Pop, rock and hip hop stars at the event included Jessie J, Justin Bieber, the cast from MTV's reality show 'Jersey Shore', Katy Perry, the Foo Fighters, Kanye West, Jay Z and Adele.
According to unofficial figures, the programme was watched by an audience of 12.4 million viewers in the US on Sunday, up 9% from last year, while it delivered 8.5 million viewers in the 12 to 34 age group, an increase of 8% year on year, according to Nielsen.
MTV said its website figures also had a record-breaking VMA day, attracting two million unique visitors, up 33% year on year, and 2.3 million video streams during the day, up 41% year on year.
The MTV VMAs also set a record for the most Tweets ever sent on social network Twitter during a single second when 8,868 tweets were sent after Beyonce showed her baby bump; ahead of the last record of 7,196 during the final of the women’s World Cup in July.
