Drake sweeps music awards with 12 gongs

Canadian hip-hop artist Drake has taken home 12 Billboard Music Awards from 17 nominations for his album Scorpion.

Drake accepts the Top Artist award during the 2019 Billboard Music Awards. Picture: Getty Images

Canadian hip-hop artist Drake has dominated the annual celebration of American pop music’s high achievers, after taking home 12 Billboard Music Awards from 17 nominations. His accolades in Las Vegas yesterday included top artist, top album and top streaming artist on the back of 2018 ­release Scorpion, which topped charts around the world including in Australia.

Drake’s career haul at these events — which are determined by American music industry publication and chart monitor Billboard — now stands at 27. He has surpassed pop artist Taylor Swift, who was beaten in the top ­female artist category by 25-year-old singer-songwriter Ariana Grande.

One of the least surprising winners was in the top soundtrack category. On Billboard’s end of 2018 charts, The Greatest Showman — which features Australian performer Hugh Jackman — was a clear outlier: it was the only album to sell more than one million CDs. In an era where most music sales occur through streaming services, its 1.49 million sales marked the first time since 1991 that just one album sold more than a million copies in a calendar year.

While much of the ceremony was focused on young artists, 60 year-old singer Madonna stole the show with an impressive production of new single Medellin, which saw her performing alongside four holograms of herself.

Although on-stage hologram technology has been been trialled in recent years to resurrect deceased artists such as Tupac Shakur, Madonna’s use of digital effects was among the most convincing and effective uses of this optical illusion yet seen on live television.