The Soul Train Awards are officially coming back—and the return is taking the franchise home while putting it on its biggest broadcast stage yet.

BET announced Thursday, September 3, that the Soul Train Awards 2026 will air Friday, November 27, at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT. The ceremony will be taped in Chicago, the city where Don Cornelius launched the original Soul Train, and CBS will simulcast the awards for the first time.

BET HER, VH1, MTV2 and LOGO will also carry the telecast. Spotify is the exclusive music-streaming partner, Toyota is the exclusive automotive partner and Jesse Collins Entertainment returns as the production company.

No host, honorees or performers were announced with the initial release. BET and Spotify said those details will be revealed in the coming weeks.

What we know so far

SOUL TRAIN AWARDS 2026 — CONFIRMED

Air date: Friday, November 27, 2026

Time: 8:00 p.m. ET/PT

Primary network: BET

First-time broadcast simulcast: CBS

Additional simulcasts: BET HER, VH1, MTV2 and LOGO

Production city: Chicago

Music-streaming partner: Spotify

Automotive partner: Toyota

Production company: Jesse Collins Entertainment

Still to come: Host, performances and honorees

Broadcast information

Soul Train comes home to Chicago

The Chicago setting gives the revival more meaning than a simple venue change.

Don Cornelius launched Soul Train in Chicago in 1971 before the program grew into national syndication and one of the defining institutions in Black music television. The show created a stage for soul, R&B, funk, dance and style that mainstream programming often failed to provide. Its performances and famous dance lines became both entertainment and a moving visual archive of Black culture.

The Soul Train Awards later extended that legacy into an annual celebration of recording artists. The most recent previous ceremony aired in 2023, making the new edition a return after three years off the air.

BET President Louis Carr, a Chicago native, said in the official announcement that he was proud to bring the awards back to the city where the franchise originated. The choice allows the 2026 production to look forward while reconnecting with the geography of Cornelius’s original vision.

The taping date and venue have not yet been announced.

The CBS debut expands the franchise’s reach

CBS carrying the show is not a routine repeat. BET’s announcement identifies the 2026 broadcast as the first Soul Train Awards simulcast on CBS.

That places the franchise on a major broadcast network at the same time it airs across BET and several cable channels. The combination gives the return one of the broadest television footprints in the awards show’s history.

It also changes the scale of the comeback narrative. The Soul Train Awards are not only returning after a pause; they are entering a wider distribution arrangement that can place the franchise before viewers who may not regularly watch BET.

The simulcast does not alter the show’s cultural center. BET remains the primary network, and the official release emphasizes performances, special moments and connections between legacy artists and the generation carrying Black music forward.

Spotify and Toyota sign on as exclusive partners

Spotify will serve as the exclusive music-streaming partner. In its own newsroom announcement, the company framed the partnership as an opportunity to connect audiences with both the artists who built the culture and the voices defining its next chapter.

Toyota is the exclusive automotive partner. Both brands are named presenters of the returning ceremony.

Jesse Collins Entertainment, the company behind numerous major music and television events, returns to produce. According to BET’s release, Connie Orlando is executive producer for BET, with Jesse Collins, Dionne Harmon and Jeannae Rouzan-Clay serving as executive producers for Jesse Collins Entertainment.

Those are the confirmed production details at launch. BET has not yet named nominees, a host, performers or honorees, and no reporting should imply otherwise.

More than an awards-show revival

The return arrives at a moment when the history of Black music television is being newly examined across documentaries, archives and short-form video.

Soul Train was never only a showcase for hit records. It gave Black artists and dancers a visual language, a weekly gathering place and a level of cultural authority that television rarely offered elsewhere. Returning the awards to Chicago acknowledges that history. Bringing the telecast to CBS expands the audience that can encounter it.

The strongest test will come when BET reveals the creative details. The host, honorees and performance lineup will show how the production intends to balance legacy with the present state of R&B, soul and adjacent Black music.

For now, the announcement establishes the essential framework: a November 27 telecast, a Chicago homecoming, a CBS first and a multi-network return.

WWETV’s Soul Train programming context

The announcement arrives while WWETV Studios and WWETV Media have been revisiting Soul Train history, including Gladys Knight and other legacy artists. That programming is separate from BET’s news announcement, but the timing creates a natural bridge between the archival stories and the franchise’s next chapter.

Readers can explore WWETV’s Soul Train archive and the companion feature on Gladys Knight’s appearance on A Different World for more Black music television history.

Editorial verification sources

• BET / Paramount Press Express: “Soul Train Awards” Returns to BET and Makes Debut on CBS
• Spotify Newsroom: The Soul Train Awards Are Coming Back, Presented by Spotify

Verification note: The two primary sources agree on the announced date, time, networks, Chicago taping and Spotify’s role. BET specifies ET/PT; Spotify’s article displays 8:00 p.m. ET. No material conflict was found. Neither source gives a taping date or venue.