BEYONCÉ dominated the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday, prowling the stage with a 10-minute medley from her powerful “Lemonade” album and taking home multiple statuettes, including the top prize: video of the year.

    On a night when women ruled, Britney Spears made a triumphant return to the VMA stage and Rihanna performed four times to mark her lifetime achievement award.

    Beyoncé brought the house down at New York’s Madison Square Garden, stringing together five of her “Lemonade” album tracks about betrayal, revenge and female empowerment in a song and dance routine that brought a long standing ovation.

    VMA organizers had announced only three hours before Sunday’s show began that Beyoncé would perform. The singer arrived on the red carpet accompanied by the mothers of three African-American men who have died at the hands of U.S. police in the past two years.

    Her politically charged “Formation” beat Adele’s 2015 comeback single “Hello,” Drake’s “Hotline Bling,” Justin Bieber’s “Sorry” and Kanye West’s sleeping nude celebrity look-alikes in “Famous” for video of the year.

    She also won best female video and prizes for choreography, editing, and long form video in the awards that are voted on by fans.

    Where Beyoncé was angry and bold, Spears, 34, dressed in a sparkly gold leotard and matching over the knee boots was slinky retro pop. It was the “Toxic” singer’s first time on the VMA stage since her humiliating 2007 performance when her personal and professional life was falling apart, and followed the release of a new album last week.

    Fifth Harmony, the five-girl group that won TV talent show “The X Factor,” took home 2 “Moonman” awards.

    (SD-Agencies)