Hard work paid off

R Kelly

Country singer Tim McGraw also picked up five awards.

The award ceremony was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas and featured performances from Britney Spears, 'N Sync, Tim McGraw, Shaggy and Alicia Keys.

Besides performing, Alicia Keys was named new R&B/hip-hop artist of the year, female artist of the year and new female artist of the year.

Memorial

Shaggy received the male artist and male albums artist of the year awards.

Male artist of the year Shaggy also performed

The show was dedicated to the late George Harrison, who was the subject of a filmed memorial and received, along with the other Beatles, an award for the album of the year - The Beatles' 1 compilation.

R Kelly, who dominated the awards, said: "It's just a constant reminder of how hard work paid off."

In the R&B category Kelly won artist of the year, albums artist and album of the year, singles artist and single of the year - and songwriter of the year.

First performance

'N Sync received a special award for their album Celebrity, which achieved the highest one-week sales of the year.

Keys: A remarkable music industry debut

Janet Jackson, honoured with an artist achievement award, told the audience that her first performance was at the MGM Grand hotel-casino when she was seven years old.

"I never dreamed that all these years later I would be back here to receive such an honour," she said.

The show finished with an all-star rendition of Marvin Gaye's classic What's Going On.

The award winners are determined by the magazine's year-end chart listings which, unlike UK charts, are based on a combination of record sales and radio airplay.

Billboard award winners in some categories will not be announced until later this month.