For the second straight year, the band One Direction captured the top award, artist of the year, at the fan-voted American Music Awards on Sunday night. 1D, consisting of Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne and Niall Horan, went home with the most prestigious accolade after being named artist of the year.
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One Direction grabbed two AMA awards, that is, Artist of the Year and Favourite Pop/Rock Duo or Group.
Behind Swift with five nominations are Sheeran and the Weeknd, who had a breakout year with the No. 1 hits “The Hills” and “Can’t Feel My Face”.
In the country genre, Carrie Underwood won in the favorite female artist category and Luke Bryan won the favorite male artist prize.
Singer Sam Hunt won the favorite new artist award, while Justin Bieber, Skrillex, and Diplo won the award for best collaboration for their song “Where Are Ü Now”.
Nicki Minaj was also a double victor, taking home favourite artist and album-rap/hip-hop.
While numerous headlines will no doubt focus on the diabetes-inducing stage makeout session between Charlie Puth and Meghan Trainor, the show’s saving grace was it’s packed schedule of musical performances.
The diva hosted the awards show, which she opened with a performance of her own, choreographed by Auckland hip-hop dancer Parris Goebel. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP) Prince, right, presents The Weeknd with the award for favorite album – soul/R&B for Beauty Behind the Madness at the American Music Awards at the Microsoft Theater on Sunday, November 22, 2015, in Los Angeles.
The Favorite Female Pop/Rock Artist victor was Ariana Grande. The 46 year old wowed the crowd as she danced to “Uptown Funk”, “Hotline Bling”, “Love More” and “Bitch better Have My Money”.
Swift is the top nominee with six, thanks to her top-selling album “1989” and hits like “Bad Blood” and “Black Space”.
The 1D boys, Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato also took the stage, while Ellie Goulding, reality TV star Kylie Jenner and model Gigi Hadid were among the presenters joining host J-Lo.
Nick Jonas, meanwhile, did a medley of his singles, including “Chains” and “Jealous“, while Walk the Moon performed the hit “Shut Up and Dance”.
Celine Dion performed the French classic made famous by Edith Piaf, “L’Hymne a L’Amour”, in front of a string section and a montage of images of famous Paris sites.
On a surging comeback effort, Justin Bieber closed the show with a three-part performance of his songs “What Do You Mean?”, “Where Are U Now” and “Sorry“.
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Jared Leto, frontman of USA rock act Thirty Seconds To Mars, took time to pay tribute to the victims of the recent Paris attacks with a heartrending speech.
