At last year’s MTV Video Music Awards, Taylor Swift announced her Midnights album. And this year, the album helped her dominate the night with multiple wins, including her fourth for video of the year.

Swift is the only artist to win the top prize four times — this year it was for her No. 1 hit “Anti-Hero.” During the win that closed out the four-hour show Tuesday night, she shared the stage with those who worked on the music video: director of photography Rina Yang and editor Chancler Haynes.

Swift opened and closed the show with honors: She fangirled, like most of the audience, when she accepted the first award of the night from ‘N Sync, who earned a standing ovation from the crowd at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

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“I am not doing well pivoting from this to this. I had your dolls. Are you doing something? What’s going to happen now? They’re going to do something and I need to know what it is,” she said, looking at Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Joey Fatone, Lance Bass and Chris Kirkpatrick, as she collected best pop. “You’re pop personified, so to receive this from your golden pop hands, really, it’s too much.”

Swift’s other televised wins included best direction and song of the year. She danced happily in her seat as a laundry list of acts hit the stage, including Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, who brought their new eye-popping video for “Bongos” to life onstage.

Emmy and Grammy-winning comedian Tiffany Haddish, who released a new song Tuesday, was hype in her chair as Doja Cat ran through her hits “Attention,” “Paint the Town Red” and “Demons”; Diddy earned the Global Icon award and was joined by his son King Combs and twin daughters during a medley of his hits, though his Bad Boy label mates, from Mase to Faith Evans, were missing; and this year’s multiple celebrations of the 50th anniversary of hip-hop continued at the VMAs with performances by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Doug E. Fresh, Slick Rick, LL Cool J, DMC, Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj, who emceed the show, performed her new R&B-based single and won best hip-hop for “Super Freaky Girl.”

“50 years of hip-hop, baby,” LL Cool J said after the performance.

Shakira earned the MTV Video Vanguard Award and gave a clean and sleek performance of her hits, though some of it felt like her Super Bowl halftime show. She also won best collaboration for “TQG” with Karol G, and the Colombian performers held the award proudly together onstage.  

Boy band Stray Kids won best K-pop and stood in awe in their seats when their names were announced. Ice Spice was teary-eyed and emotional after being named best new artist, telling the audience: “Oh my god, this is so cool … shout out to the Bronx.” And Rema and Selena Gomez’s worldwide hit, “Calm Down,” won the inaugural best Afrobeats honor.

“Africa in the house tonight,” Rema said. “Big shout out to Selena. I wanna say I love you from the bottom of my heart.”

Rema went on to thank the late icon Fela Kuti, the founder of Afrobeat music, as well as contemporary artists like Wizkid, Burna Boy and Davido. “Shout out to the people who opened the doors for me,” he said.

Rema asked Gomez to say a few words, and she thanked the Nigerian performer for “choosing me to be a part of an incredible song.”

“I want to send all of my love to Nigeria,” Gomez said. “Thank you!”

Anitta — whose performance featured odd camerawork and bad cutaway shots — won best Latin, while SZA, who was the second-most nominated act, didn’t attend the show but won best R&B. Despite her record-breaking year, the “Kill Bill” singer was heavily snubbed when she didn’t receive an artist of the year nomination. 

Others who performed Tuesday included Peso Pluma, Demi Lovato, Metro Boomin, TXT and Olivia Rodrigo, who started with a slowed-down performance of “Vampire” but then sped it up even weaving in some chrome, for “Get Him Back!”

French Montana brought a dose of seriousness to the show when the Moroccan-American rapper announced he started a relief fund for earthquake victims in Morocco.