The Best, Worst, and Most Memorable Moments of the 2026 Grammys

The 68th Grammy Awards have officially wrapped up, after airing live from the Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles. Hosted for the last time by Trevor Noah, who MC’d the ceremony every year since 2021, the Grammys bid farewell to longtime network host CBS, which has platformed the show for more than 50 years. Next year, The Recording Academy will begin a new broadcast partnership as the Grammys head to ABC, Hulu, and Disney+.

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Kendrick Lamar led this year’s nominations, with a total of nine nods, followed by Lady Gaga and superproducers Cirkut and Jack Antonoff with seven, and Super Bowl headliner Bad Bunny and pop powerhouse Sabrina Carpenter with six nods apiece.

While the vast majority of The Recording Academy’s Grammy Awards were distributed during the pre-telecast premiere ceremony, this year’s televised portion featured a handful of major trophies (Album, Record, and Song of the Year, Best New Artist), presented by previous winners Doechii and Harry Styles, the latter of whom very recently announced his forthcoming album, Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally. The show featured standout performances by Lady Gaga, Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber, and hip-hop duo Clipse with Pharrell Williams, among many others.

The night included some broken records, including the first K-Pop act to win a Grammy (“Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters won Best Song Written for Visual Media in the pre-televised portion of the ceremony). Kendrick Lamar also became the most-awarded rap artist, surpassing Jay-Z. The big three awards of the night were spread out across artists, with Billie Eilish winning Song of the Year, Kendrick Lamar and SZA winning Record of the Year, and Bad Bunny taking home Album of the Year for Debí Tirar Más Fotos.

Check out the best, worst, and most memorable moments from the 2026 Grammy Awards.

Best Avril Lavigne tie: Rosé

As the ceremony kicked off, New Zealand-South Korean singer Rosé joined Bruno Mars to perform their twice-nominated pop-punk hit “APT.” It was a fittingly energetic way to start Music’s Biggest Night, with Mars ripping on lead guitar and Rosé jumping up and down in a cropped white tank top and loose tie. Very Avril Lavigne circa 2001, and very reminiscent of Halsey’s 2024 Grammys performance of “Ego.” We’ll take either any day.

Best hosting victory lap: Trevor Noah

This is Trevor Noah’s last time hosting the Grammys, so it stands to reason that he had nothing to lose by slipping a few political jabs into what is typically a pretty inoffensive MC gig. In Noah’s opening monologue, he threw shade at onetime Grammy favorite Nicki Minaj, noting that the rapper’s “not here tonight, she’s still at the White House with Donald Trump.” (Minaj dubbed herself Donald Trump’s “number one fan” this past week while attending a U.S. Treasury event, sparking angry discourse online.) Later in the show, Noah made further use of this being his last show by joking about how Trump needed a new island to obsess over (Greenland) now that Epstein’s was “no longer available.”

Best simulated airport experience: Sabrina Carpenter

Sabrina Carpenter can always be counted on for a performance with a bit of camp, and she more than delivered during her rendition of Man’s Best Friend single “Manchild,” which took on a midcentury airport theme. Wearing a captain’s hat and white hot pants, Carpenter romped around the stage, flanked by dancers dressed as flight attendants, baggage handlers, and other airport employees. Adding to the “in flight” motif, Sabrina even held up what appeared to be a white dove as she climbed into an onstage plane. The whole thing was giving TWA Hotel at JFK—and made us wish real airport experiences could be anywhere near as pleasant as this.

Read more: Sabrina Carpenter Has Waited Her Whole Life for This

Most sonic vertigo: The Best New Artist montage

With so much talent packed into the Best New Artist category this year, it kind of makes sense that the Recording Academy would want to showcase them all at once. That said, we’re talking about some very different artists with different aesthetics and sounds, so the execution didn’t quite land. The Marías opened the segment with a dreamy rendition of “No One Noticed,” but they were soon piled on by the pop blast of Addison Rae (“Fame Is A Gun”) and KATSEYE (“Gnarly”). Things got sleepy with R&B scion Leon Thomas (“Vibes Don’t Lie”), TikTok homegrown Alex Warren (“Ordinary”), and Lola Young (“Messy”), who does deserve credit for turning out a moving performance after collapsing at All Things Go in September and subsequently canceling the rest of her tour. Olivia Dean (who ended up winning the category) woke us up with an upbeat and jazzy rendition of “Man I Need,” and Sombr was giving lanky, shirtless disco ball (or Finn Wolfhard impersonating Benson Boone) while singing “12 To 12.” Interesting concept, getting all of the nominees up on stage, but the viewing experience ultimately felt like nodding off after a morning caffeine high.

Most literally stripped down: Justin Bieber

In his introduction, Trevor Noah reminded us that it’s been 15 years since Justin Bieber first performed at the Grammys, which is wild for those of us who have been following Biebs since his early side-swept bangs days. Bieber sincerely took our breath away when he stepped onstage to perform “YUKON” from his nominated album SWAG. Redefining the term “stripped down,” Bieber wore only sparkly boxers and socks while carrying a purple guitar, which he looped with pedals and a controller. The only other item onstage with him was a floor-length mirror, giving the impression that the artist wanted us to sit with him as much as he wanted to sit with himself.

Most passionate political speech: Bad Bunny

Very generally speaking, the Grammys tend to be less overtly political than other award shows. However, the mood was different this year, with numerous attendees wearing “ICE OUT” pins and multiple acceptance speeches including calls to end ICE’s aggressive and violent tactics under the Trump administration. Accepting the award for Best Música Urbana Album, upcoming Super Bowl halftime show performer Bad Bunny had some especially strong words: “ICE OUT… We’re not savage. We’re not animals. We’re not aliens. We are humans, and we are Americans.” Likewise, Best New Artist winner Olivia Dean said in her acceptance speech: “I’m up here as a granddaughter of an immigrant…I’m a product of bravery and I think those people deserve to be celebrated.”

Later, while accepting her Grammy for Song of the Year (“WILDFLOWER,” a surprising choice), Billie Eilish used her platform to say “F-ck ICE,” which CBS naturally bleeped out. Eilish got a few more choice words in, asserting: “Nobody is illegal on stolen land.”

Best ‘80s alternative callback: Lady Gaga

Since the start of her illustrious pop career in the late 2000s, Lady Gaga has been scrapbooking and creating mood boards of aesthetic inspiration from the later decades of the 20th century. At tonight’s Grammys set, Gaga sang “ABRACADABRA” from under an enormous Tim Burton-esque eyeball mask. Completing the look was a dramatic black-feather costume, which made Gaga look like a melting pot of 1980s visual references, bringing to mind everything from Blondie to Siouxsie Sioux and the Talking Heads. It also didn’t hurt that the set’s instrumentation sounded very late-’70s, early ‘80s analog, with lots of era-appropriate synthesizers and squalling guitar solos.

Most Kim Kardashian-coded advice: Pharrell

While accepting his Dr. Dre Global Impact Award, Pharrell Williams promoted the advantages of capitalism while dropping a bit of advice to Lean In™. “I’m so blessed to call this a job… To everyone here, I’ve just got to say, never stop grinding. Listen: Never stop working. Stop… doing anything else but working. Work, man. Because I’m 52, I get to do this every day. I love what I do. And if you do what you love every day, you get paid for free.” We see Pharrell’s point, but his good intentions came out a little Kim Kardashian “get your f-cking ass up and work“-coded.

Most emotionally resonant In Memoriam segment

Following a fiery tribute to Ozzy Osborne led by Post Malone, the great Ms. Lauryn Hill took the stage to honor Grammy-winning singer/pianist Roberta Flack and Grammy-winning neo-soul icon D’Angelo, both of whom died in 2025. A flood of fellow performers joined Ms. Hill onstage, including Lucky Daye, Jon Batiste, Leon Thomas, Chaka Khan, John Legend, Raphael Saddiq, Bilal, Wyclef Jean, and Lalah Hathaway, for a massive medley of Flack/D’Angelo songs like “Untitled (How Does It Feel),” “Nothing Even Matters” (a Hill song which featured D’Angelo), and “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” among others. It felt especially satisfying to watch the whole audience lose themselves to “Killing Me Softly,” which Hill and Jean once covered so perfectly as the Fugees.

Most Cher: Cher

First, when Cher walked onstage, it was to accept her much-deserved Lifetime Achievement Award. Then, she nearly walked off the stage before Noah called her back to present the Grammy for Record of the Year. Once she realized that her job wasn’t quite done, Cher read off the list of nominees and took a long pause before announcing the winner (“They told me it would be on the teleprompter!”) Reading the winner, Cher said: “Luther Vandross!” The correct answer was Kendrick Lamar’s song “Luther” featuring SZA, which, yes, is named for the late R&B singer, who died in 2005. But the moment was still confusing—probably more so for viewers watching at home. Still, Cher remained unbothered and unflappable throughout. Never change, Cher.

Most Grammy-awarded rapper: Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar is certainly no stranger to winning Grammys—he famously won big in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2023, and 2024. Tonight, however, Lamar became the most-awarded rapper in Grammy history, beating Jay-Z’s previously held record of 25 awards. Up for nine total golden gramophones, Lamar took home multiple trophies during the premiere ceremony and live telecast, including Best Rap Album for GNX, Best Melodic Rap Performance for “Luther” with SZA, Best Rap Song for “TV Off,” and for his guest spot on Clipse’s “Chains & Whips,” which won Best Rap Performance. His final words, in his acceptance speech alongside SZA and the producers of “Luther,” was a tribute to Luther Vandross, one of his all-time favorite artists.

Best entreaty to watch the Super Bowl halftime show: Bad Bunny

If the night truly belonged to anybody, it was Bad Bunny. The genre-surfing Puerto Rican reggaeton/Latin trap star (born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio), already made history when he became the first Spanish-language artist to earn nominations for Best Album, Record, and Song in one year, and tonight he won Best Música Urbana album and Best Global Music Performance for “EoO.” The most satisfying moment, however, came at the show’s end when Bad Bunny became the first Spanish-language artist to win Album of the Year for Debí Tirar Más Fotos. It all looked to be too much at first for Bad Bunny, who, upon hearing his name called for the biggest award of the night, had to take a long beat with his head in his hands as the audience cheered around him. 

This has to be affirming on many levels for the artist. First, the album is a love letter to his home, incorporating musical styles and influences never before heard on an album with this level of cross-cultural exposure. Second, he’s received the unmitigated approval of his peers in the music industry, and it couldn’t have arrived at a better time, as he heads into next Sunday’s Super Bowl halftime show. The NFL’s selection of Ocasio, who mostly sings in Spanish, has drawn criticism, including from President Trump, who called him a “terrible choice.” The critiques have gone both ways, with Bad Bunny speaking out against the Trump administration, whose ICE raids have targeted Spanish-speaking U.S. residents regardless of immigration status, and who has said he will not take his world tour to the U.S. for fear of potential ICE raids in and around his concerts.

While he delivered most of the speech in Spanish, Bad Bunny reiterated parts of his speech earlier in the evening when he spoke a few lines in English. “I want to dedicate this award to all the people that had to leave their homeland, their country, to follow their dreams,” he said.