VMAs get largest audience ever for MTV

LOS ANGELES (CBS/AP) Was it Beyonce's baby bump? Or Lady Gaga's cigarette-smoking, bleep-peppered performance as Jo Calderone? Or maybe it was Chris Brown flying through the air?

No matter. The important thing for MTV is that this year's Video Music Awards had the biggest audience since the network has been measuring its viewership.

Pictures: MTV VMAs Red Carpet 2011
Pictures: MTV VMAs show highlights
Special section: Awards season

MTV says its annual show honoring the top music videos attracted 12.4 million viewers Sunday night, a nine percent growth from last year and a network record at least since 1993, when Nielsen and MTV began keeping viewership records.

Lady Gaga dressed as her male alter-ego to open the show, at which where Adele and Katy Perry were the top winners with three trophies each.

Chris Brown's high-octane dance act included some aerial acrobatics and rappers Jay-Z and Kanye West made a surprise performance of "Otis" from their chart-topping album "Watch the Throne."

But it was Jay-Z's wife, Beyonce, who overshadowed the performances and prizes with her own silent announcement: The 29-year-old entertainer revealed her pregnancy by cupping her growing belly for photographers as she arrived on the red carpet. Later, after performing on the show, she unbuttoned her jacket and openly rubbed her tummy on stage.