Celebrating the 2015 Billboard Music Awards on Twitter

The music industry’s brightest stars flocked to Las Vegas for the 2015 Billboard Music Awards (@OfficialBBMAs), and fans on Twitter had a front row experience watching the festivities unfold on the world’s largest couch. As the ceremony took place, winners, nominees, performers and viewers chimed in with their perspectives and participated in real time with Tweets, photos and Twitter votes.

From the buzzworthy dresses to the knockout performances, here are the moments that generated the most conversation globally on Twitter (from three hours before the show to the end of the ceremony):

1. Kendall and Kylie Jenner introduce Kanye and he performs
2. Taylor Swift wins Top Female Artist
3. Hozier performs “Take Me to Church”

A few artists stood out as viewers collectively reacted to their wins and performances. Here are the most Tweeted-about stars (from three hours before the show to the end of the ceremony):

1. Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13)
2. One Direction (@onedirection)
3. Iggy Azalea (@IGGYAZALEA)
4. Ed Sheeran (@edsheeran)
5. Fifth Harmony (@FifthHarmony)

Twitter allows fans to follow along with moments as they happen, and this year, we brought them closer than ever to their favorite artists. In anticipation of Taylor Swift’s big premiere of “Bad Blood,” we created custom hashtag emojis exclusively on mobile, giving Swifties the ability to share their excitement and enthusiasm for her latest hit. From Sunday 5/17 to Monday 5/18, simply Tweeting the hashtag #BadBloodMusicVideo triggers a customized emoji for the world to see on mobile. 

For the first time, fans could vote for their favorite artist to win the Billboard Chart Achievement Award presented by Samsung, the only fan-voted category at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards. Taylor Swift took home the prize as the crowd favorite.

With the Backstage Celebrity Collage, we created a way for fans and stars to connect through art. Musicians and celebrities took photos on digital replicas of fan art, which were then Tweeted out in real time.

Many fans also had a night to remember with Digital Mementos, allowing musicians to sign digital autographs that were Tweeted to individuals.

A Twitter GIF Mirror captured action from the red carpet:

And of course, artists and celebrities captured some of the most candid moments of the evening with their Tweets:

Twitter TV activity and reach data for the U.S. market will be available from Nielsen here tomorrow at 1 p.m. ET.

Lannie Rosenfield (@akaLannie), Associate Partnerships Manager, also contributed to this post.