The 2011 MTV Video Music Awards took place on August 28, at Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, honoring the best music videos from the previous year. On July 20, the nominees were announced. Katy Perry received the most nominations this year at ten, followed by Adele, and Kanye West , who were both tied at seven. A Britney Spears tribute was held, consisting of adult and children dancers alike, they wore costumes based on the music videos of Spears.
At the ceremony, Katy Perry won three awards, including top prize Video of the Year for "Firework ". Adele also won three awards, all in the technical fields, including Best Cinematography , Best Art Direction and Best Editing for "Rolling in the Deep ". Britney Spears won a total of two awards, Best Pop Video for her single Till the World Ends and the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award for her influence and impact in music. Lady Gaga also won two awards, including Best Female Video for "Born This Way ". Other winners included Beyoncé, Justin Bieber , Tyler, the Creator, Nicki Minaj , Kanye West (shared with Perry), Foo Fighters , and the Beastie Boys who all won one apiece.
During the awards ceremony, Beyoncé revealed that she was pregnant with her first child, when she ended her performance of "Love on Top" (2011). The Huffington Post later confirmed that Knowles was five-months pregnant and her pregnancy announcement had broken the "most tweets per second recorded for a single event" Twitter record, receiving 8,868 tweets per second. MTV reported that Knowles' performance of "Love on Top" and the announcement of her pregnancy at the awards ceremony combined with Britney Spears tribute helped 2011's MTV Video Music Awards become the most-watched broadcast in MTV history, pulling in 12.4 million viewers. In addition, data from Google Insights showed that the most searched for term from August 29, 2011 to September 4, 2011 was "Beyonce pregnant" which reached 'breakout' levels – a term used by Google to describe a search with an increase of over 5,000 percent.
Kevin Hart – performed opening monologue welcoming audience to show and introduced the first set of presenters Jonah Hill and Nicki Minaj – presented Best Pop VideoMiley Cyrus and Shaun White – presented Best Rock VideoWill Ferrell , Seth Rogen , Jack Black (as the Beastie Boys ) and Odd Future – presented Best Hip-Hop VideoBeavis & Butt-Head and Nicki Minaj - performed a comedy sketch. Demi Lovato and Chord Overstreet – presented Best CollaborationRick Ross and Paul Rudd – introduced Pitbull , Ne-Yo and Nayer Katy Perry – introduced Adele Kim Kardashian – presented Best Male VideoJoe Jonas and Victoria Justice – introduced Chris Brown Lady Gaga (as Jo Calderone) – introduced the Britney Spears tribute performance and presented the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard awardBritney Spears and Lady Gaga – introduced Beyoncé Selena Gomez and Taylor Lautner – presented Best New Artist.Jared Leto and Zoe Saldana – introduced Young the Giant Cloris Leachman , Sammi Giancola , Snooki , Deena Nicole Cortese and JWoww – presented Best Female VideoRussell Brand – presented the Amy Winehouse tribute introducing Tony Bennett and Bruno Mars Tony Bennett – introduced a clip of his recording sessions with Amy Winehouse Jennifer Lawrence – introduced a clip of The Hunger Games Katie Holmes – presented Video of the YearDrake – introduced Lil Wayne
Nominees were announced on July 20, 2011. Winners are in bold .
Katy Perry – "Firework"
Adele – "Rolling in the Deep " Beastie Boys – "Make Some Noise " Bruno Mars – "Grenade "Tyler, the Creator – "Yonkers " Justin Bieber – "U Smile"
Eminem (featuring Rihanna ) – "Love the Way You Lie "Cee-Lo Green – "Fuck You" Bruno Mars – "Grenade " Kanye West (featuring Rihanna and Kid Cudi ) – "All of the Lights " Lady Gaga – "Born This Way"
Adele – "Rolling in the Deep" Beyoncé – "Run the World (Girls)" Nicki Minaj – "Super Bass " Katy Perry – "Firework "
Tyler, The Creator – "Yonkers"
Big Sean (featuring Chris Brown ) – "My Last "Foster the People – "Pumped Up Kicks "Kreayshawn – "Gucci Gucci "Wiz Khalifa – "Black and Yellow " Britney Spears – "Till the World Ends"
Adele – "Rolling in the Deep" Bruno Mars – "Grenade" Katy Perry – "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" Pitbull (featuring Ne-Yo , Nayer and Afrojack ) – "Give Me Everything"
Foo Fighters – "Walk"
The Black Keys – "Howlin' for You "Cage the Elephant – "Shake Me Down "Foster the People – "Pumped Up Kicks "Mumford & Sons – "The Cave " Nicki Minaj – "Super Bass"
Chris Brown (featuring Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes ) – "Look at Me Now " Lupe Fiasco – "The Show Goes On "Lil Wayne (featuring Cory Gunz ) – "6 Foot 7 Foot " Kanye West (featuring Rihanna and Kid Cudi ) – "All of the Lights " Katy Perry (featuring Kanye West) – "E.T."
Chris Brown (featuring Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes ) – "Look at Me Now " Nicki Minaj (featuring Drake) – "Moment 4 Life " Pitbull (featuring Ne-Yo, Nayer, and Afrojack ) – "Give Me Everything" Kanye West (featuring Rihanna and Kid Cudi) – "All of the Lights" Beastie Boys – "Make Some Noise" (Director: Adam Yauch)
Adele – "Rolling in the Deep" (Director: Sam Brown) Thirty Seconds to Mars – "Hurricane " (Director: Bartholomew Cubbins)Eminem (featuring Rihanna) – "Love the Way You Lie " (Director: Joseph Kahn)Katy Perry (featuring Kanye West) – "E.T." (Director: Floria Sigismondi ) Beyoncé – "Run the World (Girls)" (Choreographer: Frank Gatson, Sheryl Murakami and Jeffrey Page)
Lady Gaga – "Judas " (Choreographer: Laurieann Gibson ) LMFAO (featuring Lauren Bennett and GoonRock ) – "Party Rock Anthem " (Choreographer: Hokuto "Hok" Konishi) Bruno Mars – "The Lazy Song " (Choreographers: Bruno Mars and Poreotics ) Britney Spears – "Till the World Ends " (Choreographer: Brian Friedman )
Katy Perry (featuring Kanye West) – "E.T." (Special Effects: Jeff Dotson for Dot & Effects)
Chromeo – "Don't Turn the Lights On" (Special Effects: The Mill)Linkin Park – "Waiting for the End" (Special Effects: Ghost Town Media) Manchester Orchestra – "Simple Math" (Special Effects: DANIELS)Kanye West (featuring Dwele ) – "Power " (Special Effects: Nice Shoes and ArtJail) Adele – "Rolling in the Deep" (Art Director: Nathan Parker)
Death Cab for Cutie – "You Are a Tourist " (Art Directors: Nick Gould, Tim Nackashi and Anthony Maitz)Lady Gaga – "Judas " (Art Director: Amy Danger) Katy Perry (featuring Kanye West) – "E.T." (Art Director: Jason Fijal) Kanye West (featuring Dwele ) – "Power " (Art Director: Babak Radboy) Adele – "Rolling in the Deep" (Editor: Art Jones at Work)
Thirty Seconds to Mars – "Hurricane " (Editors: Jared Leto, Frank Snider, Michael Bryson, Stefanie Visser and Daniel Carberry)Manchester Orchestra – "Simple Math" (Editor: DANIELS)Katy Perry (featuring Kanye West) – "E.T." (Editor: Jarrett Fijal) Kanye West (featuring Rihanna and Kid Cudi) – "All of the Lights" (Editor: Hadaya Turner) Adele – "Rolling in the Deep" (Director of Photography: Tom Townend)
Thirty Seconds to Mars – "Hurricane" (Directors of Photography: Benoît Debie , Jared Leto, Rob Witt and Daniel Carberry) Beyoncé – "Run the World (Girls)" (Director of Photography: Jeffrey Kimball) Eminem (featuring Rihanna) – "Love the Way You Lie" (Director of Photography: Christopher Probst) Katy Perry – "Teenage Dream " (Director of Photography: Paul Laufer) Lady Gaga – "Born This Way"
Eminem (featuring Rihanna) – "Love the Way You Lie" Katy Perry – "Firework" Pink – "Fuckin' Perfect "Rise Against – "Make It Stop (September's Children)"Taylor Swift – "Mean "
Wisin & Yandel – "Zun Zun Rompiendo Caderas"
Don Omar and Lucenzo – "Danza Kuduro "Enrique Iglesias (featuring Ludacris and DJ Frank E ) – "Tonight (I'm Lovin' You)"Maná – "Lluvia al Corazón " Prince Royce – "Corazón Sin Cara "Britney Spears
