The 2019 Grammy Awards

Kacey Musgraves won the night's top honor, Album of the Year — her fourth trophy of the evening — for Golden Hour (which also won Country Album of Year). Childish Gambino won Record and Song of the Year for his epochal "This Is America" (which also won Best Music Video) but did not attend the ceremony.

Other major awards were given to Cardi B, who received the prize for Best Rap Album for her debut solo effort Invasion of Privacy and Dua Lipa, who seconds after performing alongside St. Vincent was named Best New Artist (and pointedly observed that women must've really stepped up over the last year). Drake surprised everyone by showing up to accept the gramophone for Best Rap Song.

Lady Gaga won three prizes, including the best pop performance for Joanne and the best pop duet for Shallow, from the Oscar-nominated film A Star Is Born.

Holding back tears, the star thanked Bradley Cooper, her co-star, and director, who missed the Grammys to attend The Baftas in London.

She also used her speech to highlight the film's mental health message, telling the audience: "If you see someone that's hurting, don't look away."

Elsewhere, Ariana Grande, who pulled out of a planned performance after a dispute with organizers, received best pop album for Sweetener - her first ever Grammy Award.

"This is wild and beautiful," she tweeted. "Thank you so much."

The absence of Childish Gambino - aka actor Donald Glover - was particularly notable on Sunday, after he won four awards for This Is America, his scathing critique of US socio-politics.

At one point, host Alicia Keys awkwardly had to fill time when no-one came forward to accept the song of the year award on his behalf.

Keys was one of the night's more notable performers, too, playing dual pianos while slaying a medley of songs she "wished [she] had written" --including "Killing Me Softly," Nat King Cole's "Unforgettable," a bit of Coldplay's "Clocks" and Lauryn Hill's "Doo Wop (That Thing)," among others.