There was no shortage of smiles, laughter, tears and shocking moments, as well as a few awkward ones, at the 2026 Grammys on Sunday. From Bad Bunny making history with his album of the year win and host Trevor Noah mocking Donald Trump’s butt to Kendrick Lamar shattering Jay-Z’s record and Tyler, The Creator hitting a person with a car during his performance, here are some of the most memorable moments from music‘s biggest night.
Bad Bunny Makes History With Album of the Year Win
Bad Bunny took home the final prize at the Grammys on Sunday night, landing album of the year for DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS. The star appeared stunned when presenter Harry Styles said his name, covering his face and crying in his seat before slowly taking the stage. He emotionally gave the majority of his speech in Spanish but said briefly in English, “I want to dedicate this award to all the people who had to leave their homeland, their country, to follow their dreams.” Read more. — Kirsten Chuba
Things Get Awkward When Cher Presents Record of the Year
Cher was honored with a lifetime achievement award at the 2026 Grammys, but that was only half of the reason she was onstage at the music ceremony. The icon, who was a surprise guest at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena, was greeted with a standing ovation as host Trevor Noah presented her with her career tribute. After she delivered her acceptance speech, though, Cher was ready to leave, walking offstage as the crowd and Noah, standing on a platform in the middle of the audience, urged her to come back to announce the record of the year winner. “Before you go, before you go, Cher, before you go, could, could we get you to announce the nominees? I could do it but it’s not the same,” Noah pleaded. As she returned, Noah said, “Welcome back Cher, everybody.” After she indicated she was ready to leave, she then announced the nominees before confessing she was told that the winner would be “on the prompter.” Read more. — Hilary Lewis
Sabrina Carpenter Delivers Theatrical “Manchild” Performance
Sabrina Carpenter once again proves why she’s one of the biggest pop stars, performing during Sunday’s Grammy Awards. In true Carpenter form, her 2026 Grammy performance featured an elaborate backdrop, landing the singer at an airport. The singer took the stage down a baggage claim carrousel, decked out in an all-white pilot-inspired ensemble, to sing her hit “Manchild.” The track hails from Carpenter’s latest album, Man’s Best Friend. Read more. — Nicole Fell
Olivia Dean Gets Political After Winning Best New Artist
Olivia Dean earned her first Grammy Award Sunday night, taking home the trophy for the coveted best new artist category. The 2026 best new artist category, which is selected by the 15,000 voting members of the Recording Academy, proved to be stacked. The award is one of the select few that all Academy members are able to vote on. This year’s crop of best new artist hopefuls included The Marias, Addison Rae, KATSEYE, Leon Thomas, Alex Warren, Lola Young, Dean and Sombr. Host Trevor Noah touted during a performance medley that preceded the award that between all of the artists, they had more than 27 billion combined streams last year. Read more. — Nicole Fell
Justin Bieber Returns to Grammys With Raw Performance
Baby, baby, baby, oh … what a performance! Justin Bieber returned to the Grammys stage Sunday night to perform “Yukon,” a track from his seventh studio album, Swag, released in July. The “Baby” singer went for a stripped-down look, wearing only boxer shorts and socks as he delivered a raw, acoustic performance of the hit song, accompanied by an electric guitar and drum sample. The camera often cut to his wife, Rhode founder Hailey Bieber, who watched in awe from the crowd. Read more. — Lexi Carson
Tyler, The Creator Hits Person With Car During Grammys Performance
Tyler, The Creator wasn’t slacking on creativity with his 2026 Grammys performance on Sunday night. The rapper-singer delivered quite the theatrical mash-up of his hit songs “Thought I Was Dead,” “Like Him” and “Sugar On My Tongue.” He kicked off his performance with a stage set inspired by his “Thought I Was Dead” music video before Oscar-winning actress Regina King made a cameo with an inspirational monologue. Read more. — Carly Thomas
Bad Bunny Slams ICE During Acceptance Speech
After winning the Grammy for best música urbana album for DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, Bad Bunny gave a passionate speech amid the Trump administration’s targeting of immigrants in the United States. Karol G and Marcello Hernández presented the Puerto Rican rapper-singer with the trophy, who began his acceptance speech saying, “Before I say thanks to God, I’m going to say ICE out.” Read more. — Carly Thomas
Kendrick Lamar Shatters Jay-Z’s Record as Rapper With Most Grammys
Kendrick Lamar now holds the title of the most awarded rapper at the Grammys. The “Luther” rapper shattered the record previously set by Jay-Z at the 2026 Grammy Awards. The “Empire State of Mind” rapper has 25; Lamar now has 26 Grammys under his belt — but the night is still young. During the non-televised Grammys premiere ceremony, Lamar won three awards, including rap performance (for “Chains & Whips,” which he was a featured artist on); melodic rap performance (for “Luther” with SZA); and rap song (“tv off”). During the main 2026 Grammys telecast, his first win came in the rap album category, tied to his 2024 record GNX. Read more. — McKinley Franklin
Host Trevor Noah Mocks Trump’s Butt and Bezos’ Wedding
Grammys host Trevor Noah took to the Crypto.com Arena stage Sunday night and delivered an opening monologue that took aim at President Trump and our national “anxiety.” Throwing down largely gentle barbs, Noah joked at the outset of the 68th annual awards show that America’s drinking game was now “every time we turn on the news, we drink.” “So many stars in this room, I feel like I’m at Jeff Bezos wedding — but with way more Black people,” Noah said. “The last time Lauryn Hill performed at the Grammys was in 1999 — back in 1999 the president had a sex scandal, people thought computers were going to destroy the world, and Diddy was arrested,” Noah said. “Boy how times have changed!” Read more. — James Hibberd
Blackpink’s Rosé Makes History With Grammys Performance
Rosé turned the Grammys stage into a club (uh-huh, uh-huh), kicking off music’s biggest night as the opening performer alongside her collaborator Bruno Mars. The Australian-Korean singer-songwriter — a member of supergroup Blackpink — made K-pop history at Sunday’s 2026 Grammy Awards, becoming the first soloist to perform at the awards ceremony. The 28-year-old performed “APT” with Mars. The pair were the first shot of Sunday’s telecast, posing together before Rosé gave Mars a kiss on the cheek. “Ladies and gentleman, big bad Rosie,” Mars screamed to the crowd as Rosé belted out the beginning the song. The song, which propelled Rosé to household name status as a soloist, is inspired by a Korean drinking game and co-written by Rosé herself. Read more. — Nicole Fell
The 2026 Grammy Awards, hosted by Noah, were held live Sunday evening from Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Find the full winners list here, and check out the red carpet arrivals.
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