Taylor Swift made Grammy history. Swift won Album of the Year for her 2023 album Midnights, making her the first artist in history to win the category four times. Swift was previously tied with Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder, and Paul Simon, who have all won three times, for the record.
Swift was presented with the award at the close of the ceremony by Celine Dion, who made a surprise appearance at the Grammys after revealing she was diagnosed with a rare neurological disease, Moersch-Woltman syndrome, or stiff-person syndrome in December 2022. “When I say that I’m happy to be here,” said Dion, “I really mean it from my heart.”
During her acceptance speech, Swift opened by thanking her longtime collaborator and producer Jack Antonoff. “I get to work with one of my best friends, who is not only one of my best friends but also a once-in-a-generation producer—that’s Jack Antonoff,” said Swift. She also called out Lana Del Rey, who arrived at the Grammys with Swift.
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“I think so many female artists would not be where they are and would not have the inspiration they have if it weren’t for the work that she’s [Rey] done,” said Swift. “I think she’s a legacy artist, a legend in her prime right now.”
Swift continued, “I would love to tell you that this is the best moment in my life, but I feel this happy when I finish a song or when I cracked the code to a bridge that I love, or … a music video, or when I’m rehearsing with my dancers, or my band, or getting ready to go to Tokyo to play a show. For me, the award is the work. All I want to do is keep being able to do this. I love it so much.”
Swift received six Grammy nominations and picked up her first award of the night for Best Pop Vocal Album for Midnights. During her first acceptance speech, Swift mentioned that it was her 13th Grammy win before revealing her new album, The Tortured Poet’s Department, out April 19.
Midnights became the fastest-selling album of Swift’s career, helping her break several records in streaming, physical, and vinyl album sales worldwide. The album sold a record 1.6 million units within its debut week and is also the first release to sell more than one million physical albums since 2015.
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To date, Swift has sold 22.4 million albums and has had 36.6 billion combined streams of her music. Within its first week of release, Midnights, alone, had more than one billion streams. She was also the first artist to fill the Top 10 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart with tracks from Midnights.
“It makes me so happy,” said Swift at the end of her speech. “It makes me unbelievably blown away that it makes some people happy who voted for this award, too. All I want to do is keep doing this, so thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to do what I love so much. Mind blown thank you so much.”
Photo: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
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