The MTV Video Music Awards has notoriously assembled a reputation as being an award show that features both the positives and negatives of music and on-stage performances. The show is always plagued with wild-artist antics, which detracts the attention away from the performers who are genuinely talented.

On Sunday night the VMA's took center stage and dished out an overall well put together show. Truthfully, the entire show could have been terrible, but with Beyoncé rattling off one of the greatest performances in award show history, the overall rating of the VMA's increased dramatically.

We've put together a list of the 'top-five' best performances from Sunday night. Not to give out any spoilers, but of course Beyoncé is number one.

Beyoncé Medley

For 16-straight minutes Beyoncé tore up the stage with her droves of insanely talented back-up dancers. For fans that enjoy and admire a 'real' performance, with no lip-syncing included, Beyoncé did not disappoint. It's incredibly difficult to sing and dance at the same time, especially when you've got to hit the notes that Beyoncé does. Nevertheless, being the professional that she is, Beyoncé gets our top-spot for best performance.

Nicki/Ariana/Jessie

While this triple headed music force may not be critically the most acclaimed, what has to be said is that they do know how to preform. All these ladies brought immense energy to the stage, most specifically Minaj. MTV has seriously stepped up their production budget and it definitely showed.

Sam Smith

Taking a step back from the high-octane performances, we're left with VMA newcomer, Sam Smith, who delivered a heart-felt performance. As much as we wish that all songs were poppy and hoppy, Smith was able to portray the emotional cataclysm of trying to hang on to a significant other.

Iggy Azalea

In a darker performance, Iggy Azalea impersonated a spider persona leaving the audience breathless. While she may need a few more years of performance experience, the overall theme and atmosphere with her sassy attitude was enough to make our list.

T-Swift

We're generally not Taylor Swift fans, but her hot new hit had a classy vibe that differed from the performers above. Taylor lands our number five spot due to her official exit from country music. Thank you Taylor, we knew you'd come around eventually.