In sharp contrast to the 2013 VMAs, when Miley caused quite a stir with her twerking and suggestive dancing, she did not hit the stage. Instead Miley let a young homeless man accept her award, giving him the chance to address the homeless situation in the United States.

Ed Sheeran won best male video for Sing, Katy Perry feat. Juicy J bagged best female video for Dark Horse.

Ariana Grande feat. Iggy Azalea took home the award for best pop video (for Problem. A great way for the 21-year-old pop singer to promote her debut album, which drops tomorrow.

One could hear people discuss the characteristics and bounderies of rock as a genre as Lorde received a musicvideo award in the category best rock video for her hit Royals.

Fifth Harmony and their song Miss Movin On took away an award as artist to watch.

Among the live performers were Charli XCX, Nicki Minaj, Taylor Swift, Sam Smith, Usher, 5 Seconds Of Summer, Iggy Azalea, Rita Ora, and Fifth Harmony.

There was also a moment of silence for Michael Brown, the unarmed 18-year-old who was fatally shot by a police officer, and a brief, unexplained tribute to the late Robin Williams with a photo montage set to Coldplay's song A Sky Full of Stars.

But Beyoncé, who closed the awards show with an epic nearly 20-minute performance, was the reigning queen.

After her performance, Beyonce's husband Jay-Z came on stage with their daughter to present the pop diva the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard award, the VMA's version of a lifetime achievement award.

Beyonce got awarded in multiple categories, she also won best collaboration (for Drunk In Love with Jay Z) plus best video with a social message and best cinematography (both for Pretty Hurts.

Drummer Jeremy Gara and his band Arcade Fire picked up an MTV video music award for their song Reflektor in the category best art direction, OK Go, featuring Dan Konopka on drums, cashed an award for The Writing's On The Wall as the video with best visual effects. Eminem's video for Rap God was named best editing.