Justin Bieber is confirmed to perform at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards, along with Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, Miguel and the music legend Prince.
The live ceremony will be broadcast from MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on May 19.
This is just the first round of billing at Billboard’s Awards . More presenters and performers will be announced in the days and weeks ahead.
After enjoying massive success in the traditional sales and downloads charts, Bieber, Swift, Mars, and the acclaimed Miguel have each earned their place at Billboard’s event this year.
The Awards are based on album and single sales, airplay, touring, streaming and social media interactions between fans and artists on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Vevo and Spotify.
To wit, Swift has sold 26 million albums and 75 million song downloads sold worldwide.
Bieber steps up with 18 million albums worldwide, 3.5 billion YouTube views, 52 million Facebook fans and 36 million Twitter followers, while Mars has sold 53 million song downloads worldwide with 1 billion YouTube views.
Fans of Bieber , Miguel, Swift and Mars will no doubt be voting hard. Each is up for the new fan-driven Milestone Award, alongside Pitbull and The Band Perry.
Teaming up with Chevrolet, Billboard are giving fans the chance to vote for their favorite artist online with a prize of actually co-presenting the award live at the event with Cee Lo Green.
As previously announced, in what is something of a comeback year for Prince , he is the recipient of this year’s Billboard Icon award. Alicia Keys is slated to present to the Purple One.
Hopes will be high that this year’s Billboard Music Awards can replicate or top the success of last year. In 2012, Adele stormed the proceedings with twelve awards while LMFAO seconded that with six. The event scored ABC its second largest audience for the event since 2003.
Can Bieber, Swift, Miguel, Mars and Prince raise the ratings roof even higher?
Only time will tell. Meanwhile, tickets go on sale Thursday (1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT) at mgmgrand.com or ticketmaster.com .
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