Top 5 Unforgettable Moments from the 68th Grammy Awards

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Published Feb 2, 2026, 7:01 AM EST

Lacey Cohen is a lifelong student, writer, editor, music fanatic, and massive advocate for the Oxford Comma. She has been playing guitar for 16 years, boasts a 13-year-old Spotify library complete with playlists for just about any mood, and is well-versed in the language of nearly every genre of music. She graduated from the University of Michigan with a BA in English and a minor in gender and health, and she graduated from Long Island University with an MFA in creative writing and publishing with a focus in prose writing. Lacey is currently based in Brooklyn, but she is a true and proud Michigander at heart.

The 68th Grammy Awards were everything we could've hoped for and them some. This year's ceremony saw some phenomenal performances, some surprising winners and some not-so-surprising, and, of course, some hilarious jabs by venerable host and acclaimed comedian, Trevor Noah.

The show kicked off with a hell of an opening from Bruno Mars and ROSÉ, followed by a stellar performance from Album of the Year nominee, Sabrina Carpenter, followed still by a medley of performances by each of the eight Best New Artist nominees. Justin Bieber, Tyler, The Creator, and Lady Gaga all took the stage, furthering the 2016 trend that's taken the internet by storm this month.

This year's Grammy Awards was one for the ages, that's for sure, and there were truly some stellar, unforgettable moments. We're here to help you relive the greatest among them.

7 Trevor Noah's Overt Diss Of Donald Trump And Nicki Minaj

Trevor Noah opened up the ceremony with a non-exhaustive list of all the stars in attendance, from Clipse and Pharrell Williams, to Miley Cyrus and Billie and Finneas Eilish, Jeff Goldblum, John Legend, and Jamie Foxx. He then pointed out who, notably, was not in attendance: Nicki Minaj.

Minaj has been under fire as of late due to her association with and love for President Donald Trump. When Noah noted that she was not there, the room erupted in applause, and he continued to speculate that she was with Trump at the White House arguing over who had a bigger ass (spoiler alert: Trump won the argument due to Noah's spot-on impression).

6 Best New Artist Nominees' Performance Culminates In Olivia Dean's Heartfelt Speech

All eight of the nominees for Best New Artist participated in a sort of traveling medley performance. The Marías, Addison Rae, KATSEYE, Leon Thomas, Alex Warren, Lola Young, Olivia Dean, and Sombr—for the most part—showed the world exactly why they were nominated in this category.

Last year's winner of this category, Chappell Roan, presented the award for Best New Artist to this year's winner, Olivia Dean. Dean took the stage once again, this time clearly very emotional. She took the time to point out that she comes from a family of immigrants, an incredibly poignant mention given the abundance of "ICE OUT" pins and focus on the crises plaguing our country right now.

5 Lola Young Slipped Up In A Very Excited Acceptance Speech For Best Pop Vocal Performance

After a gorgeous performance by Lola Young for the Best New Artist category, she won the award for Best Pop Vocal Performance for her hit song, "Messy." Suffice it to say, she wasn't exactly expecting the honor—she explained as much after Charli XCX announced her win and she arrived on stage to accept the honor.

A fairly exasperated Young got up on stage to accept the Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance, and just rambled for the full minute, expressing and showcasing how excited she was to win. In the midst of her excitement, she accidentally let slip a big fat F-Bomb, directly after a solid three seconds of her speech had already been censored. It was far from offensive, however, as it was her first Grammy and the arena could not have been happier for her.

4 Bad Bunny Gives Brief Impromptu Performance After Some Coaxing From Trevor Noah

Trevor Noah sat down next to Bad Bunny at one point during the ceremony to acknowledge that, because he is headlining the Super Bowl Halftime Show next weekend, he is not allowed to perform at the Grammys per his contract. The two went back and forth for a few minutes, Noah asking if Bad Bunny would just perform a chorus, and Bad Bunny explaining time and time again that he couldn't.

A few segments of the show later, Noah sat back down next to Bad Bunny to once again ask if he could just perform a brief chorus. After Bad Bunny explained once again that he wasn't allowed, Noah began speaking the English translation of Bad Bunny's song, "DtMF," which turned out to be all the prompting Bad Bunny needed to give the Grammy audience the chorus that Noah had been asking him for.

3 Post Malone Performs Alongside Slash, Chad Smith, Andrew Watt, And Duff McKagan To Honor Ozzy Osbourne

This year saw quite a bit of loss in the music world. We lost Brian Wilson, Bob Weir, D'Angelo, and Ozzy Osbourne all in the last year, among far too many others. The "In Memorium" segment of the Grammys never gets any easier or less emotional, and this year was no different. When Post Malone took the stage to honor the Prince of Darkness next to some of rock music's greatest musicians, it was truly jaw-dropping.

Guns 'N' Roses' Slash, and Duff McKagan, The Red Hot Chili Peppers' Chad Smith, and Andrew Watt took the stage to play Black Sabbath's smash hit, "War Pigs," with Post Malone honoring Osbourne's generational vocals. With fire raging in the background, there really could not have been a more fitting tribute to the king of metal.