Originally set up by Dick Clarke in 1973 after ABC lost its rights to air the Grammy Awards, The American Music Awards has since become one of the most biggest nights in showbiz in the US and has established itself as a standalone prize in its own right. The A-listers took to the the red carpet in force on Sunday, 24 November for the 41st annual AMAs at Los Angeles' Nokia Theatre where many a surprise was had, and plenty of prizes were given out.

Rihanna AMA awards
Rihanna At The AMA Awards

Hosted by rapper Pitbull, the 41st incarnation of the awards saw Macklemore & Ryan Lewis lead the nominations poll with six mentions, with Taylor Swift and Justin Timberlake falling behind with five, and it was these two who would eventually go on to leave the Nokia Theatre with the most awards for the night.

JT was successful in most of his categories, but could only walk away with three awards, whereas Swift managed to only lose out on just one of her nominations and emerged as the biggest winner of the night.

Swift cleaned up in the country categories and was awarded both the Favorite Country Female Artist and Favorite Country Album awards. Owing to her multi-genre appeal, Taylor beat P!nk and Rihanna to take home the Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist prize and emerged victorious in front of JT, Rihanna, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Bruno Mars to take home the Artist of the Year award too. The only nomination she lost out on was Favorite Pop/Rock Album, with Red and Timberlake's The 20/20 Experience losing out to Take Me Home by One Direction.

TLC AMA AwardsLil Mama and TLC At The AMA Awards

1D managed to take home the Favorite Pop/Rock Band/Duo/Group gong as well, whereas Justin finally saw gold when his name was called out in the Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist, Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist and Favorite Soul/R&B Album categories.

In a surprise move, one of the biggest awards of the evening, the Single of the Year, wasn't handed to 'Thrift Shop' or 'Blurred Lines,' but instead to Florida Georgia Line featuring Nelly for 'Cruise,' which reflected on a poor night for Robin Thicke who left empty handed despite starting the show with four nominations.

Justin Timberlake AMA AwardsJustin Timberlake With His AMA Awards

For the first ever time, the Icon Award was handed out to whoever the AMAs credited with having the largest global appeal and influence and in its first year the prize was handed to Rihanna.

Next page: the full list of winners below.