The "Beastie Boys of the future," comedians Jack Black, Will Ferrel and Seth Rogen, challenge Odd Future to a dance battle before presenting Nicki Minaj with the award for Best Hip-Hop Video.
With 12.4 million viewers tuning in, thescored MTV's biggest audience in the network's history.
MTV released its ratings from Nielsen Media on Monday, celebrating its total audience and its record setting ratings in the target 12- to 34-year-old demographic. The VMAS delivered a 10.8 rating with 8.5 million P12-34 viewers, making it MTV's most-watched telecast of all time in the demo.
The VMAs topped the previous record of 11.95 viewers in 2002. Demo viewership was up 8 percent from 2010 and overall tune-in was up 9 percent. MTV says the VMAs is the No. 1 non-sports cable telecast of 2011 in terms of total viewers.
The VMA pre-show ranked as the best on record in 12-34 and total viewers, pulling 5.2 million P12-34 viewers and 7.3 million total.
Online, MTV Digital saw its highest VMA day ever on Sunday, with 2 million unique visitors visiting the site. The site received more than 10 million page views Sunday, up 18 percent from 2010.
13 VMA Moments You Didn't See on TV
MTV's mobile site reached its highest day in history with more than 2.7 million mobile views, a spike of more than 50 percent from last year.