The Weeknd was the big winner at Sunday night's 2016 Billboard Music Awards, taking home eight honours, including Top Hot 100 Artiste and Top R&B Artiste at the event, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Adele also made a mark with five trophies, including the biggest honour of the evening, Top Artiste. She accepted the award in a pre-recorded video from overseas, while Justin Bieber (Top Male Artiste) and Rihanna (the fan-voted Chart Achievement Award) also walked away happy. But it was a show defined by moments and performances, both celebratory and sombre, throughout the evening.

Britney Spears kicked off proceedings with a medley of her songs, showcasing both her well-known hits and some deeper cuts. Madonna's tribute to Prince put an exclamation point on the evening -- she began singing “Nothing Compares 2 U” on a purple throne and brought out Stevie Wonder to assist her on a powerful rendition of “Purple Rain”. The Weeknd also dedicated his Top Hot 100 Artiste victory to the late icon early in the show.

All eyes were on Kesha when she took the stage midway through the event for her first televised performance since her long-running lawsuit with producer Dr. Luke started. Her spare, plaintive and emotional rendition of Bob Dylan's “It Ain't Me Babe” -- accompanied by deft piano and haunting strings -- was a clear highlight of the evening, and reminded anyone who may have forgotten that she is a fantastic singer.

The elegant Celine Dion looked resplendent and sounded even better when powering through “The Show Must Go On” in front of a full orchestra, imparting as much meaning as possible into every word. Seal, who introduced her, called her performance “exquisite” before bringing out her son to deliver the Icon Award to his mother, which brought her to tears.

Despite not being there, Adele still made an impact, winning five awards and using the opportunity to debut her new music video, for “Send My Love (To Your New Lover)”.

Though the awards broadcast featured plenty of fireworks -- Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and the Go-Go's all delivered eye-catching performances, as did Nick Jonas, Tove Lo, Demi Lovato, DNCE and Rihanna -- there were a lot of low key, stripped-down renditions as well from the likes of Lukas Graham, Shawn Mendes, and Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani. But the end of the show was all about the Purple One, and Questlove took on the task of introducing Madonna's performance. “All of us live in the land of music,” Quest said of Prince, “And his departure was an earthquake.” As Stevie Wonder walked on stage during the first notes of “Purple Rain” and the arena lit up with purple lights, it was hard not to feel a little emotional.

Source: Billboard