The 68th annual Grammy Awards made history with the first ever Spanish-language album to win album of the year.
The Grammys were hosted by comedian Trevor Noah for the sixth year in a row. However, this was Noah’s final year hosting the Grammys. The main ceremony occurred at 7 p.m. on Sunday at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles
Bruno Mars and Rosé kicked off the Grammys with a performance of “APT.”
Numerous Grammy awards were presented during the premiere ceremony, which was at 2:30 p.m. Sunday and was available to watch on the Grammys YouTube channel, for smaller categories, with the main categories being reserved for the main awards show such as album of the year, song of the year, record of the year, best pop vocal album and best new artist.
BEST NEW ARTIST
Prior to the best new artist award being presented, all of the Best New Artist nominees – Olivia Dean, KATSEYE, The Marias, Addison Rae, sombr, Leon Thomas, Alex Warren and Lola Young – performed one of their most well-known songs on stage.
The best new artist award was presented by Chappell Roan. The winner was Dean with “Man I Need,” who won her first Grammy and continued the streak of only women winning the best new artist award at the Grammys since 2017.
BEST POP VOCAL ALBUM/BEST POP SOLO PERFORMANCE
Best pop vocal album was presented by Teyana Taylor and Nikki Glaser. The winner was Lady Gaga for her album “MAYHEM.” It’s not surprising Gaga won, especially due to her hit song “Abracadabra” from the “MAYHEM” album.
Charli XCX presented the pop solo performance award. The winner was “Messy” by Lola Young. This win marked Young’s first Grammy award. I was surprised that Young won, because I honestly thought that either Roan or Sabrina Carpenter would have won for “The Subway” or “Manchild” respectively.
SONG OF THE YEAR
Carole King presented the song of the year award. The winner was “Wildflower” by Billie Eilish. This also surprised me because I thought either “Abracadabra,” “Anxiety” by Doechii or “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters would have won. I personally would have preferred “Golden” to win this award.
Eilish and Finneas, along with many other attendees, were wearing “ICE out” pins as they accepted their award. Most of the recipients such as Dean and Bad Bunny mentioned Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and current immigration issues during their acceptance speeches.
The celebrities highlighted how we all need to stick together at this time.
“I want to make sure that I say: Everybody in this room, and everyone who will be in this room later, is so powerful,” Kehlani said. “Together, we’re stronger in numbers to speak out against all the injustice going on in the world.”
RECORD OF THE YEAR
Before the record of the year award was presented by Cher, Noah presented her with the lifetime achievement award, given to an artist who has made contributions of outstanding significance to the field of recording, according to the Grammys website.
The winner for record of the year was “Luther” by Kendrick Lamar & SZA. Lamar won five of his nine nominations, became a 27-time Grammy winner and broke Jay-Z’s record of being the rapper with the most career Grammys.
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Harry Styles presented the final award of the evening which was the album of the year award. The winner was Bad Bunny for his album “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS.”
I mostly expected the winner to be Bad Bunny, however I was a little surprised that the winner was not Tyler, The Creator for his album “CHROMAKOPIA.”
Bad Bunny’s win in this category made history as the first time a Spanish-language album has won this award.
The ceremony was available to watch on CBS and Paramount+. After 54 years of being aired on CBS, 2026 marks the last year that the Grammys will be aired on CBS. The Grammys will be moving to ABC, Hulu and Disney+ from 2027 through 2036 in a 10-year deal made with Disney.
For those who missed viewing the live ceremony, an on-demand replay is available on Paramount+.
To see a complete list of nominees and winners, visit the Grammys website.
