The revived “Soul Train Awards” will air Friday, Nov. 27 at 8 p.m. on both BET and CBS — the first time the Eye network has run the special.
The 2026 “Soul Train Awards” will also air on Paramount Skydance cablers VH1, MTV2, Logo and BET Her. Jesse Collins Entertainment is back to produce the revived event.
“As a Chicago native, I’m proud to bring the ‘Soul Train Awards’ back to the city where it all originated,” said BET president Louis Carr in a statement. “Coming off a landmark year for BET, this return reaffirms what we do best: bringing our community together around the culture, and connecting the artists who built this sound to the ones carrying it forward.”
The “Soul Train Awards” aired its last edition in 2023, hosted by Keke Palmer. In 2025, BET’s then-CEO Scott Mills (who departed at the end of last year) told Billboard that the company had “suspended” both the “Soul Train Awards” and “BET Hip-Hop Awards”: “I would say that it’s less about them being no longer and more about our team having to reimagine them for this changing media landscape that we find ourselves in,” he said in an interview with the publication.
In bringing the show back, BET’s Connie Orlando, exec VP of specials, music programming and music strategy, said the “Soul Train Awards” will be “reimagined” with a “bold new format.”
“The ‘Soul Train Awards’ has always been the home for R&B and soul,” she said. “It’s about honoring the artists who shaped the genre while reinventing the night for where the music is headed.”
