Drake sets record with most wins at Billboard awards

Las Vegas: Rapper Drake set a record with the most wins ever, taking home 12 honours at the Billboard Music Awards. The ceremony took place on Wednesday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena here with singer Kelly Clarkson as the host.

Drake surpassed singer Taylor Swift to become the top award recipient in the Billboard Music Awards history. He won 12 awards, bringing his career total to 27. Swift has won 23 Billboard Music Awards, reports billboard.com.

Drake won the top artist and top Billboard 200 album, among others.

The rapper had clearly watched the most recent episode of "Game of Thrones" as while accepting the award for the Top Billboard 200 Album for "Scorpion", he gave a shout-out to the show's character Arya Stark, reports eonline.com.

He said: "Thank you to everybody who gave me their time, their energy, stayed away from their family and friends while we were trying to complete this. I always had a dream of doing a double album and I finally did it so now I'll never do it again."

"I need a glass of champagne", the "God's plan" performer joked, before concluding, "Hey, shout-out to Arya Stark for putting in that work last week." 

Ariana Grande took top female artist for the first time. She also won the fan-voted Billboard chart achievement award.

Cardi B took home six, while Maroon 5 scored four, and Ella Mai, Ozuna, Luke Combs and Lauren Daigle nabbed three, reports variety.com.

Swift made her Billboard Music Awards return with a performance of her new single "ME!", her first performance since singing "22" back in 2013. 

BTS became the first K-Pop act to win top duo/group. BTS also took the fan-voted top social artist award for the third year in a row.

Other performers included Paula Abdul, Jonas Brothers, Halsey, Madonna, Khalid, and 2019 ICON Award recipient Mariah Carey, among others.