Adele dominated at this year’s Brit Awards, taking home four of the biggest awards of the night in addition to her show-stopping performance of new single ‘When We Were Young’ at the end of the evening.

The 27 year old Tottenham-born singer was named best British Female Solo Artist at the start of the ceremony, and her night only got better from that point onwards, as she also netted the Global Success Award, best British Single for ‘Hello’ and the evening’s most prestigious prize, best British Album for 25.

Adele’s acceptance speeches were among the viral moments of the evening, as she became increasingly lost for words as the evening went on. “To come back after so long away and be so warmly received means so much,” she said, “I got really lost for a while and I didn't know if I'd ever come back. For you all to be so kind to me is so nice.”

AdeleAdele scooped four Brit Awards in one night, making her only the second artist to do so

She also took the opportunity to throw her support behind Kesha during her speech accepting her first award of the night. “I’d like to thank my label for embracing the fact that I’m a woman and being encouraged by it.”

The only previous artist to take home four awards in one evening was Blur in 1995, who last night lost out to Coldplay in the British Band category. Their ninth Brits victory in their career, and fourth in the same category, made them the second most successful act in Brits history, still rather a long way behind Robbie Williams’ 17 victories).

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In the two publicly voted categories, the Best Video prize went to One Direction for their comeback single ‘Drag Me Down’. Even though they’re on hiatus, Liam Payne accepted the award and said “We've been away for a little while, so it's been a bit like getting back on a bike tonight.” Catfish & The Bottlemen scooped the British Breakthrough Act prize.

Justin Bieber, who performed a medley of his recent hits on the back of his achievement as the only artist in UK chart history to hold the top three singles at the same time, won the International Male category. Thanking his fans for sticking by him during a torrid couple of years, the Canadian singer said: “Life is a journey. Everyone has their ups and downs.”

Elsewhere, James Bay won the British Male category; Australian psych-rock auteurs Tame Impala won International Band; Icelandic singer Björk won the fourth Brit of her career for International Female; and Charlie Andrew won the Best Producer award.

Finally, the late David Bowie was honoured with the Brits Icon Award, accepted by actor Gary Oldman who delivered a moving speech. His contribution to British music was also marked with a performance by Lorde of ‘Life On Mars?’ with Bowie’s backing band.

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