Garth Brooks, Disney Music Group Head & AI Policymakers Slated to Receive 2026 RIAA Honors

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced this week it will present Garth Brooks with the artist of a lifetime award at the upcoming RIAA Honors event in Washington, D.C. The country icon is being recognized for his unprecedented reach and success, having had 10 diamond-certified records.
 
The event — which recognizes artists, industry executives and policymakers who have shaped American music and culture — will also honor Disney Music Group president Ken Bunt (label exec of the year) and US. Representatives Nathaniel Moran of Texas and Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania.
 
“The RIAA sits at the intersection of politics, art and culture, and we wanted to create an event that brought together the trailblazing artists, policymakers and executives who have done something extraordinary,” RIAA chairman and CEO Mitch Glazier tells Billboard.

Prior RIAA Honors events delivered awards to the likes of Miranda Lambert, one of the first female country artists to break through with huge commercial success; Grandmaster Flash and MC Lyte, for their contributions to furthering the hip-hop genre; Gloria Estefan, for her role in taking Latin music mainstream; multiplatinum artist Lauren Daigle; and several policymakers, including House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries, and U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn and Chris Coons, among many others.
 
Brooks has been breaking sales and concert attendance records since his 1989 breakout hit “Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old),” released when he was 27. The RIAA calls Brooks the No. 1-selling album artist in U.S. history, with more than 200 million certified album sales, and the only artist to ever have 10 albums sell more than 10 million each, achieving diamond status 10 times.
 
Brooks’ music is so widely consumed, Glazier says, that the RIAA does not have enough room at its Washington, D.C. headquarters to hang all of his diamond awards.
 
“At the RIAA headquarters, we have a wall that has every diamond album ever certified, but Garth has 10,” Glazier says. “The wall won’t fit Garth.”
 
Asked to comment on the honor, Brooks echoed James Taylor’s comment that music is a deeply personal craft not motivated by record sales or Billboard hits.
 
“It’s not about numbers, it is about the music,” Brooks says through a spokesperson. “This milestone goes directly to country radio. It introduced me to the world’s biggest, best, and most loyal audience: the country music audience.”
 
The RIAA will deliver its label executive of the year award to Bunt for his role in elevating Disney Music to become a critical part of Disney’s storytelling. Bunt helped launch the careers of Olivia Rodrigo, Sabrina Carpenter, Hilary Duff, Demi Lovato, the Jonas Brothers, Selena Gomez and Miley Cyrus, thereby expanding the genres of music children were introduced to through Disney content.

As a member of the RIAA board, Bunt has frequently met with representatives to explain the impact legislation can have on music, culture and human artistry, says RIAA COO Michelle Ballantyne.

“We want policymakers to know how the work gets done to bring music to everyone — that it’s hard,” Ballantyne says. “What really moves the needle is when people are in the trenches willing to explain. He’s willing to take the time to make those discussions with us.”

The RIAA’s policymakers of the year award will be delivered to Representatives Dean, a Democrat, and Moran, a Republican. Earlier this year, the pair introduced the Transparency and Responsibility for Artificial Intelligence Networks (TRAIN) Act, a bipartisan bill that aims to give musicians, artists and writers new ways to determine if their copyrights were used in the training of generative AI models by granting them access to training records upon legal request.
 
“Every year we honor a Republican and a Democrat because it’s important to show that both sides are participating in helping to move things along legislatively in a way that protects American music and creativity,” says Ballantyne. “It’s not just a corny saying. Music actually brings people together.”