European music fans apparently favor many of the same mainstream acts as their American counterparts, judging by the results of the MTV Europe Awards, held last night (11/12) in Dublin, Ireland.

Top awards went to chart-topping vocal acts, from Britney Spears [ tickets ] (who won four awards, including Best Female and Best Pop) to Backstreet Boys [ tickets ] (Best Group) to Whitney Houston [ tickets ] (Best R & B).

In an odd bit of categorization, the Offspring won Best Rock act, proving that if the major-label group is on a seek-and-destroy mission against corporate music, that mission is either failing or is a very stealthy one. Other supposed advances toward the edge included performances by Iggy Pop and Marilyn Manson, who did ''Rock Is Dead'' in a G-string.

Ireland and the UK did support its own by voting Dublin band Boyzone [ tickets ]'s album ''By Request'' the Best Album. The group also won Best MTV UK and Ireland act.

MTV awarded U2 singer Bono [ tickets ] the ''Free Your Mind Award'' for his work on humanitarian causes, including Live Aid, Net Aid and human-rights group Amnesty International.

MTV will broadcast the awards in the U.S. on Saturday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. (ET/PT).