Music’s biggest night of the year featured elaborate performances, surprising snubs and historical wins. The biggest record-breaking moment came as Beyoncé became the artist with the most lifetime Grammy wins after she won Best Dance/Electronic Music Album for “Renaissance.”
Beyoncé started the night off with her first win for Best Dance/Electronic Recording for “Break My Soul” at the Grammys Premiere Ceremony, which is not televised. She did not accept the award herself, as reports said she was stuck in L.A. traffic en route to the Crypto.com Arena. The singer made it just in time for host Trevor Noah to personally hand her the Grammy so she could celebrate her win.
This year, Beyoncé was nominated for nine awards, three of which are in what music industry professionals refer to as the “big three” categories. These nominations, which are typically regarded as the most sought-after awards, are for Record of the Year for “Break My Soul,” Album of the Year for “Renaissance,” and Song of the Year, also for “Break My Soul.” She ended the night with a total of 32 Grammy wins out of 88 nominations in her career thus far.
What shocked viewers (and especially the BeyHive) was Harry Styles taking home the award for Album of the Year for his third album, “Harry’s House.” Even the singer himself looked stunned when his name was announced – he held his head in his hands and sat in disbelief before he accepted the award.
Styles acknowledged the other nominees and his own surprise at the win by saying, “I’ve been so, so inspired by every artist in this category with me.” He also added that “...on nights like tonight, it’s obviously important for us to remember that there is no such thing as best in music.”
His win was a stunning upset, as Beyoncé had been expected to win the award after receiving overwhelming critical acclaim for “Renaissance.” Others believed that the award would go to other critics’ and fan favorites in the category, such as Adele or Bad Bunny. Adele has won Album of the Year twice and Bad Bunny had worldwide success with his most recent album “Un Verano Sin Ti,” for which he won Best Música Urbana Album.
Styles’ win marks his third Grammy award out of nine nominations in his solo career. He also took home Best Pop Vocal Album for “Harry’s House,” and his album also won in the category of Best Engineered Non-Classical Album. Styles also performed his hit single “As It Was” at the awards.
Bonnie Raitt taking home Song of the Year for “Just Like That” was another surprise from this year’s show. Raitt’s win caught fans by surprise given the huge names that were nominated. She now has had a total of 30 Grammy nominations and 13 wins across her career.
Lizzo took home Record of the Year for “About Damn Time,” her fourth Grammy win out of 13 nominations.
Although Adele was nominated in the “big three” categories, she took home Best Pop Solo Performance for “Easy On Me.” This year, she earned seven nominations. It was the singer’s first year back as a Grammy nominee since 2017 when she won Album of the Year for “25,” Record of the Year, and Song of the Year for “Hello.” Famously, during her Album of the Year acceptance speech, Adele said the award rightfully belonged to Beyoncé. This marks her 16th career win out of 25 Grammy nominations.
In another history-making win, Kim Petras became the first transgender woman to win a Grammy award with her win for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category for “Unholy.” Additionally, Viola Davis was upgraded to the legendary “EGOT” (when an artist has won Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards) status with her win for Best Spoken Word or Non-musical Album for “Finding Me.”
See the complete list of Grammy winners here.