The fans have spoken and Scottish superstar Calvin Harris officially has America’s stamp of approval. Last night, Calvin took home the award for Favorite EDM Artist at the American Music Awards, beating out Zedd and last year’s winner Avicii. Calvin wasn’t present at this year’s ceremony but he did walk the red carpet at the 2013 AMAs. The AMAs introduced the Favorite Artist (EDM) category in 2012; that year, David Guetta beat out Calvin Harris & Skrillex and took home the award. Although the category has only been around for three years, Calvin Harris is the only electronic artist to have been nominated all three years.
The AMAs are decidedly more democratic than the Grammys as the AMA winners are decided by a poll of the public and music buyers while the Grammys are voted on by Recording Academy members. The win comes towards the end of a whirlwind 2014 for Calvin, just a few weeks after the release of his fourth studio album, Motion. Last month, he became the first artist to have three singles in the top 10 of Billboard’s Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, with “Blame,” “Outside,” and “Summer” all landing in the chart’s top 10.
