At the 2021 MTV European Music Awards held on Sunday, popular Korean band BTS and British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran emerged as the big winners.

As per Variety, BTS won the most awards, including Best Pop, Best Group, Best K-Pop and Biggest Fans, but were not on hand to collect the awards. Sheeran, who was present, won Best Artist and Best Song for ‘Bad Habits’.

Justin Bieber, who was the frontrunner with eight nominations, didn’t win any awards.

Italian rock band Maneskin won Best Rock. After the usual round of thanks during their acceptance speech, lead singer Damiano David said, “We also want to say that people usually told us that we were not going to make it with our music – well, I guess you were wrong.”

Show host and performer Saweetie won Best New, Nicki Minaj won Best Hip-Hop and Olivia Rodrigo Best Push. Colombian singer Maluma who won Best Latin said: “Colombia is not Pablo Escobar anymore – Colombia is Maluma, baby.”

YUNGBLUD won the award for Best Alternative. “I would like to say that this award is a tribute to individualism – this is an award for the 13-year-old boy from the north of England who was absolutely terrified to be who he was. If you are out there and you feel like you cannot be who you are, you can be. Keep fighting. Keep being brilliant,” the musician said.

The Best Collaboration award went to Doja Cat ft. SZA for ‘Kiss Me More’, while David Guetta won Best Electronic and Billie Eilish was honoured with the Video for Good award.

Among the regional local act categories, Taylor Swift won for the US and Little Mix for the UK and Ireland.

The MTV EMA Generation Change Awards went to five honorees for fighting against anti-LGBTQ+ policies. MTV went ahead with the awards in Hungary, despite the country passing anti-LGBTQ+ laws in June, in solidarity with the community.

Viktoria Radvanyi, a board member of Budapest Pride, Hungary’s first feminist and anti-racist LGBTQ+ NGO appeared on stage to accept the award on behalf of the winners. She urged the community to vote together and not to be driven back into the closet.