The R&B star went into the Canadian music video network's annual prizegiving with six nominations and landed four wins including the top honour of Video of the Year for Often, beating out the likes of Arcade Fire for the coveted trophy.

The visionary behind the Often video, Sam Pilling, was also named Best Director and The Weeknd, real name Abel Tesfaye, earned an honour for Best Pop Video for Earned It, the chart-topping hit from the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack, as well as the Most Buzzworthy Canadian prize.

With his four trophies, The Weeknd ties for the record of the most MuchMusic Video Award wins in one night, along with hip-hop group Swollen Members.

Co-host and double performer Ed Sheeran landed his first MMVAs for Best International Artist and Most Buzzworthy International Artist or Group, joking that after four years worth of nominations, he only won a trophy "because I'm hosting."

The Weeknd's fellow Toronto native Drake surprised rapper P. Reign when he was presented with the Best Hip-Hop video for DnF. Drake came out to hand the prize to his good friend who had no idea Drake was attending the ceremony.

Another hometown boy, Justin Bieber, took the Favourite Artist or Group prize for the fifth year in a row, but was not present to accept his award, and instead took to Twitter.com to thank his fans, by writing, "We did it! Love u (you) Canada. Promise to make u (sic) proud. Grown up in front of u & grown a lot (sic). Thanks for sticking with me. Love u (sic)."

Other winners included One Direction (Fan Fave International Group), Canadian Shawn Mendes (Fan Fave Video, Something Big), and Arcade Fire (Best Rock/Alternative Video, We Exist).

The prizegiving also included performances by Fall Out Boy, Nick Jonas, Jason Derulo and Canadian artists Carly Rae Jepsen and Mendes, while actors such as Hailee Steinfeld, Tyler Posey and Sarah Hyland were on hand to present the accolades.