POP powerhouse Taylor Swift on Sunday made Grammy history by winning her fourth Album of the Year award for Midnights – the most ever by any artist.

With her record-breaking triumph, the 34-year-old surpassed music icons Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder with the most wins of the top Grammy.

Swift bested a stacked slate of artists including Lana Del Rey, Olivia Rodrigo, Grammys darling Jon Batiste and top nominee SZA to take home the major award.

The honour was but another feather in the cap of Swift, the toast of the music world whose monumental Eras Tour became the world’s first billion-dollar tour.

Swift, who took her producer Jack Antonoff and fellow nominee Lana Del Rey with her onstage, said the moment was wonderful, but was comparable to many moments in her work from “rehearsing with my dancers or my band or getting ready to go to Tokyo to play a show”.

“For me, the award is the work,” Swift said. “I love it so much. It makes me so happy. It makes me unbelievably blown away that it makes some people happy who voted for this award too.”

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“Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to do what I 100 per cent love so much! Mind blown!”

Midnights, her 10th studio album, debuted at the top of the Billboard charts when it came out in October 2022, and made Swift the first artist to simultaneously nab all 10 spots on the US top songs chart.

Swift came into Sunday’s gala with six chances at Grammy gold, including the coveted awards for best song, which celebrates songwriting, and best record.

She scored one other prize, for Best Pop Vocal Album.

In accepting that award, she also delighted fans by announcing she would release a new studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, on Apr 19.

Her previous three Album of the Year wins were for Fearless, 1989 and Folklore.

Along with her new work, Swift has found resounding success as she makes good on her vow to re-record her first six albums so she can control their rights.

Women’s night

Swift, who is about to jet to Tokyo to resume the world’s highest-grossing concert tour, was among the women who swept the major Grammy awards on Sunday.

Billie Eilish claimed Song of the Year for What Was I Made For?, a ballad written for the Barbie movie soundtrack.

“As a woman, it feels a lot of the time like you’re not being seen,” Eilish told reporters backstage. “I feel that this makes me feel very seen. Sometimes it feels really good to have somebody tell you ‘good job’.”

Miley Cyrus, who won her first two Grammys on Sunday, landed the Record of the Year honour for her empowerment anthem Flowers.

“This award is amazing,” she said. “But I really hope that it doesn’t change anything because my life was beautiful yesterday.”

Best New Artist went to R&B and pop singer Victoria Monet, who thanked her mom, “a single mom raising this really bad girl”.

Winners were chosen by the musicians, producers, engineers and others who make up the Recording Academy. The group has worked to diversify its membership in recent years by inviting more women and people of colour to its ranks.

SZA, who went into the night as the most-nominated artist, won three trophies including Best R&B Song for Snooze.

“I came really, really far,” she said. “I can’t believe this is happening, and it feels very fake.”

Indie rock band boygenius, a band formed by musicians Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker, also claimed three awards.

Joni Mitchell, Billy Joel perform

Comedian Trevor Noah, back for a fourth stint as host, opened the show on CBS by joking that it was “the only concert that starts on time”.

Folk singer Joni Mitchell performed for the first time at the Grammys, singing Both Sides Now from a chair and sporting blonde braids and a beret, with Brandi Carlile playing guitar beside her.

In a tribute to the many musicians and industry executives who passed away last year, Stevie Wonder played For Once In My Life to honour the late Tony Bennett who sang along from a video.

Annie Lennox sang Nothing Compares 2 U in a tribute to Sinead O’Connor, and Fantasia Barrino honoured Tina Turner with her version of Proud Mary, backed by singers in shiny gold and silver fringed outfits.

Jon Batiste played Ain’t No Sunshine and Lean On Me in a tribute to Clarence Avant, known as “the Godfather of Black music”.

Near the start of the show, country star Luke Combs sang his cover hit Fast Car, alongside the original singer and writer of the 1988 song, Tracy Chapman.

Towards the end, Billy Joel performed his new single Turn The Lights Back On, his first original song in 17 years.

In accepting the Dr Dre Global Impact Award, rapper Jay-Z aired some Grammy grievances, including the fact that his superstar wife Beyonce had never won Album of the Year despite having earned more Grammys than anyone else.

“I don’t want to embarrass this young lady,” Jay-Z said as Beyonce watched from the audience. “But she has more Grammys than anyone and never won Album of the Year. So even by your own metrics, that doesn’t work.”

Here is a list of winners in the major categories for the 66th annual Grammy Awards, which were handed out on Sunday in Los Angeles.

Taylor Swift made history with her fourth Album of the Year Grammy, the most of any artist.

Supergroup boygenius earned three awards, as did SZA, the night’s top nominee.

Pop chameleon Miley Cyrus won the first Grammys of her career, for Record of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance. AFP, REUTERS