The Weeknd cleaned up at the Billboard Music Awards Sunday, taking home eight trophies including Top Hot 100 Artist, Top R&B Artist and Top R&B song for "The Hills," which spent six weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2015.
Adele was the night's other big winner with five awards, including the night's biggest prize, Top Artist, beating The Weeknd, Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift and Drake. The singer, who is currently on her Adele Live world tour in Europe, was unable to attend but collected her awards with video messages that aired inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The 28 year old's multi-platinum selling album 25 was named Top Billboard 200 Album and she also won Top Female Artist. Adele also debuted her latest music video, "Send My Love (To Your New Lover)" at the ceremony. Watch below:
Justin Bieber, who has enjoyed multiple hit singles including "Sorry" and "Love Yourself" in the last year, was named Top Male Artist at the event.
The Billboard Music Awards also saw performances from the likes of Kesha—whose cover of Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe" was pulled and then re-added to the lineup amid her legal battle with record label boss Dr. Luke—Fifth Harmony, Pink, Meghan Trainor and more. Pop heavyweight Britney Spears kicked off the ceremony with a medley of some of her biggest hits, including "Womanizer," "I'm a Slave 4 U" and "Work B*tch."
There were moments of poignancy too, as Madonna paid tribute to the late Prince. She was joined by Stevie Wonder for a rendition of "Purple Rain." She also sang "Nothing Compares 2 U."
Celine Dion, meanwhile, made a rousing comeback to the stage just months after the death of her husband and manager René Angélil. She performed Queen's "The Show Must Go On" before collecting the Icon Award prize, presented to her by her son René-Charles. Dion dedicated the award to "my beloved husband whom I know will continue to watch over me from up above."
Billboard Music Awards 2016—selected winners:
Top Artist: Adele
Billboard Chart Achievement Award: Rihanna
Top R&B Song: "The Hills," The Weeknd
Top Billboard 200 Album: 25, Adele
Top Male Artist: Justin Bieber
Top Female Artist: Adele
Top Hot 100 Song: "See You Again," Wiz Khalifa feat. Charlie Puth
Top Hot 100 Artist: The Weeknd
Top Duo/Group: One Direction
Top Billboard 200 Artist: Adele
Top Song Sales Artist: The Weeknd
Top Streaming Songs Artist: The Weeknd
Top Social Media Artist: Justin Bieber
Top Touring Artist: Taylor Swift
Top R&B Artist: The Weeknd
Top Rap Artist: Drake
Top Country Artist: Luke Bryan
Top Rock Artist: twenty one pilots
Top Dance/Electronic Artist: David Guetta
Top R&B Album: Beauty Behind the Madness , The Weeknd
Top Selling Song: "Hello," Adele
Top Streaming Song (Audio): "The Hills," The Weeknd
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
