The show opened with his huge hit As It Was, which won song of the year.
"I'm aware of my privilege up here tonight," he said, naming women who missed out on artist of the year, including Mabel, Florence Welch, Charli XCX, Rina Sawayama and Becky Hill.
Beyonce won international awards for best artist and song of the year, while Wet Leg won best group and new artist.
Flo, the only black British winner, won the rising star award, but did not get to perform on the night as has been the case in previous years - instead having their prize announced before the show.
Styles also thanked his Mum for "signing me up for X Factor without telling me", along with his fellow One Direction members Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne and Zayne Malik.
Shania Twain, who performed on stage at Coachella last year with Styles, gave him his Brit for song of the year.
Earlier, she told the BBC's Mark Savage that the singer's popularity stems from him being "incredibly authentic, and people sense that".
"He's nice, he's likeable, he's kind, he's a gentleman," she said. "Obviously he's super-talented - he has everything you want as a fan to follow and appreciate and respect."
In response, a spokesperson for the Brit awards acknowledged that the lack of women and non-binary acts in the category was “disappointing”, but added: “We also have to recognise that 2022 saw fewer high-profile female artists in cycle with major releases as was the case in 2021.”
In the wake of the best artist controversy, organisers of the Brit awards were keen to stress the high number of overall nominations for female and non-binary acts and the prevalence of women and non-binary stars performing at the ceremony: Lizzo, Wet Leg, Sam Smith and Kim Petras, Cat Burns, Becky Hill and Ella Henderson joined Styles, Stormzy, David Guetta and Lewis Capaldi.
But on the night itself, nine of the 15 awards Р60% Рwere won by male acts, including three out of the four genre categories. The awards were also dominated by white artists: Beyonc̩ and new British girl group Flo were the only artists of colour to take home trophies.
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