MARY J BLIGE WINS 9 BILLBOARD AWARDS, TI, AND NICKELBACK

Mary J. Blige, T.I., Carrie Underwood, Chris Brown and Nickelback were all among the big winners for the 2006 Billboard Awards

Mary J. Blige was the big winner capturing nine awards at the Billboard Music Awards Monday night, December 4, in Las Vegas. She captured the Hot 100 song of the year for “Be Without You,” and the song and the album The Breakthrough crushed the competition. Performances for the night included Gwen Stefani, Fergie, Mary J. Blige, and an all-star rock jam of the ZZ-Top classic “Tush.” The performance featured ZZ-Top guitarist Billy Gibbons, Kid Rock, and Nickelback.

Blige was one of the first to visit the podium during the Fox-TV broadcast as she accepted for Hip-Hop Artist Of The Year.

“You know I’ve got to praise god. Thank you Jesus. This… It has been an amazing year for me and it has humbled me. I’m just humbled by this year and what The Breakthrough has done. My fans I love you all so much. Thank you so, so, so much. I can’t do anything without you.”

Among his three awards, Chris Brown took home the coveted Artist Of The Year.

“Well first and foremost I just have to thank my fans all day because my fans support me and make me what I am. Secondly, god. And my manager, my mom, my nephew, my sister, and everybody that’s supported me from day one… I’m going to keep on doing it if you’re all supporting me. I love y’all.”

Nickelback accepted for Best Rock Album, which went along with their duo/artist of the year awards in the general and Hot 100 categories.

“We just have been having the most amazing year. We’re really, really proud of this record. We want to thank everybody that helped us get to this spot, our management company, Brian, everybody at Union Entertainment, the record company, everybody at our radio department that worked so hard to get us played on the radio. Everybody who called a radio station and requested Nickelback, thank you so much.”

Other winners of the night included Nelly Furtado, Rihanna, Three Days Grace and country star Kenny Chesney among others. Other performances included the Fray, Ludacris with Pharrell and Young Jeezy.