Britain's biggest night in music, the annual BRIT Awards, were
celebrated in the O2 Arena in London Wednesday evening, hosted by
comedian James Corden. This year's colorfully dotted statuette awards,
designed by Damien Hirst, were doled out to the best in the business.
Best album winner Emeli Sande, 25, also picked up the best British
female artist accolade.
International audiences may remember the
Scottish singer from her performances during the Olympics opening and
closing ceremonies last summer in London.
"I think I'm a very unlikely pop star," Sande told the audience on receiving the best album prize.
"This is an album I wrote because I didn't have the confidence to sing
these things in person. This is a dream, really, so thank you for this
year and thank you for this award. I'm so grateful."
Sande, who also won Britain's best-selling album in 2012, beat out albums by Mumford & Sons, Alt-J, Paloma Faith and Plan B.
Other multiple winners included singer-songwriter Ben Howard, who took home best British breakthrough act and British male solo.
American R&B singer Frank Ocean took home the international male
solo artist prize beating out Bruce Springsteen and Jack White.
Adele won yet another accolade for her James Bond theme song "Skyfall" taking home best single.
American singer Lana Del Rey snagged the international female award,
while Coldplay topped The Rolling Stones to win the best live act prize.
Stars take to the stage
The nights live musical acts included a rousing opener from rockers Muse
with their song "Supremacy," complete with fireworks and a full
orchestra.
British boy band One Direction took to the stage to sing charity single
"One Way Or Another," which has reached No. 1 in 60 countries.
In recognition of that international accomplishment, they were honored with the BRITs global success award.
Robbie Williams, who has won a record-breaking 12 BRIT Awards as a solo
artist, sang "Candy," and Mumford & Sons, winners of the British
group award, performed "I Will Wait."
Despite the glitzy ceremony, overall British album sales fell 11.2
percent to 100.5 million in 2012, despite a rise of nearly 15 percent in
digital album sales, according to official figures