Taylor Swift won the most important award at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards – the trophy for Video of the Year for “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone.

In her speech, she talked about her “boyfriend Travis” and thanked him for being on the set of the music video.

“Everything this man touches turns into happiness, fun and magic,” she said of NFL star Travis Kelce before switching the subject to the 2024 presidential election and urging her fans who are over 18 to register to vote.

Swift, however, avoided discussing Kamala Harris’ presidential candidacy on stage. On Tuesday evening supported the Vice Presidentmoments after Harris’ debate with former President Donald Trump ended.

Swift has won a total of 30 awards in her career, putting her tied with Beyoncé for the title of most-awarded female artist in VMA history. Eminem is now the male artist with the most VMAs, with 14.

Swift and Post Malone also took home the VMAs’ first-ever televised award for Best Collaboration for “Fortnight,” presented by Flavor Flav and Olympian Jordan Chiles.

Swift began her speech by remembering all those who lost their lives or loved ones on September 11th 23 years ago.

“I was just thinking about what happened 23 years ago, about everyone who lost a loved one and everyone we lost, and that’s the most important thing today,” she said. “And everything that happens tonight is even more important.”

Then she started talking about Malone.

“There’s a reason everyone in the music industry loves working with Post Malone,” she said, turning her attention to him. “It took me forever to get him to stop calling me ma’am.”

Chappell Roan won the MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist.

“I dedicate this to all the drag artists who inspire me,” she said in her speech while wearing chain armor and reading from a written speech in her journal. “And I dedicate this to queer and trans people who make pop music. … Thank you for listening.”

Women dominated the awards ceremony, and the best example of this was an imaginative medieval set by Roan.

Drag queen Sasha Colby introduced her as “your favorite drag queen’s favorite artist,” a reference to Roan’s now-famous Coachella performance, which was itself inspired by Colby. True fans no doubt found this hyper-referential anecdote entertaining.

Roan appeared in armor and fired a flaming crossbow at the castle gates behind her, burning them in the process. Her dancers were knights who fought each other in incredible choreography while she sang her queer pop hit “Good Luck, Babe.”

The other voice of Pop 2024, Sabrina Carpenter, won the trophy for Song of the Year for “Espresso”.

“This is really something special,” she said in her speech dedicated to her fans. “And thanks to this espresso.”

Earlier, she brought her summery pop to the awards ceremony that evening, belting out her hit singles “Please Please Please,” “Taste” and “Espresso” while dancing with a moon man and an alien.

Tyla won the award for best Afrobeats.

Katy Perry received the Video Vanguard Award for her performance of a medley of eight songs from her entire career: “Roar,” “ET,” “California Gurls,” “Teenage Dream,” “I Kissed a Girl,” “Firework,” and “Lifetimes.”

“I did all this on the first day of my period, can you believe it?” she joked after accepting the award from her partner Orlando Bloom. “There are so many things that have to come together to have a long and successful career as an artist. There are no decades-long accidents.”

She also previewed her new song “I’m His, He’s Mine” featuring Doechii, which samples the classic “Gypsy Woman (La Da Dee La Da Da)” by Crystal Waters.

Previous winners of the Video Vanguard Award include Shakira, Beyoncé, Minaj, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna and Missy Elliott.

An army of Slim Shady lookalikes followed Eminem as he opened the VMAs, belting out a medley of his hits “Houdini” and “Somebody Save Me,” which also featured a rendition of Jelly Roll (the song is a reference to Jelly Roll’s huge country radio hit “Save Me”).

Megan Thee Stallion greeted the crowd as a first-time host on Wednesday night, joking that the VMAs now stand for the “voluptuous Megan Awards” before later performing.

Earlier in the evening, Karol G took over with a fiery performance of her hit “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido.” Rauw Alejandro brought Puerto Rico to the stage, performing “Touching The Sky,” “DILUIVO,” and “Déjame Entrar.”

LL COOL J celebrated 40 years of Def Jam Records with Flavor Flav and Chuck D from Public Enemy.

Halsey headed to the suburbs for her new single “Ego,” mimicking garage bands, and brought style to “Yeah Glo!” and GloRilla’s “TGIF.”

Blackpink’s LISA, winner of the best K-Pop award, took the VMA stage as a soloist for the first time, performing two of her brand new singles, “New Woman” and “Rockstar.” Shawn Mendes made his long-awaited comeback, performing a new John Mayer-esque acoustic number, “Nobody Knows.”

Anitta sang “Paradise,” “Alegria,” and “Savage Funk,” accompanied by DJ Khaled, Fat Joe, and Tiago PZK, and won the award for Best Latin Song. Camilla Cabello performed in a panopticon. Benson Boone seemed as enthusiastic as ever as he performed his viral hit “Beautiful Things” on the VMAs stage. Lenny Kravitz proved that rock is not dead with “Are You Gonna Go My Way,” “Human,” and finally “Fly,” in which he was accompanied by Quavo.

The 40th VMAs took place at the UBS Arena on Long Island, New York.

The evening was packed with celebrities, and Swift was in plenty of attendance. She arrived at the awards ceremony wearing a green tartan corset with a matching train and long black leather gloves.

The pop star led the nominations with 12 – eight for her “Fortnight” music video, two for social categories and nominations in the Best Pop and Artist of the Year categories. She is followed by her “Fortnight” collaborator Post Malone with 11 nominations. He is nominated 10 times along with Swift and received his 11th nomination for his country hit “I Had Some Help” with Morgan Wallen.

Last year she won nine VMAs, bringing her total to an impressive 23. That puts her just behind Beyoncé with 30 and just ahead of Madonna with 20 awards. Lady Gaga has 19.

Seven VMA wins would put Swift at a par with Beyoncé’s record, and eight wins would make her the most-awarded female artist in VMA history.

Throughout the night, MTV showed a look back at historic events from the VMAs’ 40-year run, including Britney Spears’ albino python and Madonna’s performance of “Like A Virgin.”

The VMAs aired on MTV and were simulcast on BET, BET Her, CMT, Comedy Central, Logo, MTV, MTV2, Nick at Nite, Paramount Network, Pop, TV Land, VH1, and in Spanish on Univision.