Key figures: Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, Lil Wayne, Adele, U2, Radiohead, Coldplay, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Neil Diamond, George Strait, Blink-182, Jennifer Hudson
Summary
The 51st Annual Grammy Awards took place on February 8, 2009, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, honoring the best in music for the recording period from October 1, 2007, through September 30, 2008. Broadcast live on CBS and watched by approximately 19 million viewers, the ceremony featured one of the highest numbers of live performances in Grammy Awards history up to that point, a deliberate effort by producers to draw younger audiences. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss dominated the proceedings, winning five Grammys including Album of the Year for their collaborative album Raising Sand (produced by T Bone Burnett), defeating heavily favored nominees such as Lil Wayne and Coldplay. Lil Wayne entered the night with eight nominations — the most of any artist — ultimately winning four, including Best Rap Album for Tha Carter III, which had sold over a million copies in its first week of release in June 2008.
Major winners also included Adele, who claimed Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for “Chasing Pavements,” beginning her global ascent to stardom. British rock band Coldplay won Song of the Year for “Viva la Vida,” written by all four band members. After a four-year hiatus driven by interpersonal tensions, pop-punk trio Blink-182 — Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus, and Travis Barker — announced their reunion from the Grammy stage in a moment that electrified their fanbase. Jennifer Hudson delivered a stirring performance of “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” her first major public appearance since the murder of three of her family members in October 2008. George Strait, with a career dating to the early 1980s, received his first Grammy Award of any kind.
Major Award Winners
| Category | Winner |
|---|---|
| Album of the Year | Raising Sand — Robert Plant & Alison Krauss |
| Record of the Year | “Please Read the Letter” — Robert Plant & Alison Krauss |
| Song of the Year | “Viva la Vida” — Coldplay |
| Best New Artist | Adele |
| Best Rap Album | Tha Carter III — Lil Wayne |
| Best Rock Album | Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends — Coldplay |
| Best Alternative Music Album | In Rainbows — Radiohead |
| Best Country Album | Troubadour — George Strait |
| Best R&B Album | Jennifer Hudson — Jennifer Hudson |
Notable Performances
The telecast opened with U2 performing “Get On Your Boots” — the lead single from their forthcoming album No Line on the Horizon — live from the stage of the Staples Center, previewing material three weeks before the album’s March release. Radiohead offered a rare live U.S. television performance (their first since 2000), playing “15 Step” accompanied by the USC Trojan Marching Band — an arrangement praised by critics as one of the evening’s highlights. Coldplay performed alongside rapper Jay-Z, blending “Lost!” with Jay-Z’s “Lost One.” Kanye West and British R&B artist Estelle performed “American Boy.” Jennifer Hudson’s performance of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” drew the evening’s longest standing ovation and was widely described by reviewers as the most emotionally resonant moment of the night.
Historical Context and Records
Alison Krauss was already the most-decorated female artist in Grammy history going into the ceremony — a distinction she had achieved at the 2006 (48th) Grammy Awards by surpassing Aretha Franklin — and the five wins this night extended that lead. She became the sixth female solo artist to win five awards in a single ceremony, joining Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys, Norah Jones, Beyoncé, and Amy Winehouse in that distinction.
Neil Diamond was honored as the 2009 MusiCares Person of the Year on February 6, 2009, two days before the Grammy telecast — an award recognizing his charitable work alongside his musical legacy. Raising Sand had been a slow-burn commercial success, spending 52 weeks on the Billboard 200 and winning the Album of the Year Grammy over Tha Carter III, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, Fearless (Taylor Swift), and As I Am (Alicia Keys) — a result many industry observers considered a surprise.
Significance
The 2009 Grammy Awards illustrated the Recording Academy’s tendency to recognize artistic longevity and genre-crossing collaboration over chart dominance: Plant and Krauss’s Raising Sand — a blend of American roots, folk, and rockabilly — outpaced commercially dominant rap and pop releases. The ceremony also marked a watershed for Adele, whose Grammy double win launched international sales of 19 and set the template for her subsequent global crossover success. Blink-182’s reunion announcement at the ceremony generated sustained media coverage and led directly to the 2009 summer reunion tour. Radiohead’s performance introduced their distinctive experimental aesthetic to a mainstream broadcast audience at a scale few alternative acts achieve. The ceremony’s record number of performances, diverse stylistic range, and the emotional weight of Jennifer Hudson’s appearance made the 51st Grammy Awards one of the decade’s most discussed music events.
Sources
- 51st Annual Grammy Awards — Wikipedia
- 51st Annual Grammy Awards 2009 — Grammy.com
- 2009 Grammy Award Winners — Billboard
- GRAMMY Rewind: 51st Annual GRAMMY Awards — Grammy.com
- Alison Krauss Grammy history — Recording Academy