Taylor Swift Wins Top Trophy at American Music Awards

Taylor Swift accepts the Artist of the Year award onstage during the 2022 American Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on November 20, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Getty Images via AFP)
Taylor Swift accepts the Artist of the Year award onstage during the 2022 American Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on November 20, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Getty Images via AFP)
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Taylor Swift Wins Top Trophy at American Music Awards

Taylor Swift accepts the Artist of the Year award onstage during the 2022 American Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on November 20, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Getty Images via AFP)
Taylor Swift accepts the Artist of the Year award onstage during the 2022 American Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on November 20, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Getty Images via AFP)

Pop superstar Taylor Swift won the most prestigious honor on Sunday at the American Music Awards when she was named artist of the year at the world's largest fan-voted ceremony.

The "Anti-Hero" singer thanked voters for supporting her after releasing four original albums and two re-recordings in the last three years.

"I cannot express how unbelievable it is to me that I still do this and that you still care," she said on stage at the awards show in Los Angeles.

Earlier, Swift's re-recording of her 2012 record "Red" took the trophy for favorite pop album. The 32-year-old singer has been making new versions of albums from her past after a dispute with her former record label.

"I cannot tell you how much my re-recorded albums mean to me, but I never expected or assumed they'd mean anything to you," she said.

Swift did not mention last week's controversy over Ticketmaster's sales for her upcoming tour, which were filled with glitches and prompted the company to apologize to her.

In the artist of the year category, Swift triumphed over formidable names including Beyonce, Harry Styles, The Weeknd, Drake, Adele and Bad Bunny.

Singer Pink opened the awards show dancing and singing on roller skates to her upbeat song "Never Gonna Not Dance Again."

Comedian and host Wayne Brady rapped in his monologue. "Ain’t nobody getting slapped tonight," Brady joked, referencing Will Smith's infamous attack on Chris Rock at the Oscars.

Dove Cameron, a former Disney Channel actress who reached the Billboard charts this year with the pop single "Boyfriend," earned the first trophy of the night with her best new artist win.

Machine Gun Kelly, wearing a purple suit with long silver spikes, was named favorite rock artist.



Zanzibar Says Hollywood Star Idris Elba to Open Film Studio

Britain's King Charles III (R) meets British actor Idris Elba and young people attend an event for The King's Trust to discuss youth opportunity, at St James's Palace in central London on July 12, 2024. (Photo by Yui Mok / POOL / AFP)
Britain's King Charles III (R) meets British actor Idris Elba and young people attend an event for The King's Trust to discuss youth opportunity, at St James's Palace in central London on July 12, 2024. (Photo by Yui Mok / POOL / AFP)
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Zanzibar Says Hollywood Star Idris Elba to Open Film Studio

Britain's King Charles III (R) meets British actor Idris Elba and young people attend an event for The King's Trust to discuss youth opportunity, at St James's Palace in central London on July 12, 2024. (Photo by Yui Mok / POOL / AFP)
Britain's King Charles III (R) meets British actor Idris Elba and young people attend an event for The King's Trust to discuss youth opportunity, at St James's Palace in central London on July 12, 2024. (Photo by Yui Mok / POOL / AFP)

Hollywood star Idris Elba has been allocated land in Zanzibar to set up a film studio in the Indian Ocean archipelago, a local minister said.

The British actor and rapper, who has Sierra Leonean and Ghanaian roots, has previously spoken about his desire to develop the film industry in Africa.

"Idris Elba will be building a modern studio similar to Hollywood, Nollywood or Bollywood," Zanzibar's minister for investment Shariff Ali Shariff said on Thursday.

He said the government of Zanzibar has granted Elba 80 hectares (almost 200 acres) of land in Fumba, on the island of Unguja, for the studio.

"I'm not sure how we will call it in Zanzibar, whether Zallywood or Zawood, I don't know," Shariff said jokingly as he addressed industry players at the Zanzibar International Film Festival.

Local media said the studio could boost Tanzania's budding efforts to become a hub for international film production.

The studio plan follows discussions last year between Elba and Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.