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BET Awards Draws 7.7 Million Viewers

Singers Cherrelle and Alexander O’Neal perform onstage during the BET Awards ’11 held at the Shrine Auditorium on June 26, 2011 in Los Angeles, California

*Sunday’s live telecast of the BET Awards drew 7.7 million viewers, which tops the pairs of eyes who tuned in last year, but came nowhere near the amount who watched the 2009 show in the wake of Michael Jackson’s death.

Last year’s show was watched by 7.4 million viewers, according to Nielsen, while the 2009 awards set a record with 10.7 million viewers.

Sunday’s ceremony, which aired live from Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium, is traditionally one of BET’s most-watched events.

As previously reported, Chris Brown took home the award for best male R&B artist and also earned best collaboration for “Look at Me Now” featuring Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes. He performed the song with Rhymes during the show.

Nicki Minaj was named best female hip-hop artist, while Kanye West took the trophy in the male category.

Wiz Khalifa was named best new artist. The YoungStars Award resulted in a tie, given to brother and sister Jaden and Willow Smith, children of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith.

Other winners included Michael Vick and Serena Williams, named best sportsman and sportswoman of the year.