This article lists the winners and nominees for the Billboard Music Award for Top Artist. The award was first given in 1993, entitled #1 World Artist. It was retired during the 1994 ceremony, but returned the following year under the title Artist of the Year. It was later renamed to its current title in 2011. Taylor Swift is the artist with the most win in this category, won the award four times. Swift is also the most nominated artist in this category with ten nominations.

The first artist to receive this honor was Whitney Houston in 1993 due to her massive success of The Bodyguard. Houston also took home a then record breaking 11 awards in one night.

Winners are listed first and highlighted in bold.

4 wins

3 wins

2 wins

10 nominations