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#BBMAs 2016: Madonna’s Tribute To Prince — Plus Millions Of Tweets, Videos, And GIFs

By Paula Mooney
Published on: 14:56 PST, May 22, 2016

Everything anyone would want to know about the 2016 Billboard Music Awards can be seen under the #BBMAs hashtag, which has received more than 2 million tweets and counting thus far.

As seen in the following video, Britney Spears is one of the artists who constantly appeared under the #BBMAs hashtag, with Spears singing plenty of her favorite hit songs during a medley performance. From “Toxic” to “Womanizer” and beyond, Britney brought back plenty of older songs that she sang along with while donning a red outfit.

Demi Lovato also received plenty of attention for her performance of “Cool For The Summer,” as seen in the below video. With a strong voice and fiery performance, Lovato won praise for her contribution to the #BBMAs label on social media.

Another highlight from the popular music awards ceremony can be seen in the below video, with Nick Jonas and Tove Lo performing their hit song, “Close.” The song’s lyrics detail the fact that certain people ask for space from one another only when they are afraid of getting too close and vulnerable in a relationship. As such, the duo’s #BBMAs performance featured Lo and Jonas being separated by a glass partition during some portions of the song. At other times, they came from behind the glass partition so that nothing separated them.

When Justin Bieber won the #BBMAs award for Top Male Artist, Bieber admitted in his acceptance speech that he wasn’t much of a talker, but he made sure to thank God and his fans. Bieber issued thanks to all the people who believed in him — and to those that still believe in him.

Bieber performed his “Sorry” song among a legion of other dancers, all dressed in white.

Not only did Joe Jonas get kudos for his performance with DNCE of their “Cake By The Ocean” song, but his brother — Nick Jonas — and Demi Lovato received attention for how much they enjoyed the performance from the audience. Nick recently explained that the “Cake By The Ocean” name came from someone trying to ask Joe about the popular drink, named “Sex On The Beach,” and mistaking the act as something done by a different body of water. Well, the “Cake By The Ocean” erroneous name for the drink stuck, and turned into a hit song for Joe.

Adele got a reaction under the #BBMAs hashtag as well, as seen in the following video.

Rihanna sang a raw and throaty and heartfelt song titled “Love On The Brain,” as seen in the below video with the #BBMAs hashtag. It was an emotional and unique performance from the “B**** Better Have My Money” singer.

Another epic singer that showed up under the #BBMAs hashtag was Celine Dion, as seen in the below video.

When Celine took the stage with her son, many folks began tweeting under the #BBMAs hashtag that it was an emotional moment that brought them to tears.

Some Twitter users felt that Celine’s performance was the highlight of the entire show.

“Dang. Celine is a legend. That whole segment has been the highlight in a show otherwise full of gimmicks and distractions. “

Pink, meanwhile, gained lots of attention under the #BBMAs hashtag because of the way the songstress flew all over the audience in what seemed like a dizzying series of circles.

Other winners included The Weeknd, for his hit song “The Hills,” about a woman who cheated while her man was on the road doing promotional work.

The main thing folks waited for during the #BBMAs was Madonna’s controversial tribute to Prince. Saved until the end, the Madonna tribute to Prince was highly-anticipated. As noted by plenty of folks tweeting under the #BBMAs hashtag, Madonna was already receiving criticism before she even hit the stage to pay tribute to Prince.

[Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]

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