12 DECEMBER 2003
R&B and hip hop were the big winners at the 2003 Billboard music awards, with chart favourite Beyonce Knowles the unmistakable queen of the night.

The Destiny's Child singer, who was joined on stage with dozens of Beyonce lookalikes for her rousing performance, took home the most vocalist gongs, including best new female and best R&B new artist as well as an award for the most weeks at number one.

She was only matched in the number of awards she received by controversial soul singer R Kelly, who scooped gongs in four categories: R&B producer and songwriter, and Hot 100 producer and songwriter.

Hip hop star 50 Cent took home awards in half of the six categories for which he was nominated, including artist of the year. Meanwhile, OutKast's catchy anthem Hey Ya! earned the title of digital track of the year, an award bestowed upon the song most frequently downloaded legally from the internet.

While rap and R&B seemed to reign, other genres were well represented, with Beyonce's fellow diva Shania Twain scoring three trophies in country categories. Audioslave won two rock titles, American Idol runner-up Clay Aiken was recognised for best-selling single, and British music veteran Sting, was honoured with the Century Award For Creative Achievement.