Katy Perry and Chappell Roan proved their pop star credentials at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards, while Taylor Swift became the most awarded artist in the awards show’s history.

Perry received the Video Vanguard Award – MTV’s equivalent of a lifetime achievement award – after performing a career-spanning medley that included hits such as I Kissed A Girl, Dark Horse and Firework.

Roan, who played to an audience of 200 people around this time last year, took home the award for best new artist. She dedicated her award to “all the drag queens who have inspired me.”

And Swift took home seven awards, including the two major prizes: artist and video of the year. She now has 30 MTV trophies, surpassing Beyoncé as the event’s biggest winner.

Beyoncé has won 27 of the Moonman trophies, including two as a member of Destiny’s Child. However, the star was absent from the stage this year after also excluded from this week’s CMA Awards nominations.

Swift used her acceptance speech to encourage fans to vote in the US presidential election next month, a day after she supported the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.

She also paid tribute to her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, who joined her on set when she directed her award-winning music video for Fortnight.

“Every time I said ‘cut,’ I would always hear someone cheering on the other side of the studio. And that person was my boyfriend Travis,” she said.

“Everything this man touches turns into happiness, joy and magic.”

It’s the third year in a row that Swift has won the video of the year award, after winning for Anti-Hero in 2023 and All Too Well (10-minute version) in 2022.

The trophies were presented at UBS Arena in New York City, 40 years after the first MTV Awards were held at the city’s Radio City Hall.

Cyndi Lauper, who won Best Female Video at the opening ceremony for Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, returned to introduce Sabrina Carpenter, whose song Espresso was named song of the year.

And there were performances by rock star Lenny Kravitz, singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes, K-pop artist Lisa and rap icon Eminem, among others.

Here are some of the most notable moments from the three-hour show.

Katy Perry has had a rough summer.

The first two singles from her comeback album 143 were critical and retail flops, so she had to do something special for her MTV appearance.

In the end, her bag contained more surprises than Mary Poppins’s.

Her 10-minute greatest hits set was an absolute blast, as she soared through the air on high wires, danced (in heels) on a giant tilted platform, and contorted herself into otherworldly shapes with hip-hop artist Doechii—all while delivering flawless live vocals.

“I did that on the first day of my period too,” she told the audience after catching her breath.

Perry’s performance was in honor of her Video Vanguard Award, the MTV equivalent of a lifetime achievement award.

She was presented with the trophy by her partner, actor Orlando Bloom, who gave a loving speech.

“She loves her with all her heart and it’s irresistible,” he said. “I see it reflected everywhere; in our home, in her love for her work, but most of all in her love for her fans.”

“Congratulations on this honor, honey,” Bloom said. “I’m so proud of you.”

When he presented the Moonman Award, Perry joked, “I thought you were home babysitting our daughter?”

After 10 years on the sidelines, Chappell Roan has emerged as the star of 2024.

She played Joan of Arc in a smashing version of Good Luck, Babe, the summer hit that launched her into the mainstream.

With a sword in hand and dressed in full armor, she opened her performance by firing a fiery arrow into a medieval castle, which then went up in flames.

As the battlements burned, the soldiers turned on each other as the singer sang her story of unrequited love.

Roan controversially cancelled two European shows to play the awards, with her team hoping the publicity boost from this (superb) performance will offset the ill will of her fans.

Chappell later won the award for Best New Artist, reading a speech from her diary.

The singer dedicated her award to “all the drag artists who inspire me” and expressed her support for “queer kids in the Midwest,” where she was born and raised.

“I see you, I understand you – because I am one of you,” she said.

“Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t be exactly who you want to be.”

Taylor Swift’s first award that night was for Best Collaboration, for her duet with Post Malone, Fortnight.

As she walked onto the stage, she paused to remember the victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks in the US.

“When I woke up this morning in New York City on September 11th, all I could think about was what happened 23 years ago, everyone who lost a loved one, and everyone we lost,” Swift said.

“And that’s the most important thing today.

“Everything that happens tonight falls under that.”

In honor of the 40th anniversary of the MTV Awards, host Megan Thee Stallion attempted to recreate one of the ceremony’s most iconic moments: Britney Spears dancing with a live python during her 2001 performance of I’m A Slave 4 U.

As you can see above, Megan didn’t quite have the same calmness.

“I don’t know this snake, this snake doesn’t know me,” she declared, then screamed as someone tried to remove the snake from her body.

Benson Boone won the award for Best Alternative Artist and later treated the audience to a performance of his smash hit Beautiful Things.

Dressed in a shiny blue suit, he built the song from the acoustic opening verse to a passionate, screaming conclusion, culminating in a backflip onto a piano.

Sabrina Carpenter’s reaction in the audience was priceless.

Thirteen-time MTV Award winner Eminem opened the ceremony with his two latest singles, Houdini and Somebody Save Me.

He wore a (deliberately?) unconvincing blond wig and was accompanied onstage by dozens of look-alikes — a nod to his performance as The Real Slim Shady at the 2000 VMAs, where he entered the ceremony with hundreds of extras dressed exactly like him.

The rapper also won awards for Best Hip-Hop Video and Best Visual Effects for Houdini.

South African star Tyla won the award for best Afrobeats song for her irresistible hit Water, but she also used her speech to make an important point about categorization.

“This is so special, but also double, because there is a tendency to lump all artists under the Afrobeat label,” said the star, whose music is more closely related to Amapiano.

“Although Afrobeats has opened so many doors for us, African music is so diverse. It is more than just Afrobeats.”

“I’m from South Africa, I represent my culture,” she concluded.

Sabrina Carpenter’s MTV performance was literally out of this world.

The star performed all three of her UK No. 1 hits (Taste, Espresso and Please Please Please) on a moon-shaped set, dancing with a group of astronauts and kissing an alien.

She later won the Song of the Year award for Espresso, an award she dedicated to “my cats and dogs watching at home”.

To accept the award, Carpenter took the stage in Madonna’s vintage 1991 Oscars dress.

Bob Mackie’s glittering, beaded embroidered dress is best known for being worn by Madonna at the coveted awards ceremony and in the famous photo of her and Michael Jackson.

K-pop singer Lisa had one of the best choreographies of the night, singing an energetic medley of her hit singles Rockstar and New Woman.

The 27-year-old Thai singer and rapper, whose real name is Lalisa Manobal, also won the award for Best K-pop for Rockstar.

The win marked her first solo performance at the ceremony, having previously appeared as a member of South Korean girl group Blackpink.

To the audience at New York’s UBS Arena, Lenny Kravitz is probably better known as Cinna from The Hunger Games than Lenny Kravitz as a singer and guitarist.

Still, he won the award for Best Rock Video for his recent single Human and took the MTV stage for the first time since his 1998 performance with Madonna.

He still possesses an unseemly amount of charisma, as he storms through a medley of Are You Gonna Go My Way, Human and the 1998 classic Fly Away – which was recently sampled by hip-hop artist Quavo (who joined him for the highlight).

During his onstage speech, Kravitz movingly dedicated his Moonman trophy to his late mother, who passed away in 1995.

“31 years ago, my mom was with me,” he said. “The last time she was with me at an awards show was the VMAs and so I’m dedicating this to her.”

Before the ceremony, Latin American superstar Rauw Alejandro told reporters that he wanted to honor his Puerto Rican culture on stage.

That meant adding a touch of West Side Story to the ceremony, with the singer dancing on rooftops and fire escapes, while the dancers wore 1950s-style hats.

The performance also included a group of traditional bomba and plena dancers and musicians, who played a sober version of Diluvio from his 2023 album Playa Saturno.

“My Latin people, this is our thing,” he declared (“My Latin people, this is our thing”) as the audience rose to its feet.

• The 2024 MTV VMAs will air in the UK on MTV and Paramount Plus on Thursday, September 12 at 8:00 p.m.