Villa opened up a six-point cushion to the bottom three with back-to-back league wins as new manager Tim Sherwood's side start to gather some much-needed momentum.
Having scored just four away league goals all season Villa doubled their tally in an incredible first half as Christian Benteke ended more than 10 hours on the road without the team scoring with a 16th-minute opener.
Moments later Gabriel Agbonlahor made it 2-0 with the striker's pace helping him add a third in the 37th minute before Benteke headed in Leandro Bacuna's cross to send hordes of unhappy Black Cats fans streaming for the exits before the interval.
Sunderland's shambolic afternoon continued when they began the second half with 10 men, Sebastian Larsson hobbling onto the pitch almost four minutes after the restart, with Steven Fletcher's late shot against the post the closest they came to scoring.
Elsewhere, QPR's woes continued with a fifth defeat in six matches as they lost 3-1 at Crystal Palace.
Wilfried Zaha's opener midway through the first half was followed by two in quick succession just before the break from James McArthur and Joel Phillips with Matt Phillips' brilliant 40-yard effort seven minutes from time little consolation.
Bottom side Leicester missed the chance to claw back some ground after a goalless draw at home to 10-man Hull, who had Tom Huddlestone sent off for a second bookable offence midway through the second half.
Former Stoke manager Tony Pulis got one over on his former club as West Brom striker Brown Ideye beat Phil Bardsley to head home Craig Gardner's 19th-minute cross for the only goal at The Hawthorns.
At the top of the table Arsenal moved to within a point of second-placed Manchester City, who had an evening kick-off at Burnley, with a 3-0 win over West Ham.
Olivier Giroud hammered home a shot off the inside of a post on the stroke of half-time and, in the last nine minutes, Aaron Ramsey and Mathieu Flamini secured victory.
In the evening kick-off, Manchester City's title hopes suffered a huge blow as they slumped to a shocking 1-0 defeat against Burnley at Turf Moor.
George Boyd scored the only goal of the game, burying a half-volley into the bottom corner in the 61st minute.
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