America's Got Talent season 16

America's Got Talent
Season 16
Promotional poster for season 16, featuring (L to R) judges Mandel, Vergara, Cowell, host Crews, and judge Klum
Showrunners
  • Jason Raff
  • Sam Donnelly[1]
Hosted byTerry Crews
Judges
WinnerDustin Tavella
Runner-up
  • Aidan Bryant
No. of episodes21
Release
Original networkNBC
Original releaseJune 1 (2021-06-01) –
September 15, 2021 (2021-09-15)
Season chronology
← Previous
Season 15
Next →
Season 17
Judges and Host for America's Got Talent Season 16
Howie Mandel
Heidi Klum
Sofía Vergara
Simon Cowell
Terry Crews

The sixteenth season of the American talent show competition series America's Got Talent was broadcast on NBC from June 1 to September 15, 2021. Although production was still impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, live audiences were involved during audition sessions and live round stages of the competition. After Simon Cowell returned to his role on the program after an accident the previous year,[2] the Judges Cuts round was replaced by him with a new deliberation format arrangement similar to that used in Britain's Got Talent.[3]

This season included the first group Golden Buzzer in the program's history,[4] and the creation of a "Wildcard" special (which aired via online streaming service Peacock on August 10, 2021), following the withdrawal of a Golden Buzzer participant.[5] The sixteenth season was won by magician Dustin Tavella, with aerialist Aidan Bryant finishing second, and stand-up comedian Josh Blue placing third.[6] During its broadcast, the season averaged around 6.60 million viewers, excluding its online Wildcard special.

  1. ^ Hailu, Selome (October 28, 2024). "'America's Got Talent': Jason Raff Out as Showrunner After 19 Seasons Due to Budget Cuts". Variety. Retrieved October 31, 2024.
  2. ^ Kim Willis; Bill Keveney (August 9, 2020). "Simon Cowell breaks his back falling off electric bicycle, will miss this week's AGT live shows". USA Today. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Format change was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference GGB was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference NB Withdraw was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cydney Henderson (September 16, 2021). "America's Got Talent finale: Magician Dustin Tavella wins Season 16 in star-studded finale". USA Today. Retrieved September 16, 2021.