Morgan Wallen was the big winner at the 2023 Billboard Music Awards, taking home the most awards with 11 during the ceremony that aired on Sunday.
Wallen was named Top Male Artist, Top Hot 100 Artist, Top Streaming Songs Artist, Top Country Artist and Top Country Male Artist at the Billboard Music Awards, and also won Top Country Tour. The singers One thing at a time The album was also named top Billboard 200 album and top country album. Meanwhile, “Last Night” also scored wins for Top Hot 100 Song, Top Streaming Song and Top Country Song.
Wallen was also chosen to close the event, but instead of performing his award-winning “Last Night,” he chose “’98 Braves,” his ode to Major League Baseball’s Atlanta Braves, which “compares a relationship gone wrong with the Atlanta’s starting baseball team, which broke down during the regular season only to be eliminated during the league’s championship series,” as per Rolling Stone describes the song in reviewing the One thing at a time where the track appears.
He appropriately performed the song at Atlanta’s Truist Park, home of the Braves, during his One Night at a Time tour. Alongside their fans, 1998 Braves pitchers John Smoltz and Tom Glavine were in attendance. The two Braves introduced the singer as he received his awards.
“As the song goes, win some, you lose some. At the last awards show I went to, we went home empty-handed,” he said. “And this one, I don’t have enough hands for all of them. So either way, I promise I will stay the same regardless of whether we go home with 10 or zero. I’m going to give it my all every night, every time I step into the studio. So thank you for this award – all these awards are really fair, it’s for my fans, man. So, thank you very much. Thanks.”
“You took a kid from East Tennessee driving a two-door Toyota Tacoma and turned me into one of the top Billboard artists, so God bless you all,” he concluded.
