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2011 MTV Video Music Awards: Winners and Highlights

The complete list of all the winners, from Tyler the Creator to Katy Perry

August 29, 2011 9:10 AM ET
winners britney spears mtv vma 2011
Britney Spears wins the Best Pop Video Award at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards.
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Last night's MTV Video Music Awards may not have had any crazy "Kanye interrupts Taylor!" breakout moments, but it wasn't exactly uneventful. Beyoncé revealed her pregnancy during a joyful performance of her Stevie Wonder-ish tune "Love on Top," Lady Gaga fully committed to a bizarre performance as her drag alter ego Jo Calderone through the entire show, Katy Perry won for Video of the Year, Tyler the Creator and his entire Odd Future crew accepted the award for Best New Artist, and Jay-Z and Kanye West turned up for a surprise performance of their hit "Otis."

Here are the winners of the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards.

VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Katy Perry, "Firework" 

BEST FEMALE VIDEO
Lady Gaga, "Born This Way" 

BEST NEW ARTIST
Tyler, the Creator 

VIDEO VANGUARD
Britney Spears

BEST MALE VIDEO
Justin Bieber, "U Smile" 

BEST COLLABORATION
Katy Perry/Kanye West, "E.T."

BEST HIP HOP VIDEO
Nicki Minaj, "Super Bass" 

BEST ROCK VIDEO
Foo Fighters, "Walk" 

BEST POP VIDEO
Britney Spears, "Till the World Ends" 

BEST VIDEO WITH A MESSAGE
Lady Gaga, "Born This Way" 

Related
Photos: The 2011 MTV Video Music Awards: Best and Worst Dressed
Live-Blogging the 2011 Video Music Awards
Photos: The Best Moments of the 2011 Video Music Awards
Video: Lady Gaga Opens VMAs With 'Yoü and I'
Video: Adele Performs 'Someone Like You' on the VMAs
Video: Beyonce Rocks 'Love on Top' on the VMAs
Video: Bruno Mars Pays Tribute to Amy Winehouse at the VMAs
Beyonce Reveals She's Pregnant
Watch the First Clip of 'The Hunger Games' Movie
Backstage at the VMAs: Rebecca Black, Tyler the Creator, Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj
Lady Gaga as Jo Calderone: 'Britney Spears is Hot'
• Photos: Highlights of the 2010 Video Music Awards

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

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