The Soul Train Awards are coming home. After a three-year break, the ceremony will tape at Chicago's Harris Theater on Thursday, Nov. 5, before airing Friday, Nov. 27, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on BET and CBS, marking the show's first-ever appearance on CBS. Anthony Anderson is set to host, and Chicago-born singer Chaka Khan will receive the Classic Soul Honor.
The show's two-hour runtime and its Chicago location mark a notable homecoming, according to Billboard, which reports this is the first Soul Train Awards since 2023 and the first edition ever to air on CBS. The broadcast will also simulcast on BET Her, VH1, MTV2 and Logo. As the Chicago Tribune notes, BET has said the awards will be taped in the city where Don Cornelius launched the original Soul Train more than 50 years ago.
That framing carries weight for BET leadership. BET president Louis Carr has expressed pride in the awards' return to Chicago, which BET has announced.
A Three-Year Pause Ends With a New Format
The revival follows a gap since the last ceremony, which aired in 2023 and was hosted by Keke Palmer, according to Variety. After a three-year pause, the awards are returning to the air, as Deadline reported, and Variety adds that the reimagined show is being positioned with a bold new format. Anderson previously hosted the Soul Train Awards back in 2013, giving him familiarity with the ceremony as it reemerges in a new city and on a new network.
Jesse Collins Entertainment is producing the show, with Jesse Collins, Dionne Harmon and Jeannae Rouzan-Clay serving as executive producers alongside BET executive producer Connie Orlando, per the Tribune. Additional 2026 performers and honorees, as well as more details about the Harris Theater taping, will be announced in the coming weeks.
Fans Get a Direct Vote in Two Categories
For the first time, fans will help determine the winners in two categories: R&B/Soul Song of the Year and Spotify's RNB X International Artist, a category described by BET as recognizing artists pushing the genre beyond borders, Billboard reports. Voting for R&B/Soul Song of the Year takes place on BET.com, while the RNB X International Artist vote runs through the Spotify app, according to the Tribune. R&B/Soul Song of the Year nominees include Justin Bieber, Mariah the Scientist featuring Kali Uchis, Olivia Dean, Tems, Brent Faiyaz, Bruno Mars, Chris Brown featuring Bryson Tiller, and Daniel Caesar.
Chaka Khan and the Pull of Soul Train's Chicago Roots
Khan's Classic Soul Honor adds a hometown thread to the ceremony. She is a Grammy-winning singer-songwriter from Chicago, and her selection lands amid the show's broader return to the city where it all began. Soul Train itself started as a local Chicago television program in 1971 before going into national syndication in 1971, according to NPR, and it ran nationally from 1971 through 2006.
Chaka Khan and the Pull of Soul Train's Chicago Roots
