Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce have made their official awards show debut as a couple at the 2026 iHeartRadio Music Awards.
The Grammy winner and NFL star were both in attendance at Thursday night’s show, which was held at Los Angeles’ Dolby Theatre. They did not make their highly anticipated red carpet debut, as Swift walked solo, though they were seated inside the theater together.
Swift took the stage to accept the award for pop album of the year, and sung praise toward her fiancé in her speech.
“The album The Life of a Showgirl was really inspired by the energy that I felt looking into crowds and seeing you guys and connecting with you every single night. And so the album came out with this energy of just feeling really happy and strong and confident and free, and so I wanna say thank you to the fans for for giving me that feeling,” she said. “This album probably also feels very happy and confident and free because that’s the way that I get to feel every single day of my life, because of my fiancé, who’s here tonight.”
She also thanked iHeart and her fans who enjoyed her song “The Fate of Ophelia,” noting that “you made that into the biggest hit of my career, which is crazy at this point.”
Swift’s attendance at the ceremony was confirmed ahead of the show, marking her sole appearance at an awards show in 2026. She walked the carpet in a mint-green mini skirt and corset ensemble that was adorned with sparkly embellishments.
Swift and Kelce announced their engagement in August 2025, after first being romantically connected in the late summer of 2023. While they may have not walked the red carpet as a duo quite yet, Swift regularly attends the Kansas City Chiefs player’s NFL games, as he has attended many stops of Swift’s Eras Tour. During her 2024 London show, Kelce himself made a surprise on-stage cameo during her performance of “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart.”
The “Opalite” singer was the most nominated artist at the 2026 iHeartRadio Music Awards, leading the nominees with a total of nine nods. Swift was up for some of the night’s tops honors, including song of the year (for “The Fate of Ophelia”), best music video (for the same track) and artist of the year.
Elsewhere, Alex Warren, Sabrina Carpenter and Bad Bunny topped the nominees list with eight noms each. Carpenter and Bad Bunny were up for the coveted title of artist of the year alongside Swift, Benson Boone, Chris Brown, Jelly Roll, Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, Morgan Wallen and Tate McRae.
The awards ceremony took place live from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Thursday night, where Ludacris served as host. He was recognized with the the iHeartRadio Landmark Award, while John Mellencamp was presented with the the iHeartRadio Icon Award. Miley Cyrus also received the iHeartRadio Innovator Award and Warren with the iHeartRadio Breakthrough Artist of the Year Award.
More to come.
Taylor Swift attends the 2026 iHeartRadio Music Awards.
Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for iHeartRadio
