Watch His Speech – Billboard

Morgan Wallen was the top winner at Sunday night’s (Nov. 19) 2023 Billboard Music Awards, taking home 11 trophies.

He also performed his fan-favorite song “’98 Braves,” from One Thing at a Time, and in a nod to the song, Wallen performed — and accepted his trophies — at Atlanta’s Truist Park, home of the Atlanta Braves baseball team. The performance and acceptance speech were filmed amid Wallen’s two-night run of sold-out shows at the venue on Nov. 10-11, as part of his current One Night at a Time world tour.

Just before Wallen offered his acceptance speech, the camera zoomed in on the 11 trophies he took home this year, including top male artist, top Hot 100 artist, top streaming songs artist, top country artist, top country male artist and top country tour.

Wallen’s One Thing at a Time project, which spent 16 weeks atop the Billboard 200 this year, won for top Billboard 200 album and top country album, while his song “Last Night,” which spent 16 nonconsecutive weeks atop the Hot 100, was named top Hot 100 song, top streaming song and top country song.

The evening was made extra special, as Wallen was introduced by ’98 Braves pitchers Tom Glavine and John Smoltz.

“We may have come close in ’98, but this guy really hit it out of the park tonight,” Smoltz said.

Wallen began his acceptance speech by referencing “’98 Braves,” written by Josh Miller, John Byron and Travis Wood.

“Like the song says, ‘You win some, you lose some,’” Wallen said, going on to reference this year’s CMA Awards, where he was nominated three honors and got shut out. “The last awards show I went to, we came home empty-handed. This one, I don’t have enough hands for them all. So either way, I promise I’m gonna stay the same, whether we come home with 10 or zero. I’m gonna give y’all my all, every single night and every time I go into the studio. … All these awards are really, it’s for my fans. So thank you guys so much.”

He continued: “You took a boy from east Tennessee, driving a two-door Toyota Tacoma, and turned me into one of Billboard‘s top artists. God bless y’all.”