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MTV EMAs name Rick Astley 'Best Act Ever'

Get the full results from the Liverpool ceremony

November 7, 2008 | 37 Comments
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MTV Europe named Rick Astley the Best Act Ever at the European Music Awards in Liverpool last night (November 6).

The singer, who has been the theme of online prank 'Rickrolling' – where purportedly serious links actually take users to YouTube clips of the singer's videos – beat the likes of Green Day and U2 to claim the most votes from viewers.

Britney Spears picked up two awards at the ceremony, held at the Liverpool Echo Arena, while host Katy Perry was named Best New Act.

Paul McCartney was awarded the Ultimate Legend accolade, while Lil Wayne was named the Artist's Choice.

The full MTV EMAs 2008 winners were:

Album Of The Year: Britney Spears – 'Blackout'
Nominees: Alicia Keys – 'As I Am', Coldplay – 'Viva La Vida', Duffy – 'Rockferry', Leona Lewis – 'Spirit'

Most Addictive Track: Pink - 'So What'
Nominees: Coldplay - 'Viva La Vida', Duffy - 'Mercy', Katy Perry - 'I Kissed A Girl', Kid Rock - 'All Summer Long'

Act of 2008: Britney Spears
Nominees: Amy Winehouse, Coldplay, Leona Lewis, Rihanna

Best New Act: Katy Perry
Nominees: Duffy, Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, OneRepublic

Ultimate Urban: Kanye West
Nominee: Alicia Keys, Beyoncé, Chris Brown, Lil Wayne

Rock Out: 30 Seconds To Mars
Nominees: Linkin Park, Metallica, Paramore, Slipknot

Headliner: Tokio Hotel
Nominees: Foo Fighters, Linkin Park, Metallica, The Cure

Video Star: 30 Seconds To Mars - 'A Beautiful Lie'
Nominees: Madonna ft. Justin Timberlake - '4 Minutes', Santogold - 'L.E.S. Artistes', Snoop Dogg - 'Sensual Seduction', Weezer - 'Pork And Beans'

Best UK Act: Leona Lewis
Nominees: Adele, Duffy, Ting Tings, The Wombats

Best Act Ever: Rick Astley
Nominees: Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Green Day, Tokio Hotel, U2

Artists' Choice: Lil Wayne

Ultimate Legend: Sir Paul McCartney

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Comments (37)

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TimesUp

Nov 7, 2008

Headliner: Tokio Hotel???????Who? and how the hell did they beat Metallica and The Cure? This sounds riged to me!!!

slughead54

Nov 7, 2008

the winners sum up the evening i think......

robert_hanley_80

Nov 7, 2008

God Bless Rick Astley, and all that sail in him.

joehaith2

Nov 7, 2008

What a joke that award ceremony was!! The European music awards, the clue is in the name MTV "EUROPEAN" what was european about last nights Obama/america love fest??I mean i am as happy as the next person that America has finally given their top job to someone who will be able to do it properly but what does that have to do with European music? Also how can it be european music when the majority of acts winning awards and performing were american?How the fuck do Tokyo Hotel win a headliner award?? The english msuic scene is by far the best in europe yet no1 has ever heard of these muppet so how does that work?? I wouldnt have minded if there had been a fair selection of nominations like where were all the european representitives in the other awards?? Best new act for example? how about a nod for last of the shadow puppets seen as they got a number one album? or how about any kind of nod for kings of leon who have had an amazing year?i could go on and on and on but i will spare you.

danshaggy292

Nov 7, 2008

What an absolutely awful, fucking pointless set of awards

8pulhaw

Nov 7, 2008

'Best Act Ever: Rick AstleyNominees: Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Green Day, Tokio Hotel, U2' are they having a fu*king laff!! Britney spears and Christina Aguilera considered for best act ever! britney fu*king spears! i think i've lost the will to after seeing this

binhawk

Nov 7, 2008

what a big crock of shit this was...

finthebin

Nov 7, 2008

Bovine entertainment for the ignorant masses. Another 5 years and you'll be able to buy and MTV Award with tokens collected from packets of Lidl Fish Fingers.

Gerbalism

Nov 7, 2008

The only people that won the awards were the ones that were there on the night or those that were promoting something, such as Britney with her new album. The EMA's used to be watchable, now I'd rather watch the Sheilas wheels adverts on repeat!

boyinorbit65

Nov 7, 2008

Indeed what a joke these awards are. Amazing....beyond any more words than this.

markiechops

Nov 7, 2008

The only thing more amusing than these silly awards ceremonies is the outrage that they inspire in "serious" rock music fans who are outraged that their favourite group could be overlooked in favour of some Danish hair-metal wannabes.

ElMariachi

Nov 7, 2008

nothin beside the ultimate legend mccartney is appropriate :( I'd have given the first three awards to coldplay and best headliner to the cure but it's a joke that bands like green day or tokio fuckin hotel are nominated for best act EVER!!!that shows what fuckin spotty teenagers with braces the audience of mtv is today who votes this shit XD

barrinho

Nov 7, 2008

Why are people bothered by these silly awards? they usually appeal to the teenage crowd

Babylemonade76

Nov 7, 2008

WTF?And Album Of The Year: Britney Spears â€“ 'Blackout' ??!!!Plain old silliness right there.Seriously who bought these folks off?

bigboylovejoy99

Nov 7, 2008

this is an absolute joke, goes to show how pony mtv is, up yours buggles!

davee13

Nov 7, 2008

What a load of bollocks.Rick Astley should have been voted the worst dancer ever.Sums up MTV totally.Crap music, kiss arsing load of shite.

petedohertysdealer

Nov 7, 2008

joehaith2: Kings of Leon are American so wouldn't fit in your 'European only' utopia

wellduhobviously

Nov 7, 2008

Oh how "ironic" you all are. Was his acceptance speech just a series of Chuck Norris facts? Or did a LOLCAT accept on his behalf?C**ts.

tbob1927

Nov 7, 2008

does anyone have any idea who the fuck tokio hotel actually are?? i'd google em but judging by the other winners i don't think it's worth the effort. dunno why everyones shocked at the appalling lack of judgement though all the nominees were shit too. coldplay?? u2?? green day haven't released anything for 4 years unless you count that half-arsed foxboro hot tubs thing... metallica were good at reading but really is that the best mtv can come up with???...

CrackedLCD

Nov 7, 2008

I can't believe people give a flying fuck about awards ceremonies... Will you all of a sudden change your mind about an album just because it did or didn't win a shit award? They're all about sponsorship and brand placement... it sells a few shit records to stupid kids! Just count yourself lucky you're not a retard that buys that kind of shit and move on... they're all the fucking same at the end of the day... the ivor novellos and mercury are a tad better I suppose but it's still all about promoting sales...

chairman how

Nov 7, 2008

Tokio Hotel are the biggest band in Germany which is the biggest country in Europe with the biggest selling records. Typical that a blinkered NME reader would not know this. The indie NME world's bloated self importance is shown pretty clearly in the replies to this new story. NME sells 20 000 copies a week, it's not even the main music paper in the UK.

CrackedLCD

Nov 7, 2008

Chairman how - at the end of the day, David Hasselhoff sells records to stupid Germans... "Tokio Hotel are the biggest band in Germany which is the biggest country in Europe with the biggest selling records" so you're agreeing it's all about sales then?I don't care what people are into, taking awards ceremonies seriously is a really fucking stupid habit to get into... it's about as pointless as Peaches Geldoff or Wolverhampton Wanderers...

jamiebb

Nov 7, 2008

This awards ceremony is fucking ridiculous, its called the "Europe" Music Awards and most of the winners are American! What's the point in its existence if Non European artists and bands can win most of the awards? There's already an American Awards Ceremony where they can win awards!

Soundedd

Nov 7, 2008

Have they heard of the Beatles?

benw1993

Nov 7, 2008

someone should make an award for the ema's called 'crapest choices for awards ever'

emperor3d

Nov 7, 2008

He just rickrolled EVERYONE!!

gazhat

Nov 8, 2008

...utterly pointless, Ultimate Legend award ?.i'm a massive Beatles fan but i think Macca picking that up proves he must think he's above the other Beatles...and everyone on the planet truth be told....

J-e-d

Nov 8, 2008

Joehaith2, how can you have a go at the award being american and then recommend Kings of Leon? but seriously this awards must have been rigged...

what marion thinks

Nov 8, 2008

it's a joke?? tokio hotel win against metallica foo fighters and the cure!!!!!

Barabas

Nov 8, 2008

My god, what a joke! Worthless (american) event ever.Act Of 2008: Spears? Fuck off.Best New Act: Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus were 2nd and 3rd respectively. Oh the irony. And the host of the event won it...Best Act Ever: The person who came up with that list must be sacked. Heard of a band called the Beatles? Apparently their music is pretty good.Best Album: Spears is not "back". Spirit was the clear winner.To sum up, all shit.Looking forward to the BRITs.

thekillersandthewombats

Nov 8, 2008

Tbh looking at his competition he deserved to win... which is worrying. MTV is a load of shit.

Alan58

Nov 8, 2008

Oh dear! What frightens me is that there are people who don't realise how totally ridiculous these awards are!How about the Best Rock Act of all Time? The Rubettes. Even this would be more credible.

James2222159

Nov 8, 2008

How can Rick Astley be named best act ever i mean he hasnt done anything for years and years and even then he wasnt that good lol. Its gotta be ajoke surely other wise its just crap.

overising

Nov 10, 2008

King Dick Astley. There. Is that better?

dolphin30918

Nov 10, 2008

Calm down people- no one sane takes notice of these awards anyway.

GaazLovesTheBeatles

Nov 10, 2008

fair enough people all those awards were whole heartedly deserved.. yeh fucking right.. jesus christ that is a joke.. except maybe paul but even hes gone senile in his old age and has already been knighted and won that brit award.. his solo career has been shite so why keep piling honours on him its only gonna make him want to write another "Dance Tonight".. But im being foolish dissing paul's accolade because all the others such as the nomination for The Wombats & for Amy Winehouse (who i love but should not be nominated on account of she hasn't recorded anything for a few years) & worst of all the articles title "Rick Astley Best Act Ever" i actually loled!