Taylor Swift wins AMA artist of the year

Taylor Swift’s fans have done it again, voting her the American Music Awards artist of the year for a third time.

Swift won Sunday night’s top honor, giving her a leading four trophies as fans celebrated the women of pop music.

Swift didn’t perform, but she was a constant presence on stage and the camera alighted on her as she danced to stars like Kendrick Lamar and Luke Bryan. Her win came after Katy Perry dazzled with her show-opening performance, Lady Gaga found another inventive way to grab your attention, Rihanna starred with her mother and Miley Cyrus closed performances with the assistance of a giant lip-syncing CGI kitty on her song “Wrecking Ball.”

“I’m really out of breath,” Swift said after taking the stage in a sequined mini-dress. “I was really going hard with the ‘Wrecking Ball’ thing.”

The 23-year-old pop star also won country album of the year for “Red” and favorite female country and pop/rock artist.

“‘Red’ is very different than any album I’ve made before and the reason I was able to do that was because of the fans,” Swift said. “I cannot believe what you’ve done in the last year. This album came out almost exactly a year ago and the fact that 6 million of you went out and bought it is crazy.”

Justin Timberlake was next with three wins. One Direction and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis won two awards and Rihanna was given the AMA’s first Icon Award to go with her win as favorite soul/R&B female artist.

Rihanna and her mother took center stage midway through the show when Monica Fenty presented her pop star daughter with the first Icon Award at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles.

“Can we talk about how cute Rihanna’s mom is?” Justin Timberlake asked while accepting one of his three awards, before affecting a Caribbean accent. “She’s so proud of the Icon. I am too, Rihanna, I love you.”

She performed “Diamonds” with an orchestra and took favorite soul/R&B female artist. Timberlake won soul/R&B album, soul/R&B male artist and pop/rock male artist.

Nickelodeon star Ariana Grande was named favorite new artist, Florida Georgia Line won single of the year for “Cruise” with Nelly in something of a surprise, Luke Bryan won favorite male country artist, and favorite rap/hip-hop act Macklemore & Ryan Lewis used their rap/hip-hop album acceptance speech to send a message of tolerance.

Ben Haggerty, the rapper known as Macklemore, accepted the award for favorite rap/hip-hop album, then quoted Martin Luther King Jr. in a live satellite feed from the rap group’s latest tour stop.

Katy Perry opened the show looking like a princess out of a classic Japanese painting. Dressed in a traditional Japanese dress, Perry’s show-starting performance of “Unconditionally” included dozens of colorfully clad dancers waved fans, shadow danced in front of rice-paper screens and played the drums. (AP)