Pharrell Williams was presented his award by Gwen Stefani (left) in Los Angeles, USA

Pharrell Williams has walked away the big winner from the first ever BBC Music Awards.

The US producer-songwriter was named best international artist and won song of the year for his smash-hit single Happy.

Ed Sheeran was named British act of the year, and performed his chart-topper Sing at the awards show held at London's Earls Court.

The ceremony also saw performances from One Direction, Take That and Coldplay.

British act of the year Ed Sheeran was among more than a dozen performers

Pharrell was unable to attend, as he was filming the US version of talent show The Voice.

Joining the awards ceremony via satellite, he described Happy's global success as "weird" and "not something I can determine".

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John Newman, Ellie Goulding and Calvin Harris posed together on the red carpet

Paying tribute to the people who watched, streamed or downloaded the song, he said: "When you say 'song of the year' it's not really my award, it's your award."

Accepting his prize from singer and The Voice UK coach, Sir Tom Jones, Ed Sheeran said: "A massive thank you to everyone who's bought a record, bought a ticket, streamed on YouTube or listened to my music."

"I always thought my career would stop at one album," he added, "[but] even if people stop listening to the music I'm still going to make it."

Newcomers Catfish and the Bottlemen also played to their biggest-ever audience, after winning the BBC Introducing award for best new act.

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Sir Tom Jones and Paloma Faith closed the show by singing together

Hosted by Chris Evans and Fearne Cotton, the show was broadcast live on BBC One, Radio 1 and Radio 2.

It was also screened in Denmark, Japan, Ireland and North America.