6 Buzziest Moments of Billboard Music Awards: Kanye West, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran Dominate Social Media

Sam Smith stole the show without saying a word

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The Billboard Music Awards left fans buzzing on social media Monday morning after a number of incidents during the ABC broadcast triggered their tweeting fingers.

From Kanye West being censored to his sister-in-laws being booed, here are six of the buzziest moments that everyone is talking about.

1. Kanye West’s Performance Was Censored — for a Ridiculously Long Amount of Time

Awards show audiences are used to intermittent muting while watching live, often unpredictable performances by musical artists, but when West performed “All Day” and “Black Skinhead,” fans were turned off by ABC’s constant cutting of the audio.

The unusual amount of censorship topped Facebook trends by Monday morning. According to TMZ, the rapper never did a dress rehearsal of the song, and producers — expecting clean versions of the songs fit for national TV — were caught off guard by how many expletives West dropped while on stage surrounded by flames.

“He’s Kanye. What are we supposed to do?” a production source told the entertainment news outlet.

2. Ed Sheeran Turns In Most Shazamed Performance

While audiences wished they could have heard more of West’s performance, they were similarly curious about what song Ed Sheeran was singing when he took the stage on Sunday.

His performance of “Bloodstream” was the most Shazamed moment from the show, beating out Wiz Khalifa’s performance of “See You Again,” Meagan Trainor & John Legend’s “Like I’m Gonna Lose You,” Pitbull’s “Fun” and Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush.”

Watch his performance, below, if you missed it last night.

3. Taylor Swift Wins Big After Premiering Biggest Video Yet

Swift had a magical night in Las Vegas. Not only did she win the most trophies (eight, including Top Artist), but she debuted the star-studded music video for her highly anticipated single “Bad Blood” to kick off the show.

As expected, a video starring Lena Dunham, Selena Gomez, Jessica Alba, Hailee Steinfeld, Zendaya Coleman, Serayah McNeill, Cindy Crawford, Mariska Hargitay and Ellen Pompeo, among others, is approaching one million views less than 24 hours after it was released.

Watch the video here.

4. Sam Smith Accepts an Award Without Saying a Word

The Billboard Music Awards audience erupted when Céline Dion announced that British crooner Sam Smith was the winner of Top Male artist, but they never heard a word from him. Since he was recovering from vocal surgery in New York, Smith pre-recorded an acceptance speech delivered entirely through text written on cue cards.

Watch the moment that many claimed “stole the show.”

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5. “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” (or the Band That Sang it on the “Breakfast Club” Soundtrack)

One of the best moments from the award show honoring today’s most popular music turned out to be a song from 30 years ago. Simple Minds performed their 1985 hit that closed out the end of “The Breakfast Club” in honor of the film’s 30th anniversary, for which star Molly Ringwald was on hand to celebrate.

The song is done topping the charts, but it did start climbing the top Facebook trends on Monday.

Watch a snippet of the performance below.

6. Kylie and Kendall Jenner Got Booed

Before Kanye West got muted, audiences wanted Bruce Jenner’s youngest daughters booted from the stage as they introduced their brother-in-law, who is married to sister Kim Kardashian.

Watch the magic happen here.

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