British singer Adele receives her award for British Album of the Year at the BRIT Awards at the O2 arena in London, Britain, Feb 24, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

Barbados-born Rihanna marked her first peformance on British soil since 2012 with a raunchy perfomance of "Work", her new song with Drake, which featured a surprise appearance from the Canadian rapper.

There were also performances on the night by Britain's James Bay, who was awarded best British male, and Justin Bieber, who was awarded best international male. Bieber performed an acoustic version of his song "Love Yourself" with James Bay before running onto the main stage behind a ring of fire to perform his hit "Sorry" with a troupe of backing dancers.

British group Coldplay had kicked off proceedings with their song "Hymn for the Weekend", and also picked up the award for best British group.