However, two of Beyoncé’s awards were presented off the air, at Sunday afternoon’s preshow Premiere Ceremony, and she actually missed one of her on-air categories because, according to the host, Trevor Noah, she was stuck in L.A. traffic.

She was widely predicted to win the night’s most prestigious honour, Album of the Year, for Renaissance — her fourth nomination in that category, following her controversial defeats in previous years to Taylor Swift, Beck, and Adele — but once again, she lost, this time to Harry Styles’s Harry’s House.

While Harry’s House was undoubtedly one of the most acclaimed albums of 2022 — in fact, in Yahoo Entertainment’s year-end critics’ poll, it ranked second, while Renaissance was at No. 3 — the optics weren’t great here, bringing to mind that awkward 2017 Grammy moment when Adele’s 25 won and the British belter spent much of her time at the podium practically declaring that Beyoncé’s Lemonade had been robbed. Styles’s didn’t go quite that far in his Album of the Year acceptance speech Sunday, but his reaction was noticeably muted.

“I’ve been so, so inspired by every artist in this category with me in a lot of different times in my life. I’ve listened to everyone in this category. … It’s obviously so important for us to remember that there is no such thing as ‘best’ in music,” a dazed Styles insisted.

“I don’t think any of us sit in the studio thinking and making decisions based on what is going to get us one of these [awards]. This is really, really kind. I’m so, so grateful.”

So, while Beyoncé set an impressive Grammy record with her 32 wins, it should be noted that with Renaissance losing Album of the Year and “Break My Soul” respectively losing Record and Song of the Year to Lizzo’s “About Damn Time” and, in a bit of an upset, to Bonnie Raitt’s “Just Like That,” she still has only won once in a Big Four category — when “Single Ladies” was named Song of the Year way back in 2010.

But Sunday was still a night of highs and lows — if not for Beyoncé, who graciously gave Styles a standing ovation when he won, then for her frustrated fans, who wanted to see her finally take home the top prize.