Upon accepting the night’s highest honor, McDaid reflected on the profound connection that music creates, noting that when a song enters the world, it finds listeners in moments of love or loss, making them feel understood. His induction into this elite group places him alongside previous honorees such as Noel Gallagher, Ellie Goulding, Taylor Swift, and P!nk.
In addition to the President’s Award, McDaid picked up Million-Air awards recognizing 8 million U.S. broadcast performances for “Shape of You” and 6 million for “Bad Habits,” both co-written with Ed Sheeran. He also earned a BMI award for co-writing “Azizam,” bringing his career total to 18 BMI Awards.
The coveted BMI London Song of the Year was awarded to “luther,” written and performed by Kendrick Lamar alongside co-writers Matthew “MTech” Bernard, Atia “INK” Boggs, Sam Dew, roselilah, Mark “Sounwave” Spears, and SZA. The track achieved historic success on the Billboard charts, becoming the first song in BMI history to win Song of the Year at the BMI Pop, R&B/Hip Hop, and London Awards in the same calendar year.
Throughout the evening, classic tracks received Million-Air honors, including 12 million performances for “Take Me Home Tonight” 11 million for a-ha’s “Take On Me,” 10 million for Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall,” and 5 million for The Police’s “Message in a Bottle.”
In the screen composition categories, Atli Örvarsson earned six awards for his television scoring on hits like Chicago Fire and FBI, bringing his lifetime total to 60 BMI awards. Other distinguished visual media composers recognized included Alexandre Desplat for Jurassic World: Rebirth, Tom Howe for Dog Man, and Harry Gregson-Williams for The Gilded Age.
