British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran picked up the British Male title at tonight's BRIT Awards ceremony in London. 

This is the third BRIT Award of the hitmaker's career and he was presented with the trophy by actor Orlando Bloom and Rita Ora. He won the title after going head to head with the likes of fellow nominees Damon Albarn, Paolo Nutini, George Ezra, and Sam Smith.

He dedicated the award to his TV publicist, who he named as Deirdre, and confessed that she's been by his side since his first appearance at the BRITs 4 years ago but is now moving on to different things: "Thank you very much that's a good way to start the night. The first year I came to the BRITs was 2011..."

Taylor Swift opened the ceremony, which is being hosted by Ant and Dec, with a great rendition of her single, 'Blank Space'. Sheeran, meanwhile, will perform later on and he confirmed that there will be a surprise guest joining him on stage: "There is a surprise performer that I know about, only because their manager emailed to say they were in town, and I was, 'Oh, really?!' So yeah, there is a surprise performer."

Best British Group went to Royal Blood and they beat the likes of Alt-J, Clean Bandit, Coldplay, and One Direction to the punch. Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin presented the award. The Brighton duo said: "This is a huge surprise for us and it's probably even more of a surprise for everyone here. We started this band to have a bit of a laugh and to make songs together, but this is huge. Thank you."

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Watch Sheeran cover a Christina Aguilera classic here: