The fan voting notwithstanding, West declared that Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time, even as a horrified Beyoncé looked on in utter disbelief.

Not surprisingly, he was vociferously booed by the audience and, not surprisingly again, he gave the audience the finger on the way back to his seat.

If Swift was upset by West's rude interruption, it wasn't evident in her subsequent performance of her hit song You Belong With Me.

Considering MTV's proclivity to rig such seemingly spontaneous but scandalous moments, evident from the Bruno / Eminem stunt at MTV Movie Awards in June, it is moot if there was a cause for Swift to be offended.

Earlier the Country music hottie made jaws drop as she arrived at the event in New York riding a horse-drawn carriage wearing a asymmetrical silver sparkle gown. The glamorous singer joked that her horses' names are "V" and "MA."

Shakira and Taylor Lautner presented the award to 19-year-old Swift who competed for the honor against Beyoncé's Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It), Katy Perry (Hot n Cold), Kelly Clarkson (My Life Would Suck Without You), Lady Gaga (Poker Face) and P!nk (So What).

To be eligible for an award a recording must have been commercially released between October 1, 2007 and September 30, 2008. This is for all recordings released in the 2008 recording year. After the nominees are announced on December 4, 2008 final voting ballots will be sent to the academy members. This is when they will vote for one of the nominees to win the award. Each category has five nominees. More than five is the result of a tie in the nominating process. Members are allowed to vote in the General field and up to nine other fields on their final voting ballots. All ballots are tabulated by the independent accounting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. There are about 7,000 people who vote in the nominating and final voting process. These people are artists, producers, engineers, mixers and mastering engineers. Academy members are to vote based upon quality alone. They are not to be influenced by mass sales or personal friendships. The acceptance of gifts is prohibited and can result in termination of membership.

After the nominations are announced the recipients of all special awards such as lifetime achievement awards will be announced. In addition performers and presenters will be announced. Neil Diamond will be the recipient of the MusiCares Person of the Year award. Lil Wayne topped the nominations with eight, Coldplay garnered seven , and Jay-Z, Ne-Yo and Kanye West each earned six nods. Radiohead, Alison Krauss, John Mayer, Robert Plant, Jazmine Sullivan received five, and Jennifer Hudson, Adele, Danger Mouse, The Eagles, Lupe Fiasco, George Strait,Metallica and T.I. each received four nominations.

Confirmed Performers

• Adele
• Chris Brown
• Kenny Chesney
• Four Tops tribute featuring original member of the Four Tops Duke Fakir, Jamie Foxx, and Ne-Yo^[2]
• Foo Fighters with Paul McCartney^[3]
• Jennifer Hudson
• Jay-Z
• Jonas Brothers
• Kid Rock
• Lil Wayne
• Miley Cyrus & Taylor Swift^[4]
• Katy Perry - On the January 30th episode of Chelsea Lately, Katy said she was going to descend from the ceiling during her performance.
• Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
• Radiohead
• Rihanna
• T.I.
• Justin Timberlake
• Carrie Underwood
• U2^[5]
• Estelle & Kanye West^[6]