Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Mark Ronson Win Major Grammy Awards

“This is for hip hop”. In certain ways, neither won outright – but both genres’ reigning queen and king emerged as winners.

Swift picked up an additional statuette for Best Music Video for “Bad Blood” and “Funk” also scored the accolade for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.

The Weeknd, who was nominated for seven awards, won a pair of them: R&B performance for “Earned It (Fifty Shades of Grey)” and urban contemporary album for “Beauty Behind the Madness”. However Lamar, who went into the awards with 11 nominations, won five early in the evening, including best rap album Grammy for his critically acclaimed To Pimp A Butterfly.

But equally striking for the music industry, Swift through the album took on the growing industry of streaming as she refused to allow 1989 on sector leader Spotify, saying she believed it was wrong to effectively give the album out for free.

Sheeran’s win meant Lamar would not make history for the first rap single to win song of the year. The show’s cast performed Hamilton’s opening number from the stage of the Richard Rodgers theater in Manhattan. “This is for Nas”, Lamar said when accepting his rap album award at the 58th annual Grammys.

Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” earned the honors for Song of the Year and Pop Solo Performance of the Year, and Meghan Trainor was declared Best New Artist.

Last year, the Record of the Year award went to Sam Smith for his ubiquitous hit “Stay With Me” (Smith took home a whopping four awards that night). The Grammys themselves responded puckishly to one of them in which West stated he wouldn’t be coming unless he’s promised album of the year. Despite its massive commercial success, though, 25 wasn’t eligible for Grammy consideration this year; only albums released between October 1, 2014 and September 30, 2015 were considered.

Record of the Year is the Grammy award that truly defines an era of popular music.

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