Taylor Swift was the big winner at the MTV Video Music Awards

Speaking about the victory, Taylor said: "I wanna thank Kendrick Lamar. I'm just happy that in 2015, we live in a world where boys can play princesses and girls can play soldiers."

Taylor's pals onstage included Selena Gomez, Cara Delevingne and Gigi Hadid.

The 25-year-old star had a big night at the VMAs as she publicly buried the hatchet with rapper Nicki Minaj following their Twitter disagreement last month.

Taylor surprised fans by joining Nicki onstage as she opened the show with her new song 'The Night is Still Young'. The pair then segued into Taylor's smash hit 'Bad Blood' and ended their joint performance with a big hug.

Later in the night, the multiple winner helped dish out one of the night's other top prizes, presenting Kanye West with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard award.

Introducing Kanye, Taylor alluded to the infamous moment in 2009 when the rapper interrupted her acceptance speech at the VMAs.

She said: "Kanye defines what it is to be a creative force in music, fashion and life, so to all the other winners tonight, I'm really happy for you, but I'm gonna let you finish..."

Accepting his prize, Kanye said: "First of all, thank you, Taylor, for being so gracious. I often think back to the first day I met you also... If I had a daughter at that time, would I have grabbed that mic from someone else?"

The 'All Day' rapper ended his speech with a shock announcement that he has decided to run for president in 2020.

The joke prompted host Miley Cyrus to quip: "Woah, now we all know what happens to Kanye West when he smokes weed."

Mark Ronson collected the award for Best Male Video for 'Uptown Funk', Nicki won Best Hip-Hop Video for 'Anaconda', and Fetty Wap won Artist to Watch.