‘Soul Train Awards’ are back: BET ceremony returns to celebrate R&B and soul legacy

The Soul Train Awards are coming back to BET and premiering on CBS this November, after the ceremony was taken off the air for three years.

After three years off the air, the “Soul Train Awards” are back.

The BET award show, which celebrates the the biggest stars in R&B and soul music, will return to its home network and make its first broadcast on CBS this November, with BET stating in a press release that the upcoming show will feature “honorees who defined the sound with the artists carrying it forward, celebrating a legacy that has influenced American music since ‘Soul Train’ first went on the air in 1971.”

The release also teased that “Performances, honorees, and host details will be announced in the coming weeks.”

Paramount Skydance’s channels VH1, MTV2, Logo, and BET Her will also run the program. Instead of airing live, the ceremony will be pre-recorded in Chicago, the city where the original “Soul Train” television series, hosted by the late Don Cornelius, began in 1971. Cornelius first created the music-and-dance show for the local indie station WCIU, which later became a nationally syndicated broadcast.

BET president Louis Carr said in a statement, “As a Chicago native, I’m proud to bring the ‘Soul Train Awards’ back to the city where it all originated. 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 last “Soul Train Awards” were hosted by Keke Palmer in 2023. Two years later, in 2025, BET announced that both the “Soul Train Awards” and the “Hip Hop Awards” were suspended. As of now, the network has not announced plans to bring back the latter award show.

This past spring, Carr hinted at the return of the “Soul Train Awards,” calling the broadcast ceremony the BET show that “everyone wants to come back.”

Per Variety, Connie Orlando, exec VP of specials, music programming and music strategy at BET said the 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.”

The upcoming Soul Train Awards will air BET and CBS on November 27 at 8 p.m.The awards will come back with the help of Spotify as the broadcast’s exclusive music streaming sponsor and Toyota as a key sponsor.