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| Network: | NBC |
The sixteenth season of the American talent show competition series America's Got Talent was broadcast on NBC from June 1 to September 15, 2021. Although production was still impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, live audiences were involved during audition sessions and live round stages of the competition. After Simon Cowell returned to his role on the program after an accident the previous year,[1] the Judges Cuts round was replaced by him with a new deliberation format arrangement similar to that used in Britain's Got Talent.
This season included the first group Golden Buzzer in the program's history, and the creation of a "Wildcard" special (which aired via online streaming service Peacock on August 10, 2021), following the withdrawal of a Golden Buzzer participant. The sixteenth season was won by magician Dustin Tavella, with aerialist Aidan Bryant finishing second, and stand-up comedian Josh Blue placing third.[2] During its broadcast, the season averaged around 6.60 million viewers, excluding its online Wildcard special.
On February 24, 2021, the new season's line-up of judges and host was announced, revealing that Cowell would be returning, following an accident the previous year that had forced him to be absent in the fifteenth season's live episodes.[3] Closed auditions were held across March and April, with footage taken from these undergoing final editing before the season's premiere at the beginning of June.[4] A two-week hiatus in the broadcast schedule was also made, to avoid the NBC's live coverage of the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics between July and August.
The Judge Cuts round, which had been significantly modified in the previous season due to the disruption of production,[5] was replaced by the deliberation format used by Britain's Got Talent. The judges conferred after the conclusion of auditions, to determine which acts would proceed to the live rounds.[6] Some deliberations were filmed and used to fill in the remaining portions of the final audition episode for the season, as was done for the British edition.[7]
Due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, the auditions were conducted with smaller audiences, augmented with stock footage of audiences from previous seasons and other editing techniques.[8] [9] With restrictions eased in California effective June 15,[10] the live rounds returned to their usual home of the Dolby Theatre, but with audience members required to be vaccinated for COVID-19 and wear masks.[11]
During auditions, the judges and host agreed to grant a group Golden Buzzer for the first time in the program's history.[12] Although this would have meant six guaranteed places in the quarter-finals, singer Nightbirde later withdrew from the competition to focus on her battle with cancer, despite receiving a Golden Buzzer.[13] As a result of this, her place was converted into a Wildcard slot, with the process conducted via a special episode on the streaming service Peacock on the same night as the first quarter-final. The process involved five participants picked from those who were eliminated during the deliberation phase, with viewers voting via Twitter over a three-day period on which of these would be their Wildcard in the third quarter-final.[14]
Of the participants who auditioned this season, thirty-six secured a place in the live quarterfinals, with twelve quarter-finalists in each quarterfinal episode. Among these included: Northwell Nurse Choir,[15] [16] quick-change artist Léa Kyle, singer Jimmie Herrod, World Taekwondo Demonstration Team and classical singer Victory Brinker, who each received a Golden Buzzer; and singer Storm Large, a Wildcard act voted for during the Peacock special.[17] About twenty-two quarter-finalists advanced to and were split between the two semi-finals, with 10 semi-finalists securing a place in the finals. The following below lists the results of each participant's overall performance in this season:
| | | | |
America's Wildcard | Wildcard Semi-finalist | Golden Buzzer Audition| Participant[18] [19] | Age(s) | Genre | Act | From | Quarter-Final | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1aChord | 19-22 | Singing | Vocal Trio | Greensboro, North Carolina | 1 | ||
| Aidan Bryant | 16 | Acrobatics | Aerialist | Prince George, Virginia | 2 | ||
| ANICA | 51 | Singing | Singer | New Brunswick, Canada | 3 | ||
| Beyond Belief Dance Company | 8-12 | Dance | Dance Group | Mesquite, Texas | 1 | ||
| Brooke Simpson | 30 | Singing | Singer | Los Angeles | 3 | ||
| ChapKidz | 12-18 | Dance | Dance Group | Fairfield, California | 3 | ||
| Dokteuk Crew | Dance | Dance Group | Daejeon, South Korea | 2 | |||
| Dustin Tavella | 35 | Magic | Magician | Virginia Beach, Virginia | 1 | ||
| Gangstagrass | Singing / Music | Band | New York City | 1 | |||
| Gina Brillon | 41 | Comedy | Comedian | New York City | 1 | ||
| Jimmie Herrod | 30 | Singing | Singer | Portland, Oregon | 1 | ||
| Johnny Showcase | Singing | Singer | Philadelphia | 2 | |||
| Josh Blue | 42 | Comedy | Comedian | Denver, Colorado | 2 | ||
| Kabir Singh | Comedy | Comedian | Los Angeles | 1 | |||
| Keith Apicary | 35 | Dance | Dancer | Portland, Oregon | 3 | ||
| Klek Entos | Magic | Magician | France | 3 | |||
| Korean Soul | Singing | Vocal Group | Seoul, South Korea | 2 | |||
| Léa Kyle | 25 | Magic | Quick Change Artist | Bordeaux, France | 3 | ||
| Madilyn Bailey | 28 | Singing / Music | Singer & Pianist | Los Angeles | 1 | ||
| Matt Johnson | Danger | Escape Artist | Chilliwack, Canada | 1 | |||
| Michael Winslow | 62 | Comedy | Voicetramentalist | Orlando | 3 | ||
| Northwell Nurse Choir | Singing | Choir | Long Island, New York | 2 | |||
| Peter Antoniou | Magic | Mentalist | Seattle | 2 | |||
| Peter Rosalita | 10 | Singing | Singer | Philippines | 1 | ||
| Positive Impact Movement | Acrobatics | Acrobatic Group | Los Angeles | 2 | |||
| Rialcris | Acrobatics | Acrobatic Trio | Ensenada, Mexico | 3 | |||
| Sethward | 32 | Comedy | Novelty Act | Los Angeles | 1 | ||
| Shuffolution | Dance | Dance Group | Los Angeles | 2 | |||
| 51 | Singing | Singer | Southborough, Massachusetts | 3 | |||
| T.3 | Singing | Vocal Trio | New York City | 2 | |||
| The Canine Stars | Animals | Dog Act | Fort Collins, Colorado | 1 | |||
| The Curtis Family C-Notes | Singing / Music | Family Band | San Francisco | 3 | |||
| Tory Vagasy | 20 | Singing | Singer | Pompano Beach, Florida | 2 | ||
| UniCircle Flow | Variety | Unicycle Group | Japan | 3 | |||
| Victory Brinker | 9 | Singing | Opera Singer | Latrobe, Pennsylvania | 2 | ||
| World Taekwondo Demo. Team | Acrobatics | Martial Arts Group | San Jose, California | 3 |
| |
Guest Performers, Results Show: Brandon Leake & Darci Lynne[18] [19]
| Quarter-Finalist | Order | Buzzes and Judges' votes | Result (August 11) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Canine Stars | 1 | ||||||
| Peter Rosalita | 2 | ||||||
| Beyond Belief Dance Company | 3 | ||||||
| Madilyn Bailey | 4 | ||||||
| Kabir Singh | 5 | ||||||
| Dustin Tavella | 6 | ||||||
| 1aChord | 7 | ||||||
| Gina Brillon | 8 | ||||||
| Gangstagrass | 9 | ||||||
| Sethward | 10 | ||||||
| Matt Johnson | 11 | ||||||
| Jimmie Herrod | 12 | ||||||
Guest Performers, Results Show: Kodi Lee, The Clairvoyants,[18] [19] and H.E.R.[21]
| Quarter-Finalist | Order | Buzzes and Judges' votes | Result (August 18) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T.3 | 1 | ||||||
| Dokteuk Crew | 2 | ||||||
| Johnny Showcase | 3 | ||||||
| Tory Vagasy | 4 | ||||||
| Shuffolution | 5 | ||||||
| Aidan Bryant | 6 | ||||||
| Northwell Nurse Choir | 7 | ||||||
| Positive Impact Movement | 8 | ||||||
| Peter Antoniou | 9 | ||||||
| Korean Soul | 10 | ||||||
| Josh Blue | 11 | ||||||
| Victory Brinker | 12 | ||||||
Guest Performers, Results Show: Shin Lim & Lindsey Stirling[18] [19]
| Quarter-Finalist | Order | Buzzes and Judges' votes | Result (August 25) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UniCircle Flow | 1 | ||||||
| ANICA | 2 | ||||||
| Léa Kyle | 3 | ||||||
| The Curtis Family C-Notes | 4 | ||||||
| Keith Apicary | 5 | ||||||
| Michael Winslow | 6 | ||||||
| Brooke Simpson | 7 | ||||||
| Rialcris | 8 | ||||||
| ChapKidz | 9 | ||||||
| Storm Large | 10 | ||||||
| Klek Entos | 11 | ||||||
| World Taekwondo Demo. Team | 12 | ||||||
| |
Guest Performers, Results Show: Ben Platt[22] & Preacher Lawson[23]
| Semi-Finalist[24] [25] | Order | Buzzes and Judges' votes | Result (September 1) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peter Rosalita | 1 | ||||||
| Michael Winslow | 2 | ||||||
| Beyond Belief Dance Company | 3 | ||||||
| Aidan Bryant | 4 | ||||||
| Tory Vagasy | 5 | ||||||
| World Taekwondo Demo. Team | 6 | ||||||
| Madilyn Bailey | 7 | ||||||
| Dustin Tavella | 8 | ||||||
| Korean Soul | 9 | ||||||
| Gina Brillon | 10 | ||||||
| Jimmie Herrod | 11 | ||||||
Guest Performers, Results Show: Deadly Games[26] & Duo Transcend[27]
| Semi-Finalist | Order | Buzzes and Judges' votes | Result (September 8) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1aChord | 1 | ||||||
| UniCircle Flow | 2 | ||||||
| Léa Kyle | 3 | ||||||
| Kabir Singh | 4 | ||||||
| Northwell Nurse Choir | 5 | ||||||
| Peter Antoniou | 6 | ||||||
| Victory Brinker | 7 | ||||||
| ChapKidz | 8 | ||||||
| Rialcris | 9 | ||||||
| Josh Blue | 10 | ||||||
| Brooke Simpson | 11 | ||||||
Guest Performer, Finale: Idina Menzel[28] [29]
| | |
| Finalist | Performed with (2nd Performance) | Result (September 15) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aidan Bryant | Jordan Chiles and MyKayla Skinner | ||
| Brooke Simpson | Bishop Briggs | ||
| Dustin Tavella | Mat Franco and Rico Rodriguez | ||
| Gina Brillon | George Lopez | ||
| Jimmie Herrod | |||
| Josh Blue | Kenichi Ebina, Piff the Magic Dragon, Preacher Lawson, Taylor Williamson, and Tom Cotter | ||
| Léa Kyle | Heidi Klum | ||
| Northwell Nurse Choir | Idina Menzel | ||
| Victory Brinker | Pentatonix | ||
| World Taekwondo Demo. Team | Jordan Chiles and MyKayla Skinner |