NATE BARGATZE HONORED WITH SOUNDEXCHANGE HALL OF FAME AWARD

WASHINGTON, Dec. 17, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- SoundExchange announced today that Nate Bargatze has earned a SoundExchange Hall of Fame Award. The honor recognizes the comedian, actor, producer, and New York Times Best Selling author as one of the most streamed comedians in the organization's 20-plus year history of administering digital performance royalties.

A SoundExchange member since 2012, Bargatze is the first spoken word artist to receive the Hall of Fame Award. In addition to U.S. non-interactive streaming royalties, the comedian is also among the more than 474,000 artists and rights owners who trust SoundExchange to collect their international royalties.

"Nate Bargatze has an extraordinary gift for turning life's simplest moments into unforgettable comedy with a delivery that feels effortless and genuine," said Michael Huppe, President and CEO of SoundExchange. "His storytelling reminds us that the funniest parts of life are often the ones we overlook. We are immensely proud to honor Nate Bargatze with the SoundExchange Hall of Fame Award."

"It meant the world to me to be the first comic awarded this recognition," said Nate Bargatze. "I have been such a proponent of SoundExchange throughout my career and I didn't realize this award was even possible! This is a really, really special honor. Thank you!"

In addition to hosting the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards in September on CBS, Bargatze has spent the majority of 2025 on the road on his epic Big Dumb Eyes World Tour, which recently wrapped dates for the year in Nashville. The tour picks back up in January with shows currently scheduled throughout North America through August 2026.

About Nate Bargatze
Hailed as "The Nicest Man in Stand-Up" by The Atlantic and "One of the Funniest People" by CBS Mornings, two-time Grammy and Emmy–nominated comedian Nate Bargatze is among the most successful touring comedians in the world. A New York Times #1 bestselling author, podcaster, director, and producer, Bargatze sold over 1.2 million tickets in 2024, ranking as the #1 earning comedian globally according to Pollstar. Billboard also reported that he set a new record for the biggest one-year gross by a comedy performer in history.

Bargatze is currently on his 2025 Big Dumb Eyes World Tour, continuing to break attendance and ticket records nationwide. Most recently, he hosted the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards on CBS, the highest-rated Emmys broadcast in four years. He will next host The Greatest Average American, a new comedy game show he co-created and executive produces, premiering February 25 on ABC and Hulu.

His debut book, Big Dumb Eyes: Stories From a Simpler Mind, instantly became a New York Times #1 bestseller and remained on the list for 11 weeks. Bargatze has hosted Saturday Night Live twice to critical acclaim and co-produced Nate Bargatze's Nashville Christmas with Lorne Michaels for CBS. He is also making his feature film debut starring in and executive producing the family comedy The Breadwinner in theaters March 13, 2026, for TriStar Pictures, which he co-wrote and will also co-star Mandy Moore, Colin Jost, Will Forte, and Kumail Nanjiani.

A dominant force in live entertainment, Bargatze has broken more than 20 arena attendance records, including historic ticket sales at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville and the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. He has also performed sold-out shows at the Hollywood Bowl with Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Gaffigan, and Sebastian Maniscalco.

Bargatze's acclaimed stand-up specials include The Tennessee Kid, The Greatest Average American (Grammy-nominated), Hello World—Amazon Prime's most-streamed original comedy special in its first 28 days—and Netflix's Your Friend, Nate Bargatze, one of the platform's most-watched specials globally. Known for his clean, relatable comedy, he holds the record for the most appearances by a comedian on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and is the founder of Nateland Entertainment, a family-friendly content company, which is also expanding into live experiences with the development of the Nateland theme park.

For more information and tickets go to: natebargatze.com.

About SoundExchange
Since 2003, SoundExchange has been on a mission to build a fairer, simpler, and more efficient music industry through technology, data, and advocacy. The sole organization designated by the U.S. government to administer the Section 114 sound recording license, SoundExchange has collected and distributed more than $12 billion in digital performance royalties to date on behalf of more than 800,000 music creators. For more information, visit soundexchange.com.

SOURCE SoundExchange