Billie Eilish Wins Big at 2020 Grammys, Sweeping Best New Artist, Song, Record, and Album of the Year

The 18-year-old “Bad Guy” singer became the first woman in Grammys history to sweep the Big Four awards.

Billie Eilish with Grammys
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Billie Eilish was the runaway winner at the 2020 Grammy Awards, sweeping the night’s four most coveted categories.

Eilish’s debut album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? nabbed Best Pop Vocal Album and she later dominated “Music’s Biggest Night” by winning Best New Artist, Album of the Year for When We All Fall Asleep and Record and Song of the Year for “Bad Guy.” Meanwhile, Eilish’s brother and producer, Finneas, picked up two awards himself for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical and Producer of the Year, Non-Classical.

The 18-year-old Eilish became just the second artist in Grammys history–and the first woman–to sweep the night’s four most prestigious awards. The first artist to do this was yacht rock crooner Christopher Cross, 39 years ago. Eilish also set a slew of age-related records Sunday night, according to Billboard. 

Eilish, 18, is the youngest album of the year winner in Grammy history, easily topping Taylor Swift, who was 20 when she won a decade ago for Fearless. She’s also the youngest record of the year winner in Grammy history.

That distinction was formerly shared by Kimbra and Sam Smith. Both were 22 when they won, as the featured artist on Gotye‘s “Somebody That I Used to Know” (2012) and as the lead artist on “Stay with Me” (2014), respectively.

Eilish is the youngest best new artist champ since LeAnn Rimes, who was 14 when she took the 1996 award. She’s the youngest song of the year winner since Lorde, who was a year younger—just 17—when she won the 2013 award for co-writing “Royals.”

Mere hours before the show, news broke that Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant and his daughter were tragically killed in a California helicopter crash. As musicians walked the red carpet, fans gathered outside the Staples Center in Los Angeles to pay tribute to the late basketball superstar. Rolling Stone reports that mourning Kobe immediately became a Grammys theme:

That didn’t necessarily stop the 2020 Grammys from opening with a bang: Lizzo took the stage, proclaimed “Tonight is for Kobe,” then launched into renditions of “Cuz I Love You” and “Truth Hurts,” backed by an all-female orchestra and a troupe of dancers.

Host Alicia Keys then took the stage and delivered an opening speech that was surely different from the one she’d planned, taking a moment to honor Bryant, then welcoming Boyz II Men to the stage to sing an a cappella rendition of “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday.”

Lizzo, Tyler, The Creator, Lil Nas X, Nipsey Hussle, 21 Savage, Tool, Gary Clark Jr. and more also took home Grammy gold. 

Here’s a list of Sunday night’s winners at the 2020 Grammy Awards, courtesy of Hypebeast. For the full list, go to the Grammys website. 

Album of the Year

Bon Iver, i,i
Lana Del Rey, Norman Fucking Rockwell!
Billie Eilish, WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? — WINNER
Ariana Grande, thank u, next
H.E.R., I Used to Know Her
Lil Nas X, 7
Lizzo, Cuz I Love You (Deluxe)
Vampire Weekend, Father of the Bride

Record of the Year

Bon Iver, “Hey, Ma”
Billie Eilish, “bad guy” — WINNER
Ariana Grande, “7 Rings”
H.E.R., “Hard Place”
Khalid, “Talk”
Lil Nas X f/ Billy Ray Cyrus, “Old Town Road”
Lizzo, “Truth Hurts”
Post Malone and Swae Lee, “Sunflower”

Song of the Year

Lady Gaga, “Always Remember Us This Way”
Billie Eilish, “bad guy” — WINNER
Tanya Tucker, “Bring My Flowers Now”
H.E.R., “Hard Place”
Taylor Swift, “Lover”
Lana Del Rey, “Norman Fucking Rockwell”
Lewis Capaldi, “Someone You Loved”
Lizzo, “Truth Hurts”

Best New Artist

Black Pumas
Billie Eilish — WINNER
Lil Nas X
Lizzo
Maggie Rogers
Rosalía
Tank and the Bangas
Yola

Best Rap Performance

J. Cole – “Middle Child”
DaBaby – “Suge”
Dreamville f/ J.I.D, Bas, J. Cole, EARTHGANG, and Young Nudy – “Down Bad”
Nipsey Hussle f/ Roddy Ricch and Hit-Boy – “Racks in the Middle” — WINNER
Offset f/ Cardi B – “Clout”

Best Rap/Sung Performance

DJ Khaled f/ Nipsey Hussle and John Legend, “Higher” — WINNER
Lil Baby and Gunna, “Drip Too Hard”
Lil Nas X, “Panini”
Mustard f/ Roddy Ricch, “Ballin’”
Young Thug f/ J. Cole and Travis Scott, “The London”

Best Rap Song

YBN Cordae f/ Chance the Rapper, “Bad Idea”
Rick Ross f/ Drake, “Gold Roses”
21 Savage f/ J. Cole, “A Lot” — WINNER
Nipsey Hussle f/ Roddy Ricch and Hit-Boy, “Racks in the Middle”
DaBaby, “Suge”

Best Rap Album

Dreamville, Revenge of the Dreamers III
Meek Mill, CHAMPIONSHIPS
21 Savage, I Am > I Was
Tyler, the Creator, IGOR — WINNER
YBN Cordae, The Lost Boy

Best R&B Performance

Daniel Caesar – “Love Again”
H.E.R. f/ Bryson Tiller – “Could’ve Been”
Lizzo f/ Gucci Mane – “Exactly How I Feel”
Lucky Daye – “Roll Some Mo”
Anderson .Paak f/ Andre 3000 – “Come Home” — WINNER

Best Traditional R&B Performance

BJ the Chicago Kid – “Time Today”
India.Arie – “Steady Love”
Lizzo – “Jerome” — WINNER
Lucky Daye – “Real Games”
PJ Morton f/ Jazmine Sullivan – “Built for Love”

Best R&B Song

H.E.R. f/ Bryson Tiller – “Could’ve Been”
Emily King – “Look At Me Now”
Chris Brown f/ Drake – “No Guidance”
Lucky Daye – “Roll Some Mo”
PJ Morton f/JoJo – “Say So” — WINNER

Best Urban Contemporary Album

Steve Lacy – Apollo XXI
Lizzo – Cuz I Love You (Deluxe) — WINNER
Georgia Anne Muldrow – Overload
NAO – Saturn
Jessie Reyez – Being Human in Public

Best R&B Album

BJ the Chicago Kid – 1123
Lucky Daye – Painted
Ella Mai – Ella Mai
PJ Morton – Paul
Anderson .Paak – Ventura — WINNER

Best Pop Solo Performance

Beyoncé, “Spirit”
Billie Eilish, “bad guy”
Ariana Grande, “7 Rings”
Lizzo, “Truth Hurts” — WINNER
Taylor Swift, “You Need to Calm Down”

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance

Ariana Grande & Social House – “Boyfriend”
Jonas Brothers – “Sucker”
Lil Nas X f/ Billy Ray Cyrus – “Old Town Road” — WINNER
Post Malone and Swae Lee – “Sunflower”
Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello – “Senorita”

Best Pop Vocal Album

Beyonce – The Lion King: The Gift
Billie Eilish – WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? — WINNER
Ariana Grande – thank u, next
Ed Sheeran – No.6 Collaborations Project
Taylor Swift – Lover

Best Dance Recording

Bonobo, “Linked”
The Chemical Brothers, “Got to Keep On” — WINNER
Meduza f/ Goodboys, “Piece of Your Heart”
Rüfüs Du Sol, “Underwater”
Skrillex & Boys Noize f/ Ty Dolla Sign, “Midnight Hour”

Best Dance/Electronic Album

Apparat, LP5
The Chemical Brothers, No Geography — WINNER
Flume, Hi This Is Flume
Rüfüs Du Sol, Solace
Tycho, Weather

Best Rock Performance

Bones UK – “Pretty Waste”
Gary Clark Jr. – “This Land” — WINNER
Brittany Howard – “History Repeats”
Karen O and Danger Mouse – “Woman”
Rival Sons – “Too Bad”

Best Metal Performance

Candlemass f/ Tony Iommi – “Astorolus – The Great Octopus”
Death Angel – “Humanicide”
I Prevail – “Bow Down”
Killswitch Engaged – “Unleashed”
Tool – “7empest” — WINNER

Best Rock Song

Tool – “Fear Inoculum”
The 1975 – “Give Yourself a Try”
Vampire Weekend – “Harmony Hall”
Brittany Howard – “History Repeats”
Gary Clark Jr. – “This Land” — WINNER

Best Rock Album

Bring Me the Horizon – amo
Cage the Elephant – Social Cues — WINNER
The Cranberries – In The End
I Prevail – Trauma
Rival Sons – Feral Roots

Best Alternative Album

Big Thief – U.F.O.F.
James Blake – Assume Form
Bon Iver – i,i
Vampire Weekend – Father of the Bride — WINNER
Thom Yorke – Anima

Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album

Bad Bunny — X 100Pre
J Balvin & Bad Bunny — Oasis
Flor de Toloache — Indestructible
iLe – Almadura
Rosalía – El Mal Querer – WINNER

Best World Music Album

Altin Gün — Gece
Bokanté & Metropole Orkest Conducted By Jules Buckley — What Heat
Burna Boy — African Giant
Nathalie Joachim With Spektral Quartet — Fanm D’Ayiti
Angelique Kijdo — Celia — WINNER

Producer of the Year, Non-Classical

Jack Antonoff
Dan Auerbach
John Hill
Finneas – WINNER
Ricky Reed

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