Amy Allen was named Songwriter of the Year, Sony Music Publishing took home Publisher of the Year for a tenth time, and Die With a Smile by Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars was honored as Song of the Year at the 2026 ASCAP Pop Music Awards on Thursday (April 30) in Los Angeles.
The ceremony, held at the Chaplin Studios in Hollywood, celebrated the songwriters and publishers behind the most-performed ASCAP pop songs of the past year, as determined by terrestrial and satellite radio data and on-demand audio streams provided by Luminate.
Allen, who is signed to Warner Chappell Music, co-wrote five of ASCAP’s most-performed songs of the past year: APT. (ROSÉ & Bruno Mars), High Road (Koe Wetzel & Jessie Murph), and three Sabrina Carpenter hits — Tears, Manchild and Bed Chem.
Allen’s ASCAP honor follows her becoming the first woman to win the Grammy for Songwriter of the Year, Non-Classical, in 2025. She repeated the feat at the 2026 Grammys in February, becoming the first songwriter to win the award twice.
The Song of the Year award went to Die With a Smile, co-written by ASCAP songwriter James Fauntleroy and published by Warner Chappell Music.
The Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars duet spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and 60 weeks on the chart overall.
ASCAP said it also topped Billboard‘s year-end Hot 100, which it described as a first for a duet featuring a female and male soloist each in lead roles in the chart’s 67-year history.
“This recognition speaks to the exceptional talent of our songwriters and the passion they bring to their craft every day. It’s a privilege to support such an inspiring community of creators.”
Katie Welle, Sony Music Publishing
Sony Music Publishing was named Publisher of the Year for its contributions across 27 of the past year’s most-performed pop songs, including It’s ok I’m ok (Tate McRae), Man I Need (Olivia Dean), Messy (Lola Young), Pink Pony Club (Chappell Roan), Ordinary (Alex Warren) and Blue Strips (Jessie Murph).
It is SMP’s 10th Publisher of the Year win at the ASCAP Pop Music Awards. The company won the award for a ninth time at the equivalent ceremony 12 months ago.
“We are honored to be named ASCAP’s Pop Publisher of the Year,” said Katie Welle, Sony Music Publishing President, Head of A&R.
“This recognition speaks to the exceptional talent of our songwriters and the passion they bring to their craft every day. It’s a privilege to support such an inspiring community of creators.”
Welle added: “Congratulations to all of this year’s honorees, and thank you ASCAP, as well as our outstanding team for their continued dedication to songwriters.”
Icelandic singer-songwriter Laufey received the ASCAP Creative Voice Award, presented by Suki Waterhouse. The award recognizes ASCAP members whose career achievements are informed by their creative spirit and their contributions to the community. Previous recipients include Questlove, Wyclef Jean and Lyle Lovett.
Other 2026 ASCAP Pop Music Award-winning songwriters included Jack Antonoff (Manchild, luther, squabble up, tv off), Max Martin (The Fate of Ophelia, Dancing in the Flames, Opalite, Twilight Zone), Cirkut (Abracadabra, APT.), Justin Bieber (DAISES, YUKON), Myles Smith (Nice to Meet You), Audrey Hobert (That’s So True), Daniel Nigro (Pink Pony Club), David Guetta (Forever Young), Mustard (tv off), Timbaland (Sticky), Ashley Gorley (Love Somebody) and EJAE (Golden).
ASCAP reported record revenue of $1.945 billion for calendar 2025 in February, distributing $1.759 billion to songwriters, composers and music publishers.Music Business Worldwide
