Taylor Swift made MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) history on Wednesday night by becoming the ceremony’s most decorated solo artist ever.
The 34-year-old pop megastar was the big winner at this year’s event, scooping seven prizes, and she now has a total of 30 VMAs gongs to her name.
Beyoncé also has 30 VMAs wins, but only 25 as a solo artist, because five of those victories came when she was part of Destiny’s Child.
Among Taylor’s haul, she took home the main prize of the night, Video of the Year, for her and Post Malone’s collaboration Fortnight, and she also won the Artist of the Year accolade.
Upon accepting the Video of the Year prize at the UBS Arena in Long Island, New York, Taylor urged people to register to vote for the US Presidential election, and she also thanked her boyfriend, NFL star Travis Kelce for adding some ‘fun’ to the video shoot.
Taylor Swift made MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) history on Wednesday night by becoming the ceremony’s most decorated solo artist ever
She said: ‘If you’re over 18 please register to vote for something else that is important — the Presidential election.’
Speaking about filming the video, she said: ‘Something I will always remember is that when I would finish I take and I would say cut and we’d be done with the take, I would always just here someone cheering and like woo from across the studio where we were shooting it and that one person was my boyfriend Travis.
‘Everything this man touches turns to happiness, fun, and magic, so I want to thank him for adding that to our shoot.’
Taylor and Post Malone won the Best Collaboration prize for Fortnight, and she used her acceptance speech to pay tribute to the September 11th victims and their loved ones.
She said: ‘Waking up this morning in New York on September 11th, I’ve just been thinking about what happened 23 years ago.
‘Everyone who lost a loved one and everyone that we lost. That is the most important thing today.’
Post praised Taylor following their flurry of wins, saying: ‘Absolutely lost for words, one of the most kind and talented people I have ever had the honor of knowing.
‘Just the amount of work and care and love she puts into everything she does for the music video – I watched her tied up to like the operating table thing in the music video and she was just directing the music video from there.’
However, Sabrina Carpenter overcame Taylor to win the Song of the Year prize for Espresso, and the star seemed surprised by her victory.
She told the audience: ‘Oh! Well, well, well, hi! I’ve literally never won one of these, this is really special. The first people who won are the fans.
‘If you clap after everything I say, they’re going to call me off the stage so once I can but I just want to say, you guys are the reason I get to do what I love.
‘But also the reason we could have so much fun and share music with each other. I just feel so grateful, you’re the best of all of us, it’s so cheesy, but I love you.’
Other winners on the night include Chappell Roan scooping Best New Artist, Eminem triumphed in the Best Hip-Hop category for Houdini, and SZA won Best R+B for Snooze.
What’s more, Katy Perry won two accolades – the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, and VMAs Most Iconic Performance for Roar.
