Image via The Recording Academy

The 2026 Grammy Awards arrived on Sunday night, and the Recording Academy’s celebration of the year’s best music brought a spectacle that more than lived up to its reputation as Music’s Biggest Night. The awards show’s 68th annual presentation included more performances than televised awards, with both beloved established acts and promising newcomers appearing at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena in a panoramic display of today’s music landscape.

As is often the case, many of the most moving moments in this year’s Grammy ceremony came from tributes to the many iconic musicians who passed away in the last 12 months. 2025 was a particularly overwhelming year of lost legends, and the Recording Academy enlisted a stacked cast of musical talents to pay their respects to their influences. Before the traditional In Memoriam video montage, Bruce Springsteen offered a pre-recorded thanks to Brian Wilson for “leav[ing] behind so many great songs and good vibrations,” and John Mayer voiced a video tribute to Bob Weir.

“Bob was a messenger, not only for the music he made with the Grateful Dead, but for the tapestry of influences that birthed it: rock, folk, blues, R&B and country,” Mayer said of his longtime friend and Dead & Company bandmate. “Bob has left us, but the songs he sang will remain a roadmap for a better, more meaningful life.”

During the full In Memoriam sequence, Reba McEntire graced the stage for her first-ever live Grammy performance. The beloved country singer-songwriter was joined by Brandy Clark and Lukas Nelson for a soul-stirring treatment of her 2025 ballad “Trailblazer,” which voices reverence for the artists who clear a path for future generations of musicians. The traditional segment continued in the background as the trio stepped aside to make way for Post Malone and his all-star backing band of Chad Smith, Andrew Watt, Slash and Duff McKagan, who honored Ozzy Osbourne with an explosive rendition of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs.”

The ceremony’s third and final tribute performance was helmed by Lauryn Hill, who returned for her first Grammys performance since 1999, when she became the first hip-hop artist to receive the coveted Album of the Year prize with The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Hill’s work in the Fugees and as a soloist links her to the legacies of both neo-soul originator D’Angelo and the genre-bending quiet storm singer-songwriter Roberta Flack, and her set honored both legends with an expansive cover medley.

Hill began the sequence with her classic D’Angelo collaboration “Nothing Even Matters,” then let Lucky Daye, Leon Thomas and Raphael Saadiq and Anthony Hamilton assume the spotlight to complement treatments of “Brown Sugar,” “Devil’s Pie” and “Lady,” respectively. The roaring climax of the heartfelt medley came with Bilal’s fiery rendition of “Untitled (How Does It Feel),” then Jon Batiste brought the energy back to a smoldering intensity with “Africa” before a duet with Hill on Flack’s “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.” Chaka Khan and John Legend joined to cover “Where Is the Love,” before Hill and her Fugees collaborator Wyclef Jean closed with their classic Flack interpolation “Killing Me Softly With His Song.”

Other standout performances in the Grammy ceremony came from Clipse and Pharrell, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Tyler, the Creator, Sabrina Carpenter, Bruno Mars and ROSÉ, The Marías, Olivia Dean, Lola Young, sombr, KATSEYE, Alex Warren, Leon Thomas and Addison Rae. Other Relix favorites like Grace Potter, Maggie Rose and Trombone Shorty took part in a special ensemble opening number for the premiere ceremony.

Watch the performances and tributes from the 2026 Grammy Awards at grammy.com.