Taylor Swift fans had plenty to celebrate as the “Mean” singer took home the Artist of the Year award and more at Nov. 20’s 2011 American Music Awards on ABC.
Swift along with this year’s biggest music acts gathered at the Staples Center to be honored for their achievements in 2011.
Many were shocked at Swift’s win as impressive names in the likes of Katy Perry, Adele, Lady Gaga and Lil Wayne were also in the category. Compared to Perry and Adele, Swift has not been featured on radio stations and has not had as many hit records as them this year.
Perry received an award for being the first female artist to have five No. 1 singles in one album, Teenage Dream, including “The One that got Away” which she performed wearing a distracting Barbie pink ensemble and a futuristic hairstyle.
Other performances came from Perry’s ex-boyfriend Travie McCoy, member of the band Gym Class Heroes, which sang their duet with Adam Levine of Maroon 5.
Maroon 5 performed their hit song “Moves like Jagger” with Christina Aguilera, who also wore a not-so-flattering dress during the performance.
A slew of artist of Latin descent took the stage including a newly single Jennifer Lopez, who performed twice during the show. Lopez, who won the award for favorite artist in Latin music, sported a nude body suit similar to the one Britney Spears wore in her “Toxic” video years ago. Lopez performed alongside hit-maker Pitbull, who took the stage a second time to perform “Rain on Me” with J. Lo’s soon to be ex-husband Marc Anthony.
Enrique Iglesias also performed alongside Ludacris and Disney star Selena Gomez showed her bubbly personally as a presenter and audience member all throughout the show.
Two-time winning Nicki Minaj, for best hip-hop artist and album for Pink Friday against heavy weights including her boss Lil’ Wayne, Jay-Z and Kanye West, opened the show with David Guetta with “Turn me On” and moved onto playing her mega hit “Super Bass.” The performance seemed a bit too lackluster for an opener and was followed by a waterfall of other not so memorable performances from Chris Brown, Will.I.am, One Republic and Drake.
Band Perry performed as well as Daughtry inspiring standing ovations from the crowd. Bruno Mars picked up and award for best male Pop and Adele won best female in the same category as well as two other categories, best pop album for 21 and favorite adult contemporary.
LMFAO and a weirdly clad Justin Beiber, donning tight leggings and colorful cropped top, closed the show in what looked like the ultimate celebration of this year’s Top 40 artists.
