Grammy Awards were dispersed on Feb. 1 among some of the top names of the music industry, without a single artist dominating the 68th annual ceremonial event.
With history on the line, Compton-born rapper Kendrick Lamar was able to capitalize on his leading nine nominations —winning five Grammy Awards breaking Jay’s record — becoming the most honored rapper in the history of the awards. Most notably, he won Record of the Year for his work with SZA on “Luther.”
Meanwhile, Album of the Year was awarded to Bad Bunny for “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS.” Bad Bunny will perform later this month at the Super Bowl LX halftime ceremony.
Sunday’s festivities began at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, with the Grammy Awards Premiere Ceremony, during which the bulk of the day’s 95 awards were presented. The Premiere Ceremony, held at the Peacock Theater, was hosted by Darren Criss.
The main event of “Music’s Biggest Night” — at which all the glamour awards were handed out — took place at Crypto.com Arena at 5 p.m. and was hosted for the sixth and last time by comedian Trevor Noah. It aired on CBS and streamed live on Paramount+ while the Premiere Ceremony streamed live at live.grammy.com and on the Recording Academy’s YouTube pages.
The show featured the Grammys’ usual glittering galaxy of performers, including Bruno Mars, a 16-time Grammy winner. Mars joined Lady Gaga; Carpenter; Tyler, The Creator; Rosé; Justin Bieber; Post Malone; Pharrell Williams; Reba McEntire; Chad Smith; Duff McKagan; the hip-hop duo Clipse; Slash; and all eight nominees for Best New Artist. That Best New Artist turned out to be Olivia Dean.
Song of the Year was awarded to Billie Eilish’s “Wildflower,” from songwriters Billie Eilish O’Connell & Finneas O’Connell. Best Music Video of the Year went to Doechii for “Anxiety”, Kehlani won Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance for her hit single “Folded”, Durand Bernarr won for Best Progressive R&B Album for “Bloom.”
Meanwhile, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande’s duet “Defying Gravity” from the film “Wicked” won for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, beating out “Golden” (from “KPop Demon Hunters”) by Huntr/x.
The eligibility period for this year’s Grammy nominations was Aug. 31, 2024 to Aug. 30, 2025. That timeline eliminated Taylor Swift’s hit release “–The Life of a Showgirl” from consideration — but it will be eligible for the 2027 Grammys.