Taylor Swift led the winners at the Billboard Music Awards last night (19.05.13), taking home eight prizes.

The 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together' hitmaker - who is known for her turbulent love life and relationships with stars including Harry Styles, Jake Gyllenhaal and John Mayer - paid tribute to her loyal fans as she picked up the evening's top honour, the coveted Artist of the Year prize.

She said: "Thank you for making my music the soundtrack to your crazy emotions. You are the longest and best relationship I've had."

As well as Artist of the Year, Taylor also took home honours including Top Female Artist, Top Country Artist, Billboard 200 Album and Top Country Album for 'Red', and Top Country Song for 'We Are Never Getting Back Together'.

Elsewhere, four prizes were handed out to both Gotye - all for the track 'Somebody That I Used To Know' - and Rihanna, while Madonna, Nicki Minaj and One Direction each picked up three awards.

Justin Bieber performed at the ceremony at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and picked up awards for Top Male Artist and the first-ever Milestone Award, which was chosen by fans for musical innovation and ingenuity but was booed as he took to the stage to pick up the latter prize.

In his speech, he said: "I'm 19 years old. I think I'm doing a pretty good job. It should really be about the music. This is not a gimmick. I'm an artist and I should be taken seriously. And all this other bull should not be spoken of."

Musical performers at the ceremony - which was hosted by Tracy Morgan - included Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull, Selena Gomez, PSY and Taylor.

Prince closed the show with a medley of 'Let's Go Crazy', 'Frankenstein' and 'Fix Ur Life Up', but did not give an acceptance speech in recognition of his Icon Award.

 

Billboard Music Awards 2013 selected winners list:

Top Artist: Taylor Swift
 

Top New Artist: One Direction 
 

Top Male Artist: Justin Bieber
 

Top Female Artist: Taylor Swift 
 

Top Duo/Group: One Direction 
 

Top Billboard 200 Artist: Taylor Swift 
 

Top Hot 100 Artist: Maroon 5 
 

Top Digital Songs Artist: Taylor Swift 
 

Top Radio Songs Artist: Rihanna 
 

Top Touring Artist: Madonna 
 

Top Social Artist: Justin Bieber 
 

Top Streaming Artist: Nicki Minaj 
 

Top Pop Artist: One Direction 
 

Top R&B Artist: Rihanna 
 

Top Rap Artist: Nicki Minaj
 

Top Country Artist: Taylor Swift 
 

Top Rock Artist: fun.
 

Top Latin Artist: Jenni Rivera 
 

Top Dance Artist: Madonna
 

Top EDM Artist: David Guetta
 

Top Christian Artist: tobyMac

Bang Showbiz