Lady Gaga wins 8 MTV Video Music Awards
The singer, 24, who won seven of her "moon man" trophies for Bad Romance, cried as she picked up the top award from Cher at the end of the night.
"I was so nervous tonight that I'd let my fans down," she said.
Meanwhile, country star Taylor Swift sang a song about Kanye West. who invaded the stage at last year's awards and sabotaged her acceptance speech.
At last year's event, Kanye West stormed the stage after Taylor Swift won the best female video prize and said: "Taylor, I'm really happy for you and I'm gonna let you finish but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time" - referring to the R&B star's black and white dance video for Single Ladies.
At Sunday night's awards - presented by comedian Chelsea Handler - Swift, 20, sang a new song called Innocent which appeared to be an acceptance of West's repeated apologies over the incident.
Rapper Eminem, who opened the evening's proceedings with performances of hits Not Afraid and Love the Way You Lie - featuring Rihanna - picked up best hip-hop video and best male video for the former song.
Best new artist Justin Bieber, 16, who was also one of the evening's performers, said: "I come from a little town in Canada, I never thought I'd be in this position."
