One Direction AMAs
One Direction members (from left) Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne and Harry Styles accept the Artist of the Year award at the American Music Awards on Nov. 22, 2015, in Los Angeles. Getty

One Direction took home the biggest prize at the American Music Awards Sunday night. The British boy band won the coveted Artist of the Year award. They accepted their trophy from presenter and “Avengers” actor Jeremy Renner after performing their hit “Perfect” earlier in the night.

“Wow, this is absolutely incredible to receive this award now two years in a row,” Louis Tomlinson said. “Thank you so much. This is a testament to how incredible our fans are. You’ve been great to us this year, so thank you.”

This year was a difficult one for the band. After the departure of Zayn Malik, they released their fifth album, “Made in the A.M.,” as a four-person group. Moreover, they announced that they’ll take a hiatus in 2016.

“We honestly can’t believe we get to win awards like this. We just want to thank everyone that’s helped us out over the last five years,” Liam Payne added. “Obviously, we’re going to go on a little break now. We're going to spend some time with out families. It's going to be amazing. I want to thank our families too.”

Harry Styles and Niall Horan were also in attendance, but they stayed silent. Watch One Direction’s AMAs acceptance speech for Artist of the Year below:

This is One Direction’s seventh overall American Music Award and second year winning in this category. They were nominated against Luke Bryan, Ariana Grande, Maroon 5, Nicki Minaj, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Taylor Swift, Meghan Trainor and The Weeknd.

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