The Biggest Grammys Moments, From Taylor Swift’s Historic Win to Miley Cyrus to Joni Mitchell

Once again, Taylor Swift dominated Sundaynight, this time at the Grammy Awards ceremony where she made history as the first person to win album of the year four times and slipped in a surprise album announcement.

She used her thirteenth Grammy win for best pop vocal album—13 being an especially significant number in Swiftie lore—to announce that her eleventh album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” would be out April 19.

With her fourth album of the year award for “Midnights,” Swift surpassed Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon and Frank Sinatra’s three wins each. The album of the year award was presented by Celine Dion, in a rare public appearance after announcing in 2022 that she was diagnosed with the neurological disease stiff person syndrome.

Artists like Billy Joel, there to perform his first single in three decades, “Turn the Lights Back On,” Olivia Rodrigo, Beyoncé and Phoebe Bridgers crammed into tiny tables at the Crypto.com arena in Los Angeles on Sunday for the 2024 Grammy Awards. Several stars were still finding their seats when the show began, so Meryl Streep rushed her seat just as the camera panned across her empty spot, and Swift was still winding her way through the arena as the host Trevor Noah gave his monologue.

SZA went into the night with nine nominations, the most of any other artist including an album of the year nomination for her second album “SOS.” The singer now has three wins, after 24 overall nominations.

Miley Cyrus also won her first—and then second—Grammy for her song “Flowers” after eight career nominations and a thunderous performance of the song.

“I just won my first Grammy!” she shouted mid-performance.

The best new artist award went to Victoria Monét, having dropped her first studio album last year after more than a decade of working as a songwriter and collaborator for artists like Ariana Grande and Fifth Harmony.

“Barbie,” the billion-dollar behemoth movie of last summer, made yet another awards show splash with Eilish’s existential song “What Was I Made For” from the movie soundtrack. The five-time nominated movie tune, which Eilish and her brother Finneas performed live during the show, won song of the year.

“Yikes!” Eilish exclaimed as she went to accept the award. “That’s stupid, guys!”

Star-studded performances from the night featured artists like Tracy Chapman dueting with Luke Combs, U2 (live from the Sphere in Las Vegas), Travis Scott, Dua Lipa and Joni Mitchell. SZA brought sword-wielders out onstage for her performance of “Kill Bill” (a reference to Quentin Tarantino’s sword fight-heavy film of the same name). Nigerian singer Burna Boy also took the stage for the first time, bringing Afrobeats to the Grammys.

Many of the Grammys were presented off-screen, including a new award for best pop dance recording, which went to Kylie Minogue’s mega-viral club hit “Padam Padam.” The new category allowed for many social media favorite songs to make their way in, including Troye Sivan’s “Rush.”

The comedian Noah, ably hosting the show for his fourth year in a row, opened the show by shouting out the number of women nominated this year. He worked the crowd with ease, riffing jokes off of star-studded audience members like Kravitz, clad in a massive pair of black sunglasses, before ribbing TikTok for losing a large catalog of artists’ music after a failed deal with Universal Music Group led to the company pulling music from prominent artists like Drake and Swift from the app.

“Shame on you, TikTok, for ripping artists off,” Noah said. “That’s Spotify’s job!”

Here are a few highlights from the night:

Tracy Chapman and Luke Combs performed “Fast Car” duet live for first time

Tracy Chapman returned to the stage to perform a duet of her 1988 song “Fast Car” with country singer Luke Combs, after his cover of her song hit No. 1 on Billboard’s country-music chart and No. 2 on the Hot 100 chart last year. The cover was nominated for best solo country performance, though it lost to Chris Stapleton’s “White Horse.” Chapman has only performed live a handful of times since her last tour ended in 2009.

The room of household names like Oprah and Jay-Z leapt to their feet as the legendary singer-songwriter hit the stage with Combs, whose performance was preceded by a video of Combs reflecting on why the song has resonated with him and countless others for decades.

Combs’ cover drew some controversy last year after it topped the charts. Some critics have said a Black LGBTQ artist like Chapman would not have been given the radio time Combs was in order to hit No. 1 on Billboard’s country-music chart.

Chapman has said that she approves of the cover, and Combs has said the artist is receiving royalties for the song. Her performance with him at the Grammys all but stamped her public seal of approval for the cover.

Taylor Swift makes history

Swift took home the award for album of the year for “Midnights,” her tenth album and her fourth album of the year win. That put her ahead of Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon and Frank Sinatra, who she was previously tied with for the record with three wins. She also used her thirteenth Grammy for best pop vocal album to announce her eleventh album, “The Tortured Poets Department.”

“For me, the award is the work,” Swift said in her acceptance speech for album of the year. “All I want to do is keep being able to do this. I love it so much.”

“So thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to do what I love to do,” she added.

Miley Cyrus wins her first (and second) Grammys

Cyrus has earned a total of eight Grammy Award nominations throughout her career, but had not won before “Flowers” took the award for best pop solo performance and record of the year.

“I could have missed the award, that’s fine, but not Mariah Carey,” she said as she took the stage alongside the R&B singer, who was there to present the award for best pop solo performance. Cyrus also performed “Flowers” for the first time on television at the show, which she had only performed live twice before. The song is an ode to moving on from heartbreak and finding fresh independence in being single.

During her acceptance speech for record of the year, Cyrus ended her thank-yous with an on-brand shock comment: “I don’t think I’ve forgotten anyone, but I might have forgotten underwear. Bye!”

A good night for SZA

SZA went in with the most nominations of any other artist and notched three wins, nearly missing her name being announced for best R&B song for “Snooze.”

The singer, who had just finished a performance, ran from backstage to take the award from Lizzo while apologizing profusely. She had been changing out of her performance outfit, she explained.

“Then I took a shot, and I ran in here,” she said.

“I came really, really far and I can’t believe this is happening,” she said through tears before catching sight of another star in the audience: “Hi Taylor!”

Stevie Wonder honored Tony Bennett

Stevie Wonder performed the song “For Once in My Life” in a tribute to Tony Bennett, the iconic jazz and pop singer who died last year after a battle with Alzheimer’s. The singer was known for hits such as “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”

Wonder praised Bennett’s passion as an artist and a civil rights champion.

“Tony, we’re gonna miss you forever,” Wonder said. “I love you always, and God bless that God allowed us to have you.”

Wonder performed alongside old clips of Bennett singing the song live before launching into “The Best is Yet to Come” to begin the ‘In Memoriam’ segment, honoring artists who died recently such as Harry Belafonte, Chita Rivera and Jimmy Buffett.

Joni Mitchell made her Grammys performance debut

The celebrated folk singer Joni Mitchell hit the Grammys stage for the first time after winning for best folk album for her live album, “Joni Mitchell at Newport.” The album was a recording of her surprise concert at the 2022 Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island.

The 80-year-old singer sat on a plush armchair, holding a polished cane in one hand as she sang “Both Sides Now” in her still-powerful voice.

Mitchell has now won ten Grammys, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from 2002, and is known for evocative songs with dreamy lyrics such as “Blue,” “Big Yellow Taxi” and “Woodstock.”

Here are the winners:

Pop Solo Performance

• Winner: “Flowers,” Miley Cyrus
• “Paint the Town Red,” Doja Cat (Nominee)
• “What Was I Made For [From the Motion Picture ‘Barbie’], Billie Eilish (Nominee)
• “Vampire,” Olivia Rodrigo (Nominee)
• “Anti-Hero,” Taylor Swift (Nominee)

Latin Urban Album

• Winner: “Mañana Será Bonito,” Karol G
• “Saturno,” Rauw Alejandro (Nominee)
• “Data,” Tainy (Nominee)

Country Album

• Winner: “Bell Bottom Country,” Lainey Wilson

• “Rolling up the Welcome Mat,” Kelsea Ballerini (Nominee)
• “Brothers Osborne,” Brothers Osborne (Nominee)
• “Zach Bryan,” Zach Bryan (Nominee)
• “Rustin’ in the Rain,” Tyler Childers (Nominee)

R&B Song

• Winner: “Snooze,” SZA
• “Angel,” Halle Bailey (Nominee)
• “Back to Love,” Robert Glasper featuring SiR and Alex Isley (Nominee)
• “ICU,” Coco Jones (Nominee)
• “On My Mama,” Victoria Monét (Nominee)

Pop Vocal Album

• Winner: “Midnights,” Taylor Swift
• “Chemistry,” Kelly Clarkson (Nominee)
• “Endless Summer Vacation,” Miley Cyrus (Nominee)
• “Guts,” Olivia Rodrigo (Nominee)
• -(Subtract), Ed Sheeran (Nominee)

Song of the Year

• Winner: “What Was I Made For?,” Billie Eilish
• “A&W,” Lana Del Rey (Nominee)
• “Anti-Hero,” Taylor Swift (Nominee)
• “Butterfly,” Jon Batiste (Nominee)
• “Dance the Night,” Dua Lipa (Nominee)
• “Flowers,” Miley Cyrus (Nominee)
• “Kill Bill,” SZA (Nominee)
• “Vampire,” Olivia Rodrigo (Nominee)

Best New Artist

• Winner: Victoria Monét
• Gracie Abrams (Nominee)
• Fred Again (Nominee)
• Ice Spice (Nominee)
• Jelly Roll (Nominee)
• Coco Jones (Nominee)
• Noah Kahan (Nominee)
• The War and Treaty (Nominee)

Record of the Year

• Winner: “Flowers,” Miley Cyrus
• “Worship,” Jon Batiste (Nominee)
• “Not Strong Enough,” Boygenius (Nominee)
• “What Was I Made For?,” Billie Eilish (Nominee)
• “On My Mama,” Victoria Monét (Nominee)
• “Vampire,” Olivia Rodrigo (Nominee)
• “Anti-Hero,” Taylor Swift (Nominee)
• “Kill Bill,” SZA (Nominee)

Album of the Year

• Winner: “Midnights,” Taylor Swift

• “World Music Radio,” Jon Batiste (Nominee)
• “The Record,” Boygenius (Nominee)
• “Endless Summer Vacation, ” Miley Cyrus (Nominee)
• “Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd,” Lana Del Rey (Nominee)
• “The Age of Pleasure,” Janelle Monaé (Nominee)
• “Guts,” Olivia Rodrigo (Nominee)
• “SOS,” SZA (Nominee)

Write to Ashley Wong at ashley.wong@wsj.com