America's Got Talent season 16

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, the Judges Cuts round was replaced by him with a new deliberation format arrangement similar to that used in Britain's Got Talent.
This season included the first group Golden Buzzer in the program's history, and the creation of a "Wildcard" special, following the withdrawal of a Golden Buzzer participant. The sixteenth season was won by magician Dustin Tavella, with aerialist Aidan Bryant finishing second, and stand-up comedian Josh Blue placing third. During its broadcast, the season averaged around 6.60 million viewers, excluding its online Wildcard special.

Production

On February 24, 2021, the new season's line-up of judges and host was announced, revealing that Cowell would be returning, following an accident the previous year that had forced him to be absent in the fifteenth season's live episodes. Closed auditions were held across March and April, with footage taken from these undergoing final editing before the season's premiere at the beginning of June. A two-week hiatus in the broadcast schedule was also made, to avoid the NBC's live coverage of the postponed 2020 Summer Olympics between July and August.
The Judge Cuts round, which had been significantly modified in the previous season due to the disruption of production, was replaced by the deliberation format used by Britain's Got Talent. The judges conferred after the conclusion of auditions, to determine which acts would proceed to the live rounds. Some deliberations were filmed and used to fill in the remaining portions of the final audition episode for the season, as was done for the British edition of the show.
Due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, the auditions were conducted with smaller audiences, augmented with stock footage of audiences from previous seasons and other editing techniques. With restrictions eased in California effective June 15, the live rounds returned to their usual home of the Dolby Theatre, but with audience members required to be vaccinated for COVID-19 and wear masks.

Season overview

During auditions, the judges and host agreed to grant a group Golden Buzzer for the first time in the program's history. Although this would have meant six guaranteed places in the quarter-finals, singer Nightbirde later withdrew from the competition to focus on her battle with cancer, despite receiving a Golden Buzzer. As a result of this, her place was converted into a Wildcard slot, with the process conducted via a special episode on the streaming service Peacock on the same night as the first quarter-final. The process involved five participants picked from those who were eliminated during the deliberation phase, with viewers voting via Twitter over a three-day period on which of these would be their Wildcard in the third quarter-final.
Of the participants who auditioned this season, thirty-six secured a place in the live quarterfinals, with twelve quarter-finalists in each quarterfinal episode. Among these included: Northwell Nurse Choir, quick-change artist Léa Kyle, singer Jimmie Herrod, World Taekwondo Demonstration Team and classical singer Victory Brinker, who each received a Golden Buzzer; and singer Storm Large, a Wildcard act voted for during the Peacock special. About twenty-two quarter-finalists advanced to and were split between the two semi-finals, with 10 semi-finalists securing a place in the finals. The following below lists the results of each participant's overall performance in this season:

Participant	Age	Genre	Act	From	Quarter-Final	Result
1aChord	19-22	Singing	Vocal Trio	Greensboro, North Carolina	1
Aidan Bryant	16	Acrobatics	Aerialist	Prince George, Virginia	2	'
ANICA	51	Singing	Singer	Grand Barachois, New Brunswick	3
Beyond Belief Dance Company	8-12	Dance	Dance Group	Mesquite, Texas	1
Brooke Simpson	30	Singing	Singer	Los Angeles	3	'
ChapKidz	12-18	Dance	Dance Group	Fairfield, California	3
Dokteuk Crew		Dance	Dance Group	Daejeon, South Korea	2
Dustin Tavella	35	Magic	Magician	Virginia Beach, Virginia	1	'
Gangstagrass		Singing / Music	Band	New York City	1
Gina Brillon	41	Comedy	Comedian	New York City	1	'
Jimmie Herrod	30	Singing	Singer	Portland, Oregon	1	'
Johnny Showcase		Singing	Singer	Philadelphia	2
Josh Blue	42	Comedy	Comedian	Denver	2	'
Kabir Singh		Comedy	Comedian	Los Angeles	1
Keith Apicary	35	Dance	Dancer	Portland, Oregon	3
Klek Entos		Magic	Horror Magician	France	3
Korean Soul		Singing	Vocal Group	Seoul, South Korea	2
Léa Kyle	25	Magic	Quick Change Artist	Bordeaux, France	3	'
Madilyn Bailey	28	Singing / Music	Singer & Pianist	Los Angeles	1
Matt Johnson		Danger	Escape Artist	Chilliwack, British Columbia	1
Michael Winslow	62	Comedy	Voicetramentalist	Orlando	3
Northwell Nurse Choir		Singing	Choir	Long Island, New York	2	'
Peter Antoniou		Magic	Mentalist	Seattle	2
Peter Rosalita	10	Singing	Singer	Philippines	1
Positive Impact Movement		Acrobatics	Acrobatic Group	Los Angeles	2
Rialcris		Acrobatics	Acrobatic Trio	Ensenada, Mexico	3
Sethward	32	Comedy	Novelty Act	Los Angeles	1
Shuffolution		Dance	Dance Group	Los Angeles	2
Storm Large	51	Singing	Singer	Southborough, Massachusetts	3
T.3		Singing	Vocal Trio	New York City	2
The Canine Stars		Animals	Dog Act	Fort Collins, Colorado	1
The Curtis Family C-Notes		Singing / Music	Band	San Francisco	3
Tory Vagasy	20	Singing	Singer	Pompano Beach, Florida	2
UniCircle Flow		Variety	Unicycle Group	Japan	3
Victory Brinker	9	Singing	Opera Singer	Latrobe, Pennsylvania	2	'
World Taekwondo Demo. Team		Acrobatics	Martial Arts Troupe	San Jose, California	3	'

Ages denoted for a participant, pertain to their final performance for this season.

Quarter-finals summary

Quarter-final 1 (August 10)

Guest Performers, Results Show: Brandon Leake & Darci Lynne

Beyond Belief Dance Company were later brought back as a Wildcard act for the Semi-finals.

Quarter-final 2 (August 17)

Guest Performers, Results Show: Kodi Lee, The Clairvoyants, and H.E.R.

Quarter-final 3 (August 24)

Guest Performers, Results Show: Shin Lim & Lindsey Stirling

Semi-finals summary

Semi-final 1 (August 31)

Guest Performers, Results Show: Ben Platt & Preacher Lawson

Due to the majority vote for World Taekwondo Demo. Team, Mandel's voting intention was not revealed.

Semi-final 2 (September 7)

Guest Performers, Results Show: Deadly Games & Duo Transcend

Finals (September 14–15)

Guest Performer, Finale: Idina Menzel

Finalist	Performed with	Result
Aidan Bryant	Jordan Chiles and MyKayla Skinner	'
Brooke Simpson	Bishop Briggs	'
Dustin Tavella	Mat Franco and Rico Rodriguez	'
Gina Brillon	George Lopez
Jimmie Herrod	Idina Menzel
Josh Blue	Kenichi Ebina, Piff the Magic Dragon, Preacher Lawson, Taylor Williamson, and Tom Cotter	'
Léa Kyle	Heidi Klum
Northwell Nurse Choir	Idina Menzel
Victory Brinker	Pentatonix
World Taekwondo Demo. Team	Jordan Chiles and MyKayla Skinner

Aidan Bryant and World Taekwondo Demo. Team conducted a joint routine for their second performance, and thus shared the same guest performers.
Jimmie Herrod and Northwell Nurse Choir conducted a joint routine for their second performance, and thus shared the same guest performer.

Ratings

This episode was made available only online, via streaming service Peacock.