Swift won Sunday night's top honor and tied Justin Timberlake for the show's overall total with three wins apiece. Swift didn't perform, but she was a constant presence on stage and the camera alighted on her as she danced to stars including Kendrick Lamar and Luke Bryan.
The 23-year-old pop star also won country album of the year for Red and the award for favorite female country artist.
Earlier, Rihanna and her mother took center stage as the singer received the first Icon Award.
Monica Braithwaite presented her daughter with the award midway through Sunday night's show at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles.
"Can we talk about how cute Rihanna's mom is?" Timberlake asked while accepting one of his three awards before affecting a Caribbean accent. "She's so proud of the Icon. I am too, Rihanna, I love you."
Braithwaite told Rihanna how proud she was of her daughter's success, saying, "I know the journey in your career has not always been an easy one."
"Just about 20 years ago is when I really started making your life a living hell with my annoying little husky man voice, you would call it," Rihanna said. "And I mean just disrupting the entire neighborhood. Westbury Road, Barbados, they could tell you that's the truth. I annoyed every one of my neighbors."
Rihanna was one of the night's early competitive winners, as well. She took favorite soul/R&B female artist. Timberlake won soul/R&B album, soul/R&B male artist, and pop/rock male artist.
"Red is very different than any album I've made before and the reason I was able to do that was because of the fans," Swift said. "I cannot believe what you've done in the last year. This album came out almost exactly a year ago and the fact that 6 million of you went out and bought it is crazy."
Nickelodeon star Ariana Grande was named favorite new artist, Florida Georgia Line won single of the year for "Cruise" with Nelly in something of a surprise, Luke Bryan won favorite male country artist, and Macklemore and Ryan Lewis used their rap/hip-hop album acceptance speech to send a message of tolerance.
Ben Haggerty, the rapper known as Macklemore, accepted the award for favorite rap/hip-hop album, then quoted the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in a live satellite feed from the rap group's latest tour stop.
"Due to the fact that we are in Florida tonight accepting this award I want to acknowledge Trayvon Martin and the hundreds and hundreds of kids each year that are dying due to racial profiling and the violence that follows it," he said. "This is really happening. These are our friends, our neighbors, our peers, and our fans, and it's time that we look out for the youth and fight against racism and the laws that protect it."
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