9 moments everyone is talking about from The BRITs 2016

And she also took to the stage for an incredible performance of “When We Were Young”, proving that her fears about a comeback were completely unfounded.

The ceremony included tributes to the late David Bowie before his friend Gary Oldman accepted his icon award.

“David you were mortal, but your potential was superhuman”, he said, “and your music lives on”. “We love you and we thank you”, Oldman said.

Her final award of the night was the coveted British Album of the Year trophy – for her third studio release, 25 – and this time she managed to hold it together, as she apologised for letting slip a expletive that wasn’t bleeped by the censors. I was hoping to win one but to get that many was wonderful.

And she got another prize: a quick kiss on her way to the stage from Justin Bieber, who performed two songs and picked up an award for best global male. After Rihanna was forced to cancel her Grammy performance due to bronchitis, she made it up to her fans with a live medley of songs off of her new album “ANTi”. They went on to win best British group – making them the most successful band in the ceremony’s history.

Bay was later named British male solo artist and thanked his record labels and family, adding at the end of his speech: “Thank you so much, this is insane”.

But it failed to follow in the footsteps of Someone Like You, which soared from number 46 in the charts to number one after she sang it at the Brits in 2011. “You look through the nominations and there is not one…British black person nominated”. Laura Mvula, a soul music singer, announced it would not attend the ceremony because of “the problem of diversity”.

British Male Solo Artist James Bay.

British Breakthrough Act: Catfish and the Bottlemen.

The four-piece are up against Adele in the British album category, which they have also won three times before in 2006, 2003 and 2001.

Other nominees: A Head Full Of Dreams by Coldplay; How Big How Blue How Beautiful by Florence & the Machine; Chaos & The Calm by James Bay; In Colour by Jamie XX. She was also named Best Female Solo Artist.

High fives all round to @tameimpala for winning International Group! In addition, Adele was the Best Female Solo Artist and her single “Hello” was the best single.

Charlie Andrew beat Mark Ronson for British Producer of the Year.