Sony/ATV Wins BMI Publisher of the Year

Sony/ATV received the prestigious honour of BMI Publisher of the Year at the 66th annual ceremony, which recognises the year’s most-performed pop songs. It is the fourth time in five years that Sony/ATV has won the top Publisher prize at the event, which was held on Tuesday May 8th at the Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills, California.

Sony/ATV songwriters also received pop awards for 26 songs during the evening with the company’s winners including Camila Cabello, Alessia Cara, Luis Fonsi, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran who also won Song of the Year for “Shape Of You.”

Sony/ATV Chairman and CEO Martin Bandier said: “Winning never goes out of style and we are thrilled to be BMI’s Publisher of the Year after a year in which our songwriters and creative teams were involved in a number of record-breaking successes. This award is well deserved and I am really proud of what we have achieved.”

Sony/ATV was crowned Publisher of the Year at the annual BMI event at the end of an evening in which a number of its songwriters received awards for writing some of the past year’s most-performed songs. These included Ed Sheeran, Camila Cabello and Alessia Cara who were each recognized with three pop awards.

Ed Sheeran won awards for “Shape Of You,” which last year topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 12 weeks, and the Top 10 hit “Castle On The Hill,” while his songwriting for other artists was highlighted by an award for co-writing “Strip That Down,” which was a hit for Liam Payne featuring Quavo. These awards follow a record-breaking year for the British singer-songwriter who was named by IFPI in February as its Global Recording Artist of the Year.

Alessia Cara was honored for the song “1-800-273-8255” alongside her fellow BMI-affiliated Sony/ATV writers 6ix, Khalid and Dylan Wiggins as well as winning a pop award for “Scars To Your Beautiful” with Sony/ATV’s Warren Felder. She won a third award for “Stay” with Sony/ATV-signed Sarah Aarons, Anders Froen and Noonie Bao.

After a year in which she fully established herself as a global solo star, Camila Cabello received awards for her hits “Havana” and “Bad Things” as well as for the Fifth Harmony song “All In My Head,”which she won with her former group colleagues Ally Brooke, Dinah Jane, Lauren Jaurequi and Normani.

Other Sony/ATV songwriters who received pop awards included Luis Fonsi who won for “Despacito,” which last year equaled the record as the longest Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper of all time with a 16-week stay at No. 1 before becoming the most-streamed song of all time and most-played video on YouTube.

There were also pop awards for Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff and Sam Dew for co-penning “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever (Fifty Shades Darker)” for the movie Fifty Shades Darker, Lady Gaga for the Billboard Hot 100 top five hit “Million Reasons” and singer-songwriter Ilsey Juber for co-writing the Shawn Mendes hit “Mercy” and “In The Name Of Love,” which was recorded by Martin Garrix feat. Bebe Rexha.

The full list of Sony/ATV winning songs with the company's BMI writers alongside are:

“1-800-273-8255” co-written by Alessia Caracciolo (a.k.a Alessia Cara), Arjun Ivatury (a.k.a. 6ix), Khalid Robinson (a.k.a. Khalid), Dylan Wiggins

“All In My Head” co-written by Camila Cabello, Dina Hansen (a.ka. Dinah Jane), Allyson Hernandez (a.k.a. Ally Brooke), Lauren Jaurequi, Normani Kordei Hamilton (a.k.a. Normani)

“Bad Things” co-written by Camila Cabello

“Call On Me” co-written by Starley Hope (a.k.a. Starley)

“Castle On The Hill” co-written by Ed Sheeran

“Cold” co-written by Noel Fisher (a.k.a. Detail)

“Despacito” co-written by Luis Fonsi

“Feel It Still” co-written by Robert Bateman, William Garrett, Brian Holland

“Handclap” co-written by Eric Frederic (a.ka. Ricky Reed)

“I Don’t Wanna Live Forever (Fifty Shades Darker)” written by Jack Antonoff, Sam Dew, Taylor Swift

“In The Name Of Love” co-written by Ilsey Juber

“It Ain’t Me” co-written by Kyrre Gorvell-Dahll (a.k.a. Kygo)

“Love On The Brain” co-written by Fredrik Ball

“Mercy” co-written by Ilsey Juber

“Million Reasons” co-written by Stefani Germanotta (a.k.a. Lady Gaga)

“Paris” co-written by Kristoffer Eriksson

“Rockabye” co-written by Jack Patterson

“Say You Won’t Let Go” co-written by James Arthur

“Scars To Your Beautiful” co-written by Alessia Caracciolo (a.k.a. Alessia Cara), Warren Felder

“Shape Of You” co-written by Ed Sheeran (Song of the Year)

“Stay” co-written by Sarah Aarons, Alessia Caracciolo (a.k.a. Alessia Cara), Anders Froen, Jonnali Parmenius (a.ka. Noonie Bao)

“Strip That Down” co-written by Ed Sheeran

“That’s What I Like” co-written by Ray Romulus

“There’s Nothing Holding Me Back” co-written by Geoffrey Warburton

“This Town” co-written by Jamie Scott

“Wild Thoughts” co-written by Jerry Duplessis, Bryson Tiller