(September 20, 2026) An event that has meant a lot to soul music fans around the world is returning, with a familiar name at the helm. The Soul Train Awards are returning to BET on November 27, ending a two-year absence and bringing one of Black music’s best-known awards shows back to television.
The awards last aired in 2023 and were not presented in 2024 or 2025. Their return will also bring the celebration back to Chicago, where Don Cornelius launched Soul Train more than five decades ago.
“As a Chicago native, I’m proud to bring the ‘Soul Train Awards’ back to the city where it all originated,” BET President Louis Carr said in announcing the return. “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.”
Few people have a closer connection to that history than Tony Cornelius, son of Soul Train creator Don Cornelius. Tony spent decades with Don Cornelius Productions, eventually serving as Senior Vice President and General Manager and working extensively on Soul Train, the Soul Train Awards and related television specials.
“Soul Train was created to give artists a place to be seen, heard and celebrated,” Tony Cornelius says. “That vision continues to matter.”
Created by Don Cornelius, Soul Train became a groundbreaking national showcase for Black music, dance and culture, while the Soul Train Awards extended that mission by honoring generations of R&B, soul and hip-hop performers.
Tony Cornelius continues to preserve his father’s legacy as President and Founder of the Don Cornelius Foundation, and he sees the return of the awards as another opportunity to connect Soul Train’s history with today’s artists.
“As the Soul Train Awards return, this is an opportunity to celebrate the incredible artists who continue to move our culture forward while also remembering the vision that made this platform possible,” he says.
For longtime fans, the November return will mark both a revival of a familiar tradition and another chapter in the continuing Soul Train story.
