The 68th annual Grammy Awards happened last weekend and it was a history-making night filled with lots of surprises – here’s everything you may have missed!
For the sixth year in a row, comedian Trevor Noah hosted the star-studded event, which took place on Sunday, February 1st at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
Rosé and Bruno Mars opened the show with a performance of their three-time Grammy nominated song, “APT.” Despite the great opening performance, the singers didn’t go home with any Grammy awards this year.
Another artist who surprisingly walked away with no awards last Sunday was Sabrina Carpenter. Despite having one of the most elaborate and engaging performances of the night with her four-time Grammy nominated hit “Manchild,” the artist who had six total nominations this year walked away empty handed. This came as a shock to fans, especially since she won two Grammy awards at last year’s ceremony.
The first televised Grammy win of the night was for Best Rap Album. Kendrick Lamar took home the Grammy for his album GNX. The record-breaking win officially made him the rapper with the most wins in Grammy history, 26, beating Jay-Z who previously held the title. With the win, Lamar also became the first rapper to win Best Rap Album with four back-to-back albums. The rapper had also won three Grammys earlier in the night before the live show, making Lamar walk away with a Grammy in all four of the Rap categories in the same night.
Something the Grammys brought back this year was allowing each of the Best New Artist nominees to perform before announcing who had won the coveted Best New Artist Grammy. This year’s Best New Artist nominees included The Marías, Addison Rae, KATSEYE, Leon Thomas, Alex Warren, Lola Young, Olivia Dean, and Sombr.
Besides Alex Warren having some technical difficulties during his performance, (he still pushed through and did great!), it was an entertaining Best New Artist medley which had viewers on the edge of their seats waiting to see who would take home the Grammy.
Last year’s winner, Chappell Roan, ultimately came to the stage to “pass the torch” and present the Best New Artist Grammy award to this year’s winner. Roan then revealed that Olivia Dean had won the coveted award. Dean shared in her acceptance speech, “I’m up here as the granddaughter of an immigrant. I’m a product of bravery and I think those people deserve to be celebrated.” With her win, Dean continues the streak of only female artists winning Best New Artist since 2017.
Justin Bieber then made his comeback to the Grammys stage after four years by performing a stripped down version of his Grammy-nominated song “Yukon” – and by stripped down, Bieber literally performed in only his socks and boxers. Despite having four nominations this year, Bieber was another artist who walked home empty handed.
It was then time to present the Grammy for Best Música Urbana Album, and Bad Bunny took home the honor for his album Debí Tirar Más Fotos. In his acceptance speech, the singer took the time to make a statement by saying, “Before I say thanks to God, I’m going to say ICE out. We’re not savages, we’re not animals, we are humans and we are Americans.”
Jelly Roll then won the Grammy for Best Contemporary Country Album for his album Beautifully Broken.
Lady Gaga then gave a performance of her song “Abracadabra,” which won the Grammy for Best Dance Pop Recording earlier in the night before the live show. After her performance, Gaga then won the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album with her album MAYHEM.
Bruno Mars then hit the Grammys stage for the second time that night to perform his newest number one hit “I Just Might.”
One of the most surprising wins of the night was Lola Young winning the Grammy award for Best Pop Solo Performance, making it her first Grammy win.
Another shocking win of the night went to Billie Eilish who won the Grammy for Song Of The Year for her song “Wildflower.” Eilish also used her acceptance speech as a place to make a statement by saying, “No one is illegal on stolen land.” With her win, Eilish becomes the artist with the most Song Of The Year wins, now having won three.
Tyler, The Creator had the next performance with a medley of his songs “Thought I Was Dead,” “Like Him,” and “Sugar on My Tongue.” The Grammys introduced a new award this year, Best Album Cover. Tyler, The Creator became the first winner of this category before the live show for his album CHROMAKOPIA.
Cher then came on stage to present the Grammy for Record Of The Year. After the singer had some confusion on how to present the award, she revealed that Kendrick Lamar and SZA had won the Grammy for their song “Luther.” Earlier in the night, “Luther” also won the Grammy for Best Melodic Rap Performance. The Record Of The Year win allowed Lamar to extend his newly earned achievement of being the rapper with the most wins in Grammy history to 27 wins.
It was then time to give out the most coveted Grammy, and final award of the evening, Album Of The Year. This year, Bad Bunny, Justin Bieber, Sabrina Carpenter, Clipse, Lady Gaga, Kendrick Lamar, Leon Thomas, and Tyler, The Creator all competed for the highest honor.
Harry Styles, who won the Album Of The Year Grammy in 2023 for Harry’s House, then came to the stage to present the Grammy to this year’s winner. Styles then revealed that Bad Bunny had won for his album Debí Tirar Más Fotos. Hearing the news of his history-making win, Bad Bunny got emotional in his seat and took it all in before coming to the stage.
With the win, Bad Bunny makes history with the first Spanish-language album to win Album of the Year. Bad Bunny also becomes the first Latin artist in 27 years to win Album Of The Year and becomes the first artist to win Album Of The Year at both the Grammys and Latin Grammys.
Just yesterday, Bad Bunny headlined the Superbowl LX Halftime show and put on an amazing performance. It’s safe to say that he’s had a busy week!
Congratulations to all of the nominees and winners this year! We already can’t wait to see what 2026 has in store for music and we’re already counting down to the 2027 Grammys!