The performance was introduced by Questlove, who proclaimed: “On April 21st, we lost Prince. I say ‘we,’ because it affects us all, and no matter what kind of music we make, no matter how long we have made it, no matter our race, our color, our creed, our sexual orientation – all of us live in the land of music. And his departure from it was an earthquake," before a one minute silence was held.Stevie. Madonna. Purple Rain. #BBMAs https://t.co/iB7ARJcDfx
— dr.* deray mckesson (@deray) May 23, 2016
An Epic Moment for Me to sing in honor of Prince with Stevie Wonder☔️☔️. #luckiestgirlintheworld pic.twitter.com/69uGQT7ygi — Madonna (@Madonna) May 23, 2016Elsewhere, Britney Spears opened proceedings with a stunning medley performance, The Weekend was the night’s big winner with a colossal haul of seven awards, mainly in the sales and streaming categories, while Adele took home five of the biggest prizes including ‘Top Artist’ and ‘Top Billboard 200 Album’ for 25. The Billboard Music Awards 2016 were held at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday (May 22). More stories: Church of Scotland allows ministers to have same-sex marriages The city of Honolulu pays lesbian couple $80,000 to settle kissing lawsuit