Grammys 2016: the winners, triumphs and bum notes

Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Mark Ronson and Kendrick Lamar triumphed at this year's Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.

A triumphant Swift took home her second album of the year trophy for 1989 in a hat-trick of awards which also included best pop vocal album and best music video, along with Lamar, for Bad Blood.

Taylor Swift accepts her best album prize and references Kanye West in her speech (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The singer made a "defiant acceptance speech" that seemed to allude to her argument last week with Kanye West, reports The Guardian. In his new song, Famous, the rapper makes reference to Swift, saying: "I made that bitch famous."

In apparent reference to the lyric, Swift, the first woman to win album of the year twice, said: "I want to say to all the young women out there: there are going to be people along the way who are going to try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame."

Other big winners on the night included first-time Grammy wins for British singer Sheeran, who took home song of the year and best pop solo performance for his number one hit Thinking Out Loud. The Yorkshire-born star surprised to beat Kendrick Lamar, Swift, Little Big Town and Wiz Khalifa to the best song accolade.

Ed Sheeran scores for the first time at the Grammys, winning song of the year with co-writer Amy Wadge (Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images for NARAS)

"We wrote [the song] on a couch in my house," said Sheeran, who also thanked his parents for coming to the Grammys every year for the last four years. "Every time I lose I say, 'Maybe next year,'" he said.

Rapper Lamar had the night's biggest haul with five awards. As well as video of the year, he won best rap album for To Pimp a Butterfly, best rap song and rap performance for Alright and best rap/song collaboration with These Walls.

Uptown Funk scooped British producer Ronson and US singer Bruno Mars two awards, including record of the year, while US singer/songwriter Meghan Trainor was named best new artist. Meanwhile, British rock band Muse took home the rock album award for Drones and veteran crooner Tony Bennett collected his 18th Grammy for best traditional pop vocal album.

Bruno Mars lifts his record of the year trophy for Uptown Funk (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

The ceremony, held at the Staples Center, in Los Angeles, is the biggest event on the music industry calendar, celebrating the work of pop, rock, rap and country artists.

However, the event also suffered from technical glitches, no shows and uncomfortable moments.

"2016 will not be remembered as a stellar year for the Grammys," says Lanre Bakare in The Guardian, saying that Adele struggled with technical issues, Rihanna and Lauryn Hill didn't show up due to illness and that Lady Gaga's musical salute to the late David Bowie "paid tribute or butchered Bowie depending on your point of view".

Adele struggles on stage as technical issues dog her performance (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

It was all "a bit off", agrees Jenna Mullins on Entertainment Online, who says it was a conveyor belt of uncomfortable situations played out on live TV, including Tori Kelly's sour expression during Swift's acceptance speech for album of the year, Modern Family star Sofia Vergara dancing after the music stopped, a joke by Ariana Grande that fell flat and Adele's audio cutting out during her performance, which is "a crime on par with kidnapping the president".

The Grammys are supposed to be one of the biggest, craziest, most entertaining award shows of the year - "so what the hell did we just watch?!" ask Mullins. "Let's hope the Oscars aren't nearly as awkward."