ASCAP POP AWARDS HONOR WCM, THE WEEKND

ASCAP will crown The Weeknd as Songwriter of the Year and Warner Chappell Music as Publisher of the Year at the 2021 ASCAP Pop Music Awards, being celebrated via the PRO’s social media from today through Thursday.

Song of the Year goes to Post Malone’s “Circles,” honoring Louis Bell, Kaan Güneşberk and Billy Walsh alongside publishers Nyan King Music, Sony Music Publishing and Universal Music Publishing Group.

Beyond Songwriter of the Year, a first for The Weeknd, he also receives most-performed song awards for “Blinding Lights” and “Heartless.” Warner Chappell’s win owed to its works "10,000 Hours,” “Blinding Lights,” “Lose You to Love Me,” “ROCKSTAR” and more.

ASCAP has started its Pop Music Awards and will run through Thursday on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

The celebration kicked off Monday with an Instagram Live interview and performance from Phil Plested, a co-writer of Lewis Capaldi’s “Before You Go.” “Kings & Queens” co-writers Madison Emiko Love and Leland will take the ASCAP Instagram Live stage to tell the story behind their hit for Ava Max on Wednesday at 6pm ET/3pm PT. The social media events will also include an exclusive performance of “Die From a Broken Heart” from Maddie & Tae featuring ASCAP Award-winning songwriter Maddie Marlow.

"On behalf of our entire Warner Chappell family, we’d like to thank ASCAP for this incredible honor," reads a quote from Warner Chappell CEO/Co-Chair Guy Moot and COO/Co-Chair Carianne Marshall, who have been known to speak in unison. "We wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for our talented songwriters and A&R team, and it’s a true testament to their collective hard work and dedication to the music.”

"First and foremost," added WCM President of A&R, U.S., Ryan Press, "a huge congratulations to our amazing songwriters for helping to create the songs that got us through an extraordinarily tough year. I also couldn’t be prouder of our whole A&R crew for showing up every single day for our writers – it’s an honor to work with such a talented group of music creators.”

The complete list of winners is available on the ASCAP website.