Pollstar awards Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Garth Brooks and others as 'Touring Artists of the Decade'

The Pollstar Awards pivoted in two different directions for the 31st annual edition of the show held Wednesday night at the Beverly Hilton Hotel ballroom. One decision was to give awards to the best touring acts of the recent decade rather than the year in various genres.

Another was to give out one-time-only awards for 2020-21, focusing on individuals who were innovators, in terms of developing new methods to perform live and making a difference philanthropically.

Beyonce won as the top touring artist of the decade. In individual genre categories, Lady Gaga was named pop touring artist of the decade.

Bruno Mars won R&B touring artist of the decade, Jennifer Lopez was cited as Latin touring artist of the decade, Kevin Hart was named comedy touring artist of the decade and Cirque du Soleil was honored for being the non-music tour of the decade.

Some of the artists sent in video acceptance speeches, like Jon Bon Jovi, whose group won for rock touring artist of the decade. Mandolin was chosen best streaming platform, among the topical honors for 2020-21 that went to artists, companies, or venues who figured out a way to do things their own way during the epidemic.