Kings Of Leon And Duffy Triumph At The Brit Awards

Duffy claimed the first award of the evening, taking home the British Female Solo Artist prize, and went on to pick up the British Breakthrough Act prize, before taking home the coveted Best British Album honour for Rockferry.

Kings of Leon scooped two awards, picking up the Best International Group and International Album for Only By The Night, while Elbow were named best British Group ahead of Coldplay, Radiohead, Take That and Girls Aloud.

Katy Perry saw off competition from Beyonce, Gabriella Cilmi, Pink and Santigold to collect the award for Best International Female Solo Artist, while Kanye West was named International Male Solo Artist of the year.

British pop group Girls Aloud picked up their first ever Brit Award, landing Best British Single for The Promise, while the Best British Live Act honour went to Iron Maiden. Paul Weller picked up the award for Best British Male Solo Artist.

The show, at London's Earl's Court arena, was hosted by Australian pop star Kylie Minogue. Rockers U2 followed up their opening performance at the Grammy Awards earlier this month (Feb09) by kicking off proceedings with a performance of their new single Get On Your Boots.

The evening also saw performances from Coldplay, Duffy, Girls Aloud, Kings Of Leon and Take That, while R&B singer Estelle joined the Ting Tings for a medley of their 2008 hits.

The final award of the night, for Outstanding Contribution to Music, was presented to dance duo the Pet Shop Boys, who then closed the show with another collaboration, performing with Lady GaGa and Killers frontman Brandon Flowers.

The winners in full are as follows:

British Male Solo Artist - Paul Weller

British Female Solo Artist - Duffy

British Breakthrough Act - Duffy

British Group - Elbow

British Live Act - Iron Maiden

British Single - Girls Aloud - The Promise

Mastercard British Album - Rockferry by Duffy

International Album - Only By The Night by Kings of Leon

International Male Solo Artist - Kanye West

International Female Solo Artist - Katy Perry

International Group - Kings of Leon

Critics' Choice - Florence and The MAChine

Outstanding Contribution To Music - Pet Shop Boys.