Beyoncé, LeBron, and more BET Awards nominees who have broken records and barriers

The 18th BET Awards, hosted by Jamie Foxx, will take place Sunday, June 24, and this year’s class of nominated artists and athletes are a wildly accomplished bunch. Read on for a dozen of the 2018 nominees who have broken records and broken barriers in music, entertainment, and sports.

Nominated for Best Female R&B/Pop Artist and Best Collaboration

Mrs. Carter has topped so many lists and logged so many firsts, it’s like she’s taken a stroll through the streets of music history smashing records with a baseball bat. In addition to being the most-nominated woman in Grammy history and 2017’s highest-paid woman in music, Beyoncé became the first black female artist to headline Coachella just this year. Finally, while we’re on the subject, she is the BET Awards’ most-winning and most-nominated artist, with 28 wins out of 60 nominations.

Nominated for Best Collaboration, Best Male Hip Hop Artist, Video of the Year, Album of the Year, and the Coca-Cola Viewers’ Choice Award

He’s never even won a Grammy for Album of the Year (yet), but earlier this year, Kendrick Lamar was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music for his acclaimed album DAMN. — making him the first rapper, and in fact the first musician in any genre outside of classical or jazz, to earn the prestigious honor.

Nominated for Best Female R&B/Pop Artist, Best Collaboration, Video of the Year, and Coca-Cola Viewers’ Choice Award

In addition to being a fashion icon and newly minted cosmetics mogul, Rihanna was the first artist to ever cross 100 million RIAA song certifications (in 2015), the first female artist to pass 2 billion streams on Apple Music (in 2018), and the most-streamed female artist on Spotify in 2017.

Nominated for Best Female Hip Hop Artist, Dr. Bobby Jones Best Gospel/Inspirational Award, and Coca-Cola Viewers’ Choice Award

In 2017, Nicki Minaj surpassed Aretha Franklin as the female artist with the most songs to make the Billboard Hot 100, and she has protected her crown ever since. Furthermore, for what it’s worth, Minaj herself has claimed that she is “most awarded female rapper in history.”

Nominated for Best Collaboration, Best Male Hip-Hop Artist, and Album of the Year

The Beatles hold the record for the most No. 1 albums of all time, with 19. But hey, there were four of them! With only a quarter of the mop-tops’ personnel, Jay-Z comes up second with 14 No. 1s, making him the solo artist with the most ever.

Nominated for Video Director of the Year

Ava Duvernay breaks down barriers wherever she goes. With 2014’s Selma, she became the first black woman to receive a Golden Globe nomination for Best Director and the first black woman to direct a film nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. With 2018’s A Wrinkle in Time, she became the first black female director to helm a film with a $100 million-plus budget, and with the recent news that she would direct New Gods, she became the first woman of color to take on a DC Comics film.

Nominated for Best Actor

In 2018, Denzel Washington broke his own record as the Academy Awards’ most-nominated African-American actor of all time. Out of eight acting nominations, the star has won two: Best Supporting Actor in 1990 for Glory and Best Actor in 2002 for Training Day.

Nominated for Best Actress

For starring as Tina Turner in 1993’s What’s Love Got to Do with It?, Angela Bassett won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, making her the first African-American to receive the accolade.

Nominated for Best Actor 

Donald Glover made history twice at the 2017 Emmys, where he became the first black actor to win Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series since 1985, as well as the first black person ever to win an Emmy for comedy directing.

Nominated for Best Movie 

Black Panther tore up the box office earlier this year, breaking the record for February openings as well as shattering The Avengers’ gross to become the highest-grossing superhero movie in the U.S. of all time. 

Nominated for Sportsman of the Year 

We can’t even begin to list all of LeBron James’ records here — we can’t even begin to list all his youngest-player-ever records here! The point is, they don’t start G.O.A.T. debates about just anybody.