Grammy wrap up

• Robert Plant & Alison Krauss were the evening's big winners, taking the top trophies: Album of the Year (AOTY) for Raising Sand and Record of the Year (ROTY) for the album's single "Please Read the Letter." Every other year for the last few years the Album and Record awards have gone to the same act: The Dixie Chicks in '07, Ray Charles & Friends in '05, and Norah Jones in '03. This is the first AOTY win for either Plant or Krauss (although Krauss was featured on the 2002 winner, the O Brother Where Art Thou Soundtrack). This is the first AOTY winner recorded by a duo that's a special collaboration (i.e. not a duo that's a usual act like Outkast) since jazz musicians Stan Getz and João Gilberto won in 1965 for their bossa nova great Getz/Gilberto. Robert Plant is the first Brit to win this award since Eric Clapton got it in 1993 for Unplugged.
• "Please Read the Letter" continues an interesting trend of ROTY winners not being #1 hits--it's the ninth single in a row to win that did not top the Billboard Hot 100. In contrast, half the singles that won ROTY in the '90s were #1 hits and eight of the ten winners in the '80s were #1s. The single is the third collaboration to be honored this decade, following Ray Charles & Norah Jones' "Here We Go Again" in 2005 and Santana and Rob Thomas' "Smooth" in 2000.
• Plant and Krauss also won the Pop Collaboration with Vocal award for "Rich Woman," which they also won last year for "Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)." This is the first time the award has gone to the same act two years in a row. They also won Country Collaboration with Vocals for "Killing the Blues."
  
• Coldplay picked up Song of the Year for "Viva la Vida," their first win and nomination in this category. Although "Clocks" won Record of the Year, it was not a song nominee. "Vida" also won for best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group. The band also won Best Rock Album for Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends. Previously, they won the Best Alternative Music Album in 2003 for A Rush of Blood to the Head and the year previous for Parachutes. X&Y was a Rock Album nominee in 2006.
• Adele was named Best New Artist. As much as I like her, she's probably the artist with the least impact to win this award since Shelby Lynne in 2001. Adele has yet to score a major hit in the US--"Chasing Pavements" peaked at #82 on the Hot 100. This is the second year in a row a British female pop artist won this award (Amy Winehouse won last year). Female soloists have won this award 12 of the last 16 years, including the last 3 years in a row. Adele also won Best Female Pop Vocal Performance with "Chasing Pavements," which was the only nominee that wasn't a top 40 hit. Three of the nominees in fact were #1s--"Bleeding Love," "So What," and "I Kissed a Girl."
  
• Duffy won Best Pop Vocal Album for Rockferry, which was a nice surprise. She beat The Eagles' Long Road Out of Eden. None of the Pop Album nominees were up for AOTY this year. The last time an album won Pop Album that wasn't an AOTY was Kelly Clarkson in 2006 for Breakaway (which beat AOTY nominee Love.Angel.Music.Baby by Gwen Stefani).
• John Mayer picked up the Male Pop Vocal award for "Say." This is Mayer's fourth win in the category, following "Waiting on the World to Change" in 2007, "Daughters" in 2005, and "My Body Is a Wonderland" in 2003. He now ties Sting and Stevie Wonder, who also have both won this award four times.
• Radiohead won Best Alternative Music Album for In Rainbows. They won this award twice before for Kid A in 2001 and OK Computer in 1998, and have been nominated three other times for the Airbag/How Am I Driving? EP, Amnesiac, and Hail to the Thief.

• Finally, in what was unfortunately the evening's biggest news, Rihanna and Chris Brown canceled their planned performances after Chris Brown decided that, rather than appear at their industry's biggest awards night, a better way to spend the weekend was to beat Rihanna up and get thrown in jail for it.