Canadian talent was shining bright Sunday night at the Billboard Music Awards, where Drake set a record by winning 13 trophies and Céline Dion got one of the night’s biggest ovations.
Drake went into the night with 22 nominations — tying him with The Chainsmokers — and ended up winning many of the big categories. It was enough to beat Adele’s record for single-night wins.
The 30-year-old rap superstar from Toronto was named Top Artist, Male Artist, Rap Artist, Billboard 200 Artist, and Hot 100 Artist.
He also picked up Top Rap Album, Billboard 200 Album, Song Sales Artist, Streaming Songs Artist, Streaming Song (Audio), Rap Tour, R&B Song, and R&B Collaboration.
Accepting the award for Top Male Artist, Drake — who beat Justin Bieber, Shawn Mendes and The Weeknd — gave a shout-out to “all the Canadians in this category.”
Some of Drake’s acceptance speech for the night’s big award, Top Artist, got censored from the live broadcast.
“Someone wise once told me, life is like toilet paper,” he said, with his father Dennis Graham at his side. “You’re either on a roll or you’re taking s**t from some a**hole.”
Drake, who earlier flirted with the show’s co-host Vanessa Hudgens, was joined on stage by Nicki Minaj, whom he described as the “love of my life.”
A little earlier in the show, Drake — backed by his Toronto pal Baka — was shown performing “Gyalchester” from inside the fountains at the Bellagio just down the street.
Backstage, Drake and his dad chatted, and posed for photos, with Dion.
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The 49-year-old Quebec chanteuse showed the younger artists at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas that you don’t need dancers, pyrotechnics and other distractions on stage when you can sing.
Looking angelic in a Stephane Rolland Haute Couture, Dion stood on stage and belted out her signature ballad “My Heart Will Go On” — bringing some in the audience to tears and everyone to their feet when it was done.
Canadian nominees The Weeknd, Justin Bieber and Shawn Mendes, all on breaks from their world tours on Sunday, were no-shows at the Billboard Music Awards. They came up empty despite having 13, five and three nominations respectively.
Bieber, with more than 94 million Twitter followers, lost the fan-voted Top Social Artist category to Korean group BTS, which has about 6 million Twitter followers.
Ontario-born Alessia Cara lost Top New Artist to Zayn and PARTYNEXTDOOR failed to earn an award.
Other big winners at the Billboard Music Awards were Beyoncé and Twenty One Pilots but neither were on hand to claim their trophies.
Beyoncé, currently pregnant with twins, won Top Female Artist, Touring Artist, R&B Artist, R&B Tour and R&B Album. Twenty One Pilots earned Top Duo/Group, Radio Songs Artist, Rock Artist and Billboard Chart Achievement.
The Chainsmokers and Halsey, who performed separately during the show, picked up Top Dance/Electronic Song and Hot 100 Song for “Closer.” The Chainsmokers were also named Top Dance/Electronic Artist.
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A pair of awards went to Justin Timberlake (for “Can’t Stop The Feeling!”) and Desiigner (for “Panda”).
Winners in country categories included Blake Shelton, Kenny Chesney, Chris Stapleton, and Florida Georgia Line. The latter performed their hit “H.O.L.Y.” during the show, which also featured a performance by country artist Sam Hunt.
Metallica’s Hardwired…To Self-Destruct took Top Rock Album.
Sunday’s big show kicked off with a four-song medley by Nicki Minaj with guests Jason DeRulo, Lil Wayne and David Guetta. There were also memorable performances by Miley Cyrus (who got a little emotional while singing her new song “Malibu”), Julia Michaels, Lorde, and Camila Cabello (who debuted her solo single “Crying in the Club”).
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In concert footage recorded May 16 in Chile, Ed Sheeran performed “Castle on the Hill,” and in footage from his May 10 concert in Amsterdam, Bruno Mars delivered “Versace on the Floor.”
Capping off the festivities was Cher, who received the Icon Award and performed two of her big hits, “Believe” and “If I Could Turn Back Time.”
The singer had the audience on its feet and singing along (including Dion, who was spotted backstage dancing during Cher’s set).
Accepting her award, Cher said: “So, I've wanted to do what I do since I was four years-old and I've been doing it for 53 years.
“That is not an applause thing, I'm 71 yesterday. And I can do a five-minute plank, okay? Just saying.”
Cher said her mother told her early on "you're not going to be the smartest, you're not going to be the prettiest, you're not going to be the most talented, but you're going to be special.”
She credited her success to luck. “Mostly luck,” said Cher, “and a little bit of something thrown in.”