Rihanna cleaned up in the R&B categories at the Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas last Sunday night.
The singer won an award in all three R&B categories — Top R&B Artist, Top R&B Album (“Unapologetic”), Top R&B Song (“Diamonds”) — and separate to R&B, Top Radio Songs Artist.
Taylor Swift and her 3.7 million-selling “Red” dominated the 2013 Billboard Music Awards on Sunday night (May 19), taking home eight trophies as Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used To Know” swept four major song categories and Rihanna ruled R&B.
Besides, Gotye, Rihanna was the only other artist to walk away with four awards, winning in the R&B artist, album and song categories, plus Radio Songs Artist. Madonna, Nicki Minaj and One Direction won three each while Justin Bieber, the late Jenni Rivera, Baauer and tobyMac secured two honors apiece.
Rihanna earned her first Billboard 200 No. 1 album in November when “Unapologetic” debuted atop the chart, selling 238,000 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Her album debut came one week after she scored her 12th No. 1 single on the Hot 100 chart with “Diamonds.”
Billboard Music Awards finalists were based on key fan interactions with music, including album and digital singles sales, radio airplay, touring, streaming and social interactions on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, VEVO, Spotify and other popular online destinations for music. These measurements were tracked year-round by Billboard and its data partners, including Nielsen Entertainment and Next Big Sound.