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Ed Sheeran, Charli XCX to premiere videos for YouTube Music Awards

Ed Sheeran performs at the Brit Awards ceremony at the 02 Arena in London on Feb. 25.
Ed Sheeran performs at the Brit Awards ceremony at the 02 Arena in London on Feb. 25.
(Joel Ryan / Invision / Associated Press)
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Beyonce, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Drake, Kendrick Lamar and Katy Perry are among the winners for the 2015 YouTube Music Awards.

After taking a year off, YouTube is set to bring back its awards show on March 23. The format, however, is slightly different.

There are 50 winners, selected by number of views -- so all those people who watched Beyonce’s selfie-driven video for “7/11” to learn the dance moves just helped her win an award.

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Beyond clicks, winners also showed the biggest growth in views, subscribers and engagement over the last six months on the popular video site. Collectively, the winners have more than 146 million subscribers and 44 billion views from 10 different countries.

FKA Twigs, Miley Cyrus, Ariana Grande, Sam Smith, Lady Gaga, Meghan Trainor, OK Go, Pharrell, Nicki Minaj, Big Sean, Brad Praisley, Dej Loaf, One Direction, Pentatonix, J. Cole, Ed Sheeran, Florida Georgia Line and Kiesza are also among the winners.

Instead of a conventional award show -- although it should be noted its inaugural 2013 event was far from conventional -- YouTube will simultaneously premiere a collection of music videos from both emerging acts and some of the night’s winners.

Sheeran, Charli XCX, Migos, Martin Garrix, Max Schneider, Cahoots, Megan Nicole, Nicky Jam and Shamir will debut new videos, helmed by “some of the most original music video directors alive today,” according to a news release. YouTube has also tapped Vice Media to produce the online event.

The inaugural event was live-streamed from New York’s Pier 36 -- and it was a beautiful disaster.

Aside from honoring stars of viral videos, the show staged eight “live music videos” from the likes of Eminem, Arcade Fire, Lady Gaga and Tyler the Creator.

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The show was completely unscripted. Gaga literally wept through one performance. One winner’s envelope was buried in cake. And there were crying babies. Despite the mess, or probably because of it, the show attracted 54 million views.

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