatus for four years before returning in 2011. The last ceremony before the break was held in 2006, and no ceremonies took place in 2007, 2008, 2009, or 2010.
The awards returned on May 22, 2011, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Ken Jeong hosted the ceremony, which recognized chart performance from 2010. Eminem and Justin Bieber led the winners with six awards each.
The gap can be confusing because the ceremony’s numbering continued when it returned: the 2011 event was listed as the 18th Billboard Music Awards, following the 17th ceremony in 2006. The show then resumed an annual schedule, with the 2012 ceremony following in May.
This hiatus was a pause in the awards ceremony itself, not a disappearance of Billboard’s music charts. Billboard continued publishing charts and tracking artists during those years; only the televised awards event was absent.