Kevin Winter/Billboard Awards 2014/Getty Images for DCP A Michael Jackson hologram onstage during the 2014 Billboard Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday. 
 
 The King of Pop slayed them at the Billboard Music Awards Sunday night. 
 
 Michael Jackson was resurrected from the dead in hologram form, singing and doing his famous moonwalk in front of a star-studded Las Vegas audience. 
 
 Jackson performed his new hit “Slave to the Rhythm” off his posthumous album “Xscape” — which debuted last week at No. 1 in 50 countries. 
 
 In a show-stopping act produced by the Estate of Michael Jackson and broadcast on ABC, the “Thriller” singer appeared on stage at the MGM Grand Garden Arena to wild cheers and more than a few tears. 
 
 Kevin Winter/Billboard Awards 2014/Getty Images for DCP A Michael Jackson hologram performed 'Slave to the Rhythm' off his posthumous album 'Xscape.' Kevin Winter/Billboard Awards 2014/Getty Images for DCP The hologram showed off some of the King of Pop's signature dance moves. Kevin Winter/Billboard Awards 2014/Getty Images for DCP The crowd at the Billboard Music Awards gave the hologram a standing ovation. Previous Next 
 
 
 
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 The number started with a group of dancers dressed as storm troopers lining the stage, their chests emblazoned with the initials M.J. The curtain parted to reveal a digitally resurrected version of Jackson sitting on leopard-print throne. 
 
 Soon Jackson was in the spotlight, his high voice bouncing off the walls and his feet gliding across the stage as the crowd roared. 
 
 Dressed in red pants and a sparkly gold jacket sporting military epaulettes on the shoulders, Jackson, who died in 2009 at the age of 50 from a drug overdose, appear creepily real. 
 
 Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Coachella A hologram version of the late rapper Tupac Shakur performed at the 2012 Coachella Music Festival in California. 
 
 As the audience watched, some people dabbed their eyes, perhaps wishing the image was real. 
 
 At the end of the performance, the crowd gave Jackson a standing ovation. 
 
 Like all things Jackson, the moment came with controversy. 
 
 On Friday, a federal judge in Nevada dismissed a lawsuit brought by Hologram USA and Musion Das Hologram Ltd. to stop the performance. The companies argued the awards show didn’t have permission to use it patented technology to bring Jackson back to the stage. 
 
 It was not the first time a dead performer has been technologically raised from the dead. 
 
 In 2012, a hologram version of rapper Tupac Shakur, killed in a 1996 Las Vegas shooting, performed at the Coachella Music Festival in California. 
 
 Similar technology was used in 2007 to make it possible for Celine Dion to sing a duet with Elvis Presley on “American Idol.” 
 
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 / Updated / Source: Associated Press 
 
 The King of Pop and a likely successor, prince of pop Justin Timberlake, ruled the Billboard Music Awards — though Michael Jackson made a splash via hologram and Timberlake accepted his awards via video from overseas. 
 
 A hologram of Jackson made its debut Sunday, mirroring the late icon's signature slick dance moves as some members of the audience became emotional, while Timberlake won seven prizes, including top artist and Billboard 200 album. 
 
 "I want to thank everybody on Earth, everybody on Earth, except, except Donald Sterling," Timberlake said. ||||| Well, that was kinda fun. 
 
 And that was definitely fun. — the Gotham pop-rock troupe — up on stage Sunday night at the 55th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, snatching some of the evening’s most coveted prizes, including awards for best new artist and song of the year. 
 
 But for the first time in too long, the Grammys telecast was a good time in and of itself — a refreshingly coherent celebration of our increasingly incoherent popscape. There were A-game performances, trophy-hoarders who deserved to win them and very few reasons to wince, grouse or wish you were watching “Downton Abbey.” 
 
 Along with fun., the evening’s other big winners were Mumford & Sons, the British group whose blustery folk-rock collection “Babel” took home album of the year, and Australian pop singer Gotye, who won record of the year for his inescapable break-up anthem,“Somebody That I Used to Know.” His win came with a bonus shout-out from the little man holding the envelope. “I love this song,” Prince told a rapt audience before announcing the winner, making for some of the most dramatic nano-seconds in Grammy history. 
 
 There were plenty of reasons to keep the volume on your TV cranked. Jack White turned in a ripping performance, Sting and Bruno Mars duetted with surprising vim, R&B singer Miguel introduced himself with velvety assurance, Taylor Swift opened the gig with some sparkle, and a resurgent Justin Timberlake delivered two brand-new, decidedly old-school soul tunes from his forthcoming album. 
 
 J.T. wasn’t up for any awards, but he probably knows that at the Grammys, hardware isn’t always paramount. There are still millions of hearts and minds to win from behind the microphone. The Grammys telecast reinforced that idea, with more than 30 performers but only 11 trophy presentations. 
 
 You still had to win on one front or the other, which made R&B visionary Frank Ocean the evening’s biggest disappointment. His excellent and deserving debut album “Channel Orange” lost best album honors to Mumford & Sons, while his wobbly performance of “Forest Gump” failed to eclipse the quiet intensity he summons so easily in the studio. (He didn’t go home empty-handed. “Channel Orange” won best contemporary urban album, and he shared a Grammy with Jay-Z, Kanye West and The-Dream for best rap/sung collaboration.) 
 
 The Black Keys were victorious on both fronts, romping on the Staples Center stage with Dr. John and winning three gramophone statuettes, including best rock album. (Keys frontman Dan Auerbach took another one home for producer of the year, non-classical). Meantime, fun. split the difference, taking home two awards after serving up a half-throttle rendition of their latest single, “Carry On,” beneath an artificial rainstorm. 
 
 Even soggier: host LL Cool J’s opening monologue. “A Grammy isn’t just a shiny trophy to hold on to,” the rapper-turned-actor declared at the start of the show. “A Grammy is a dream come true.” 
 
 Seventy dreams came true in a jiffy at Sunday’s pre-telecast ceremony at the neighboring Nokia Theatre. The evening’s first big surprise: Bonnie Raitt’s “Slipstream” trumped new and wildly popular albums from Mumford & Sons, the Lumineers and the Avett Brothers for best Americana album. “I was not expecting this!” Raitt gushed from the podium. Nobody was. 
 
 Lead Mumford Marcus Mumford seemed to be enjoying himself more alongside Mavis Staples, Zac Brown and others in a lovely tribute to the late Levon Helm. It followed the traditional “In Memoriam” segment, which included an image of Washington’s own “Godfather of Go-Go,” Chuck Brown, who died last May. 
 
 District rapper Wale’s first Grammy nod didn’t end with a win — his “Lotus Flower Bomb” lost best rap song to Jay-Z and Kanye West — but a few locals made it to the winner’s circle. “Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial Collection,” a boxed set released on the Smithsonian Folkways label, won best boxed or special limited edition package. And TobyMac, the Fairfax native who got his start in the Christian rap group DC Talk, won for best contemporary Christian music album for his sixth solo studio effort, “Eye On It.” He wasn’t in Los Angeles to accept his award, though. 
 
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 His absence helped keep the show moving. 
 
 After trimming 31 categories last year, the Grammys added three this year: best classical compendium, best Latin jazz album and best urban contemporary album, bringing the total up to 81. 
 
 That made for plenty of artists to root for, along with some very big hits, including the three top-selling and seemingly omnipresent singles of 2012: “Somebody That I Used to Know,” (winner of record of the year); fun.’s “We Are Young” (winner of song of the year); and Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” (snubbed!). 
 
 And that reflects how music is selling these days. In 2012, overall music transactions reached a record high at 1.65 billion, but fans are buying music in smaller, cheaper portions. The sale of digital tracks continued to climb, but album sales — the most lucrative way for the record biz to make money — slumped last year, dipping 4 percent, to 316 million. 
 
 2012’s best-selling album? Adele’s “21,” which, in addition to winning album of the year at last year’s Grammys, is the first album to be a back-to-back annual bestseller since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking music sales in 1991. 
 
 Adele’s coronation during last year’s Grammy telecast helped boost TV ratings from 26.7 million to nearly 40 million, but most of that spike was attributed to the death of Whitney Houston, who passed away the night before. 
 
 So when Adele won the first award of Sunday night’s Grammy telecast — best pop solo performance for a live version of “Set Fire to the Rain” — it all felt a bit deja vu-ish. She hustled to the podium, quickly said her thank-yous, wished the audience “a wonderful night,” then disappeared to let the future unfold.
– Justin Timberlake was the big winner at last night's Billboard Music Awards but the real star was his idol: Michael Jackson. The singer was resurrected as a hologram that performed his "new" hit "Slave to the Rhythm" off his posthumous album in front of a thrilled crowd at Las Vegas' MGM Grand Garden Arena, reports the New York Daily News, which found the late singer's hologram to be "creepily real" as it moonwalked across the stage. Timberlake won a total of seven prizes, including top artist, NBC reports. "I want to thank everybody on Earth ... except Donald Sterling," he said, accepting his award from overseas via video. (For more from the awards, click to see the best, worst, and wackiest outfits.)