The singer-songwriter eclipsed Georg Solti as the artist with the most wins in Grammy history.
(Bloomberg) — Beyoncé won four Grammy Awards on Sunday, giving her 32 across her career and breaking the record for the most wins of any artist in history at the music industry’s biggest event.
“I’m trying to just receive this night,” she said in her acceptance speech before thanking god, her uncle, her parents, her husband Jay-Z, her children and the queer community. Conductor Georg Solti was the previous record holder with 31.
Beyoncé is the most-nominated musician at this year’s Grammys thanks to her album “Renaissance.” She won best dance/electronic recording, best traditional R&B performance, best dance/electronic music album and best R&B song — each one for a different song. She will still compete for the three biggest prizes of all: record of the year, album of the year and song of the year.
Some of the most popular acts in music will be competing with Beyoncé for those honors. For Album of the Year, “Renaissance” contends with Adele’s “30,” as well as Harry Styles’ “Harry’s House,” Kendrick Lamar’s “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers” and Bad Bunny’s “Un Verano Sin Ti,” the first Latin album to be nominated in the category. For Record of the Year, her “Break My Soul” track will face Lizzo’s “About Damn Time” and Adele’s “Easy on Me.”
While Beyoncé has won more awards than any other performer, she has never won album of the year or record of the year. She won song of the year in 2010 for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).” The Recording Academy voted for Adele over Beyoncé in 2017, prompting Adele to devote most of her acceptance speech to her fellow nominee.
If Beyoncé doesn’t win any of the top awards, it will fuel concerns about the Recording Academy’s failure to recognize Black artists, especially those that make hip-hop and R&B. In recent years, popular Black artists, including Drake and The Weeknd, have pulled their work from the nominees list and refused to attend or perform at the show, citing lack of recognition for Black artists’ contributions to the broader industry and culture. Beyoncé’s husband Jay-Z is one of many artists that has been overlooked for top prizes despite winning in the rap categories.
In an attempt to address diversity concerns, the Recording Academy has tried to attract and build a younger, more diverse voter pool and make its voting process transparent. More than half of this year’s nominees are people of color and nearly half are women. One Black woman already achieved a high honor. Viola Davis won in the best audio book, narration and storytelling recording category for her memoir Finding Me, cementing her as an EGOT winner, or a performer who has won four major industry awards — an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony.
The night could end up being a big one for Sony Music Entertainment, the record company behind Beyoncé, Adele and Harry Styles. Universal Music Group NV, the biggest music company by market share in the US, works with Lamar, ABBA and Taylor Swift, who are also nominated for the biggest awards.
The 65th Grammy Awards will be broadcast live on CBS, as well as on the streaming service Paramount+. Trevor Noah, the former Daily Show host and comedian, will emcee the event for the third year in a row.
Award shows have faced an uphill battle in recent years, losing audience and relevance. This past year’s Grammy Awards drew just 8.93 million viewers, the second-smallest audience on record. (Last year’s Oscars also drew the second-lowest audience.)
The Grammys have done a better job of nominating popular artists than its award-show peers and the program’s performances tend to travel well on platforms like YouTube, where they are clipped and shared widely after airing. A bevy of artists will take the stage to honor hip hop’s 50th anniversary including Missy Elliott, LL Cool J, Big Boi, Busta Rhymes, Lil Wayne and more. Harry Styles, Bad Bunny, Lizzo and Mary J. Blige will also perform.
(Updated first paragraph to reflect Beyoncé breaking therecord for most Grammys won.)
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