This Sunday (Feb. 5), the Grammys will celebrate a landmark anniversary, as the show enters its 65th year of serving as music’s biggest night.
When the awards first debuted in 1959, there were only 22 total categories and no live performances, and the ceremonies were held in New York and Los Angeles at the same time and never aired nationally. This year, there’ll be 91 total awards given out – including five brand new ones – as well as much-anticipated performances from nominated stars like Harry Styles, Bad Bunny and Lizzo, with the ceremonies airing live on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
To commemorate the milestone Grammys, we at Billboard are digging back into show’s history to find the moment from each of the previous 64 years that most defined that year’s ceremony. Sometimes those are dramatic wins or unforgettable performances – but they also include unexpected fashion statements, memorable presentations, and, of course, a stage crasher or two. Some of them speak to the power of the Grammys in commemorating (or even creating) the most important and impactful musical moments of the year, and some of them are just the kind of surreal and unnerving happenings that tend to transpire when you get dozens of the biggest names in music in the same room for the evening.
From Chubby Checker to Stevie Wonder to Jethro Tull to SOY BOMB to the Chicks to BTS, come relive six and a half decades’ worth of Grammys greatness and weirdness with us — and find out which moments will be joining this proud legacy come Sunday night.
