The “2012 MTV Video Music Awards,” which took place last night at the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, was a night of musical firsts with the debut TV performances of new songs by Taylor Swift, Alicia Keys, Lil Wayne, P!nk, Green Day and more.

First-time host Kevin Hart set the lively tone for the evening the moment he emerged with his own unique security detail, while One Direction, Frank Ocean, 2 Chainz and Calvin Harris marked their first-ever VMA performances.

The “2012 MTV Video Music Awards” premieres on MTV Base (DStv Channel 322) across Africa at 17:30 CAT on Saturday 8 September.

Rihanna, who took home the biggest prize of the night, “Video of the Year,” for “We Found Love,” opened the show with a sultry performance of “Cockiness (Love It)” featuring A$AP Rocky.”  She then turned the arena into a huge dance party, performing her VMA award-winning song, “We Found Love,” with mega-hit producer and “2012 VMA house DJ” Calvin Harris, who won a VMA of his own for “Best Electronic Dance Music Video.”

Chris Brown won two VMA Moonmen trophies for “Best Male Video” and “Best Choreography” for “Turn up the Music.”  Tying Brown with two wins for the night was M.I.A., who took home “Best Direction” and “Best Cinematography” for “Bad Girls.”  The Young Money crew also had a night of successes, as Nicki Minaj won “Best Female Video,” and Drake featuring Lil Wayne scored “Best Hip Hop Video.”  Coldplay garnered “Best Rock Video,” and VMA pre-show performer Demi Lovato took home “Best Video with a Message.”

A gravity-defying P!nk got the party started from a flying trapeze, performing her chart-topping hit “Blow Me (One Last Kiss).”  Rising R&B singer-songwriter Frank Ocean took the stage for an intimate performance of his single “Thinking of You,” off his debut album.  Accompanied only by a guitarist, it was an enchanting performance by the VMA newcomer.

U.K. sensation One Direction, who took home three Moonmen for “Best New Artist”, “Best Pop Video” and first-time social media category, “Most Share-Worthy Video”, ascended from beneath the stage to a throng of screaming fans, and performed their hit single “One Thing” on a platform high above the audience.

Hip-hop rising star 2 Chainz took to the VMA stage for the first time ever, and together with Lil Wayne, ignited the audience with a performance of “Yuck,” followed by Lil Wayne’s new single “No Worries,” from his highly anticipated mix tape, “D4.” In a pulsating performance from the centre of a writhing human mosh pit, Green Day rocked out to their new song “Let Yourself Go.”

Alicia Keys’ electrifying performance of new single “Girl on Fire” featured a surprise appearance by Nicki Minaj, and was accompanied by U.S. Olympian Gabby Douglas, who performed her gold medal-winning moves on stage.

Taylor Swift closed out the epic evening with a fun performance of her new smash single, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” that brought the entire crowd to their feet.  Starting the song in a recording booth, Swift was soon draped by a team of backup dancers as they paraded down the stage with a shower of flower petals raining on the wall of hi-def screens behind them.

Presenters at the“2012 MTV Video Music Awards” included Katy Perry, Emma Watson, Mac Miller, the “Fierce Five” 2012 Gold Medal-winning U.S. Women’s Olympic Gymnastics Team, The Wanted, Wiz Khalifa, Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus, Andy Samberg, Rashida Jones, 2 Chainz, Ke$ha, Tyler, the Creator, Rita Ora, Dwight Howard, Rebel Wilson, Zoe Saldana and worldwide Korean hip-hop viral sensation Psy.

VMA night kicked off with social activity booming beginning with the “Jersey Shore GTL Special” with over 5.2 million tweets and more than 175 trending  topics in the US and worldwide. #VMA2012 has persistently been trending as the #1 organic topic since the beginning of the show. @mtv’s most popular tweet was announcing One Direction’s win for Most Share-Worthy Video.

Click here for a to browse our gallery of winners.