Beyoncé ties Alison Krauss' record of 27 wins at Grammys

The Grammys are drunk in love with Beyoncé: The singer has tied Alison Krauss’ record for most wins by a female artist. Beyoncé earned her 27th Grammy on Sunday, picking up honors like best music video for “Brown Skin Girl" as well as best rap performance and best rap song for “Savage," with Megan Thee Stallion. Looking to Megan, Beyoncé said: “I have so much respect for you."

“I'm honored that you asked me to be a part of this song," added Beyoncé, who shares the win with Jay-Z and several co-writers.

The win, Megan Thee Stallion's third of the night, made her the first female rapper to best rap song. She's also the fifth rap-based act to win best new artist. Beyoncé was the night’s top contender with nine nominations, and she’s still up for record of the year, where she’s a double nominee thanks to “Black Parade” and “Savage.”

Beyoncé wasn’t the only one having a historic night: Her nine-year-old daughter Blue Ivy Carter, who won best music video alongside her mother, became the second youngest act to win a Grammy in show’s 63-year history. Leah Peasall was 8 when The Peasall Sisters won album of the year at the 2002 show for their appearance on the T Bone Burnett-produced “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” soundtrack.

While Beyoncé is set to have a historic night, history could repeat itself and she could be shut out of winning a top award — a common occurrence for R&B and rap artists throughout Grammy history. Of her 27 wins, only one has been for one of the big four Grammys, song of the year. She has lost album of the year three times and record of the year five times.

Jay-Z has never won a top award, and he and his wife join a list of mostly Black performers who have been restricted to wins in the rap and R&B categories, including Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Mariah Carey, Eminem, Drake, Missy Elliott, Mary J. Blige and more.

This year The Weeknd was the one who was snubbed. Despite having the biggest hit of 2020 with “Blinding Lights” and a top-selling, multi-hit album, he didn’t earn any nominations. He’s won three Grammys so far — only in the R&B categories — but he’s vowed to boycott the Grammys because he doesn’t agree with how the Recording Academy selects its winners.

There was some hope at the 2021 show though: R&B singer H.E.R. won song of the year for her protest anthem “I Can’t Breathe,” and it became one of the rare R&B songs to win the top prize. Another track about the Black experience – Anderson Paak’s “Lockdown," released on Juneteenth – also won a Grammy, picking up best melodic rap performance. Taylor Swift could also make history Sunday as the first woman to win album of the year three times.

Swift won album of the year with her albums “Fearless” and “1989.” Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra and Paul Simon are some of the male performers who have won album of the year three times. Several producers or engineers have also won the award three times, and the only person to win the prize four times is mastering engineer Tom Coyne, who died in 2017.

She sang “cardigan” and “august” from her nominated-album “folklore,” as well as “willow” from “evermore,” and was joined by the collaborators who helped her make the albums, Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner, who both are also nominated alongside Swift for the top prize.

Silk Sonic, aka Bruno Mars and Anderson Paak, also performed, bringing a throwback R&B vibe to the show with their smooth new single, “Leave the Door Open.” Dua Lipa proved her pop star status with a performance of her hits “Don’t Start Now” and “Levitating,” where she was joined by the DaBaby, who was an all-star during his own performance of his guitar-tinged rap hit “Rockstar,” flipping the song for an exceptional live rendition featuring R&B singer Anthony Hamilton, a skilled violinist and background singers. And country singer Mickey Guyton – the first Black female nominated for best country solo performance – gave an impressive performance of her song “Black Like Me.”

Other performers included Billie Eilish, Cardi B, Bad Bunny, Miranda Lambert, Maren Morris and Harry Styles, who won best pop solo performance for the hit “Watermelon Sugar.” “To everyone who made this record with me, thank you so much,” said Styles, the first member of One Direction to win a Grammy. Host Trevor Noah kicked off the show telling jokes about the coronavirus pandemic and the year that was 2020. He was live from downtown Los Angeles, with attendees wearing masks and sitting, socially distanced, at small round tables. 

(Image Credits: AP)