---
title: "Teyana Taylor crowned Icon of the Year as the 2026 BET Awards salute Black excellence"
description: "Teyana Taylor was the standout of the 2026 BET Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday, named Icon of the Year by Janet Jackson and sweeping several categories, on a night that celebrated Black achievement across music, film and culture — and saw Clipse take album of the year."
category: "Culture"
category_url: https://newsparlor.com/category/culture
author: "Jasmine Howard"
published: 2026-06-29T03:11:00.000Z
updated: 2026-06-29T03:11:00.000Z
canonical: https://newsparlor.com/article/bet-awards-2026-teyana-taylor-icon
tags: ["bet-awards", "music", "teyana-taylor", "kehlani", "clipse", "culture"]
---
# Teyana Taylor crowned Icon of the Year as the 2026 BET Awards salute Black excellence

Teyana Taylor was the standout of the 2026 BET Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday, named Icon of the Year by Janet Jackson and sweeping several categories, on a night that celebrated Black achievement across music, film and culture — and saw Clipse take album of the year.

The 2026 BET Awards handed their highest individual honor to Teyana Taylor, who was named Icon of the Year — and walked away with a clutch of other prizes — at the ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday, [Variety reported](https://variety.com/2026/music/news/bet-awards-winners-list-kehlani-leon-thomas-teyana-taylor-1236798015/).

## Teyana Taylor's big night

Janet Jackson presented Taylor with the Icon of the Year award, a nod to a career that spans singing, acting, directing and choreography. Taylor did not stop there: she also won best actress, video director of the year and the Fashion Vanguard award, [as Billboard's winners list confirmed](https://www.billboard.com/lists/2026-bet-awards-winners-list/) — a sweep that underlined how the show increasingly honors artists who work across several disciplines rather than a single lane.

## Across the categories

In the music categories, the veteran rap duo Clipse won album of the year for "Let God Sort 'Em Out," capping a celebrated comeback. Kehlani was named best female R&B/pop artist and Leon Thomas best male R&B/pop artist, [according to the published winners lists](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/bet-awards-2026-winners-list/). Other awards were spread across the worlds of hip-hop, R&B, gospel, film and sports that the BET Awards have long brought together under one roof.

## A celebration with a purpose

Now approaching four decades, the BET Awards function as one of the most prominent annual showcases of Black artistry and achievement in the United States — a stage where chart-topping musicians share the night with actors, athletes and cultural figures. The ceremony pairs awards with high-energy performances and tributes, and its honorees and winners are often read as a barometer of who and what is shaping culture in a given year.

## The takeaway

If the 2026 edition had a theme, it was range. Taylor's haul — an icon honor alongside wins for acting, directing and fashion — captured a moment in which the lines between music, film and visual style have blurred, and in which the artists the BET Awards choose to elevate are increasingly those who move fluidly among them. The full slate of winners and performances rounded out a night that, as ever, set out to celebrate Black excellence in all its forms.