Every Viral Moment & Best Memes of the Night

Performers for this year’s event, hosted by LL Cool J, include Bad Bunny, Billie Eilish, GloRilla, Gracie Abrams, Kenny Chesney, Muni Long, Nelly and Tori Kelly — while stars including Becky G, Billy Idol, Feid, Jenny McCarthy-Wahlberg, Joel McHale, Kelsea Ballerini, Offset, Robin Thicke, and more were all on hand.

Lady Gaga, meanwhile, received one of four big honors of the night — as she was given the 2025 iHeartRadio Innovator Award. Also appearing for a special award were Icon Award-recipient Mariah Carey and Nelly, who got a special surprise as he received the Landmark Award.

Gracie Abrams got to share her big moment with an icon of hers as she picked up the Breakthrough Artist of the Year Award, but Billie Joe Armstrong and Nikki Glaser managed to steal the show with some of the funniest lines — some of which were completely stolen!

For the first on-stage award of the night, Green Day won for Alternative Artist of the Year and Billie Joe Armstrong made a choice.

As he pulled out some index cards, he said that he was going to read it off of the teleprompter but couldn’t read it — but we’re not buying it. This seemed like it was meant to be read from cue cards.

His delivery was giving seventh grade debate class and you are woefully underprepared, struggling to read your notes, flop-sweating while your bandmates laugh behind you. Or something like that.

But his content went way over the heads of almost everyone online, and possibly in the room.

“Wow, I don’t know what to say. I guess, I guess the only thing I can say is that celebrities at award shows will keep rockin’ and rollin’, making better acceptance speeches,” he continued. “Sometimes these acceptance speeches, they’re considered filthy by some people, but I don’t think that’s true.”

“These speeches celebrities make, they can be better. They can help, I really mean that. We can always do better. I’m gonna keep tryin’ if you keep tryin’. Let’s keep rockin’ and rollin,’ man.”

Is that scratching an itch in the back of your brain? Well, it should because it’s a wildly close copy of a speech given by Mark Wahlberg as one Dirk Diggler in the controversial Boogie Nights. That’s right, Green Day cribbed a speech from a movie about a porn star for this big moment… you can’t get much more alternative or rock-and-roll than that!

In a very sweet surprise, Ashanti came out to set up the iHeartRadio Landmark Award for her man, Nelly. Even better, he had no idea it was coming.

“Okay, so he did not know that i was coming up here; he thought I just went to the bathroom,” she said after coming out on the stage, as the camera cut to Nelly with a huge grin just offstage, getting ready to hit the stage with a huge performance.

She celebrated the 25th anniversary of his 10-million selling debut album, Country Grammar, which put St. Louis on the hip-hop map and broke the East-West divide, and then proudly threw it to the icon himself.

Fans online were loving the moment, as well as that “h-u-u-usband” declaration, wondering if and when the couple got married. According to a report by TMZ, they wed in December 2023, but it was very quiet and private.

You can read all about it here and see how social media reacted below:

iHeartRadio’s Innovator Award winner had mixed feelings about accepting what amounted to a lifetime achievement award at 38 (which she conceded many might think old for a pop star), but she’s certainly achieved a lifetime of accomplishments in those 38 years.

A pop star, fashion icon, Oscar winner, acclaimed actress and Mother to all her Little Monsters, perhaps her biggest achievement has been in championing the weirdos of the world, impressing upon them the value of being unique.

After all these years, she’s driving home that same point all over again, as the LGBTQ+ community is under more attack than it has been in a long time. “The world doesn’t need another copy,” she told the crowd, “it desperately needs your original.”

It was a message that wasn’t lost on Doechii, who presented Gaga the award, saying that for “a kid that Identified as an artist, as queer and as a little Monster, Lady Gaga wasn’t just a pop star, she was a lifeline.”

You can read all about her big moment and see how her Little Monsters reacted online below:

There must be power in the “ie.” It’s hard to imagine how it must have felt for Billie Eilish, who’s been an industry mainstay for years now, finally getting to see her longtime friend and musical ally get her due.

In introducing Gracie Abrams as this year’s Breakthrough Award, Billie shared that she started sharing music they were writing back and forth with Gracie when she was just 15 years old. Now, Billie is 23 and Gracie is 25 and they got to share the same stage at the iHeartRadio Music Awards.

Her earnest sincerity in introducing her friend and singing her praises was only echoed by Gracie sharing that love and appreciation right back toward her after her performance, and while accepting her award.

This is women supporting women and was such a pure expression of love that it touched everyone watching.

You don’t get to be a queen without keeping it royal, and Mariah Carey did just that when she took the stage to accept her Icon Award. First, she had to check that the lighting was just right. Then, it was about making sure everyone could see every line of her stunning gown.

Mariah is a one-of-a-kind legend, not just for her voice but for the mystique she has carefully crafted around her persona.

From being thawed out each Christmas to dominate the charts to her decades in the industry, Mariah said she still gets excited when her music comes on the airwaves — taking a moment to explain the term to her younger fans: “Thinking of it as the non-WiFi version of streaming.”

She thanked those who’ve been with her all this years, from her team to her Lambs, and she was divine from start to finish. Watch Mariah be the moment below, and fan reactions to her big win and what many saw her not necessarily loving the tribute performances by  Muni Long and Tori Kelly.

The queen of the Tom Brady roast and returning Golden Globes host after an amazing turn at this latest ceremony, Nikki Glaser came out ready to roast again while introducing Taylor Swift’s award for Concert of the Century. But she wasn’t going to roast “The Chairman.”

Instead, Nikki turned her barbs on herself, touting that she’d been lucky enough to attend 22 of Swift’s Eras Tour shows … by blowing her daughter’s college fund.

“She’ll be okay, she’s not that smart anyway,” Nikki quipped, before revealing she doesn’t even have a daughter (these are jokes!). “I don’t have kids, she said, and that’s why I could afford to go that many times.”

“And thank god I saw it that many times,” she added, “because never in my childless, dog-lady life will I ever witness a live performance of that magnitude.”

She praised every aspect of Swift’s production and performance on the shows, as well as her own “bedazzled adult diaper,” saying, “Those are memories and a rash I’ll have forever.”

“We have 75 years left in this century and they’re like, yeah, no one’s topping this,” she continued, explaining how Swift could have scored an Century award in ’25.