Usher was the top honoree at the Billboard Music Awards tonight (Dec. 8) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The LaFace/Zomba R&B star took home 11 awards, including artist of the year, R&B/hip-hop artist of the year, Hot 100 single of the year for “Yeah!” and Billboard 200 album of the year for “Confessions.”
Alicia Keys picked up seven trophies, including female artist of the year, female R&B/hip-hop artist of the year, Hot 100 songwriter of the year and R&B/hip-hop single of the year for “If I Ain’t Got You” (J).
OutKast was next, with five awards, including duo/group of the year, R&B/hip-hop duo/group of the year, Billboard 200 album artist of the year (duo/group) and digital track of the year for “Hey Ya!” (LaFace/Zomba).
Kanye West received four honors, including male new artist of the year, rap artist and R&B/hip-hop producer. Lil Jon picked up a solo honor as Hot 100 producer and two awards with his group the East Side Boyz (independent album artist of the year and independent album of the year for the TVT set “Kings of Crunk”).
Double award winners were Gretchen Wilson (female and new country artist of the year) and Fantasia (top-selling single and top-selling R&B/hip-hop single for “I Believe”).
Ashlee Simpson was named female new artist of the year, while Big & Rich took home new country duo/group artist of the year. Maroon 5 won digital artist of the year. 50 Cent won the new category of ringtone of the year for “In Da Club” (Shady/Aftermath/Interscope).
Destiny’s Child was presented with an artist achievement award, and Stevie Wonder accepted Billboard’s Century Award, the magazine’s highest honor for creative achievement.
The Billboard Music Award winners are based on performance on Billboard’s weekly music charts. This year’s honors reflected charts published between December 2003 and November 2004. Billboard’s year-end issue, set to hit newsstands Dec. 17, will include additional award winners.
For a full list of tonight’s winners, visit Billboard.com.
