Awards

Beyoncé finally won the Grammy for album of the year at the 67th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday (Feb. 2) for her country project Cowboy Carter. The win followed four previous losses in the category, for I Am…Sasha Fierce, Beyoncé, Lemonade and Renaissance.
Beyoncé is just the fourth Black woman to win album of the year as a lead artist, following Natalie Cole, Whitney Houston and Lauryn Hill. (Two of these women won for stylistic departures – Cole for her warm embrace of the traditional pop songs made famous by her father, Nat “King” Cole, and Bey for an album which sought to bring attention to Black artists’ overlooked role in country music history. Beyoncé won a total of three awards on the night, extending her record as the artist with the most wins ever to 35.

Cowboy Carter is the first country album to win album of the year since Kacey Musgraves’ Golden Hour six years ago. Cowboy Carter didn’t receive a single nomination at the Country Music Association Awards in November. The same thing happened with The Chicks’ album Taking the Long Road, which won album of the year at the Grammys in 2007 despite being blanked at the CMA Awards. It is believed to have swept the Grammys because voters were making a point about freedom of speech, amid the severe backlash the group experienced following Natalie Maines’ critical comments about President George W. Bush. Note: The Chicks were nominated for vocal group of the year at the CMAs the following year.

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Lamar was the year’s top Grammy winner, with five wins, followed by Sierra Ferrell, with four; Beyoncé, Charli XCX and St. Vincent, with three each; and Jon Batiste, Sabrina Carpenter, Gustavo Dudamel, Samara Joy and CeCe Winans, with two each.

Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” won record of the year, becoming just the second rap smash to win in the category. It follows Childish Gambino’s “This Is America” in 2019. This is the second time in four years that Black lead or co-lead artists have won both album and record of the year in the same year. On the 2022 telecast, Jon Batiste won album of the year for We Are. Silk Sonic, with Anderson .Paak alongside Bruno Mars, won record of the year for “Leave the Door Open.”

Chappell Roan won best new artist. This is the eighth consecutive year that a female solo artist has won best new artist. That constitutes the longest winning streak by women artists in the history of the category, topping the seven-year winning streak that extended from 1997 to 2003.

Amy Allen became the first woman to win the award for songwriter of the year, non-classical. The first two winners in the category were Tobias Jesso Jr. and Theron Thomas.

Daniel Nigro won producer of the year, non-classical. He was first nominated in the category last year, when the award went to Jack Antonoff (who was not nominated this year).

Elaine Martone won producer of the year, classical for the third time. She’s the third woman to win the award, joining Judith Sherman (seven wins) and Joanna Nickrenz (two wins). Note that women producers have won 12 times in this category, compared to zero times in the producer of the year, non-classical category – which had a five-year head-start on the classical producer award.

Sabrina Carpenter won best pop vocal album for Short n’ Sweet. She beat three past winners in the category – Taylor Swift (who has won it twice), Ariana Grande and Billie Eilish, as well as the red-hot Chappell Roan. That’s what you call a stacked category.

Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ “Die With a Smile” won best pop duo/group performance. It’s Gaga’s record third win in the category. She previously won for “Shallow” with Bradley Cooper in 2019 and “Rain on Me” with Ariana Grande in 2021. That was Mars’ 12th consecutive Grammy win without a loss. Alas, Mars’ winning streak came to an end on the live telecast when “Die With a Smile” lost song of the year. Still, 12 wins in a row without a loss ain’t bad.

The Beatles won best rock performance for “Now and Then.” This is the group’s first win in a rock category. (The Grammys didn’t have categories dedicated specifically to rock until the 1980 ceremony.) Most would call “A Hard Day’s Night” a rock performance, but it won in the genre-less category of best performance by a vocal group. The Grammys had rock categories when “Free as a Bird” won a Grammy in 1997, but it won instead for best pop performance by a vocal group.

The Rolling Stones’ Hackney Diamonds won best rock album. The Stones were the first winners in the category when it was first presented in 1985, for their album Voodoo Lounge. This is the first time that The Beatles and The Stones, the two top rock groups of the 1960s, have won Grammys in the same year.

St. Vincent’s All Born Screaming won best alternative music album. It’s her third win in the category, which puts her in a tie with Beck, Radiohead and The White Stripes for the most wins in the category’s history. She also won best alternative music performance for “Flea” and best rock song for “Broken Man,” two tracks from the album.

Doechii’s mixtape Alligator Bites Never Heal won best rap album. Doechii is just the third woman to win in this category, following Lauryn Hill (as part of Fugees, for their second album, The Score) and Cardi B, for her debut album, Invasion of Privacy. In a fitting touch, Cardi B presented Doechii with the award. Doechii beat Eminem’s The Death of Slim Shady (Coup De Grace). Em has won six times in this category, and in fact had only lost once before – when Ye’s Late Registration beat Encore in 2006.

Norah Jones’ Visions won best traditional pop vocal album, 22 years after she won best pop vocal album for Come Away With Me. Jones is the fifth artist to win in both of these categories, following Joni Mitchell, Lady Gaga, James Taylor and Paul McCartney (counting an early pop album award with The Beatles).

Chris Stapleton won best country solo performance for a record-extending fifth time. That’s more than double the tally of the next two winners combined. Carrie Underwood and Willie Nelson have each won twice since this gender-neutral category was introduced in 2012.

Beyoncé featuring Miley Cyrus won best country duo/group performance for “II Most Wanted.” It’s the first time that two artists from outside the country world have won for a collaboration in that category. Pentatonix and Justin Bieber have each won in the category, but for collaborations with core country artists – Dolly Parton and Dan + Shay, respectively.

Kendrick Lamar became the first artist to win best music video three times. He won this year for “Not Like Us,” having previously won as a featured artist on Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” and for his own video “Humble.” Lamar was among the video directors on both “Humble.” and “Not Like Us.”

Lamar also won a record-extending seventh time for best rap performance. And he won best rap song for the fifth time, a tally topped only by Ye (with seven wins).

Cowboy Carter also won best country album. Beyoncé is the first Black artist to win in that category.

The late Chick Corea won best jazz instrumental album for Remembrance, a collab with Béla Fleck. It’s Corea’s 28th Grammy, which puts him in a tie with the late Quincy Jones for third place on the all-time Grammy leaderboard. They are topped by just two artists – a total topped by Beyoncé (35) and Sir Georg Solti (31).

Jay-Z won his 25th Grammy for his work as a songwriter on Cowboy Carter. This allows him to stand alone as the rap artist with the most Grammys – 25. He was formerly tied for that distinction with Ye.

Sean Ono Lennon won a Grammy for best boxed or special limited edition package for a reissue of his father John Lennon’s 1973 album Mind Games. Both of the younger Lennon’s parents are multiple Grammy winners. John Lennon won seven Grammys. Yoko Ono has won two. They shared the album of the year award in 1982 for their collaborative album, Double Fantasy.

Jimmy Carter’s Last Sunday in Plains: A Centennial Celebration won best audio book, narration and storytelling recording. It’s the late president’s fourth Grammy win. Carter has won more Grammys than any other U.S. president. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama are runners-up with two wins each. Carter has won all four of his Grammys in this category, which is more than anyone else in the category’s history. Maya Angelou is second with three wins. Carter died at age 100 in December.

Hell’s Kitchen won best musical theater album. Alicia Keys won as one of the album’s producers. It’s her 17th Grammy. Keys also won the honorary Dr. Dre Global Impact Award.

Dave Chappelle’s The Dreamer won best comedy album. It’s his sixth win in the category, which puts him just one behind longtime category leader Bill Cosby. Chappelle pulls ahead of George Carlin and Richard Pryor, with five wins each.

Hans Zimmer’s Dune: Part Two won best score soundtrack for visual media (includes film and television). This makes up for the fact that the score wasn’t allowed to compete in this year’s Oscar voting process because it was judged to have leaned too heavily on Zimmer’s score for the first Dune. This is Zimmer’s third win in this Grammy category, following Crimson Tide and The Dark Knight, a collab with James Newton Howard.

The Taj Mahal Sextet won best traditional blues album for Swingin’ Live at the Church in Tulsa. The win came less than 24 hours after Taj Mahal received a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy at their annual Special Merit Awards.

The deluxe edition of Bob Marley: One Love – Music Inspired by the Film won best reggae album. Among the albums the soundtrack beat this year: Evolution, the latest album by Marley’s band, The Wailers. Marley never won a Grammy in competition – the Grammys didn’t introduce a reggae album category until 1984, three years after Marley’s death. The Academy awarded Marley a lifetime achievement award in 2001.

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings’ Woodland won best folk album – the pair’s second win in the category. They previously won in 2021 for All the Good Times. They are the second two-time winner in the category, following Chris Thile.