Taylor Swift topped the list of winners early Thursday GMT at Hollywood's 41st annual People's Choice Awards, at Los Angeles' Nokia Theater LA Live.

Pop princess Swift, 25, took home three awards, for overall favorite female artist, favorite female pop artist, and favorite song for her hit Shake it Off.

Actors Robert Downey Jr and Jennifer Lawrence and singer Ed Sheeran won two prizes each at the fan-voted contest.

Downey, 49, won for overall favourite male movie actor and favourite male dramatic movie actor.

"I'm crazy about movies, and I prefer people who are crazy about my movies," he said as he took the stage.

Lawrence, 24, took the prizes for overall favourite movie actress and favourite female action movie actress.

Sheeran, 23, won for favourite album for X, and overall favourite male musical artist, despite not being nominated in any of the genre categories.

For the favorite musical group award, Maroon 5 beat out Coldplay, Imagine Dragons, One Direction and OneRepublic.

Pharrell Williams took the prize for favourite R&B artist, and Australian newcomer Iggy Azalea bested established acts Drake, Jay Z, Nicki Minaj and her own mentor TI to win favourite hip-hop artist.

"This is an amazing way to start the year," she said, accepting the award.

The Big Bang Theory took the prize for favourite TV show.

The People's Choice awards are the only major Hollywood awards based on public opinion rather than industry votes. Nominations are based on national ratings averages, box-office grosses, music sales, social media activity and online votes.