Who was the inaugural Top Song Sales Artist winner in 2016?
Answer
The Weeknd
Who was the inaugural Top Song Sales Artist winner in 2016? The Weeknd was the winner.
The category was first presented at the 2016 Billboard Music Awards, recognizing an artist’s performance in song sales. The Weeknd took the inaugural honor over nominees including Adele, Justin Bieber, Drake, and Fetty Wap, establishing him as the category’s first recipient.
This award is easy to confuse with Top Selling Song, a separate category. In that same 2016 ceremony, Adele’s “Hello” won Top Selling Song, while The Weeknd won the artist-level award. The distinction is artist performance versus the sales result of one specific song.
The category later produced repeat winners: Drake won in 2017 and 2019, while BTS won in 2021 and 2022. BTS also became the first group and Korean artist to win it.