Will Taylor Swift make history by becoming the first singer to win album of the year four times? Will she perform?
The “Midnights” artist is nominated for six Grammy Awards at Sunday’s show on CBS. Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon and Taylor Swift have each won album of the year thrice. Sinatra was the first to win back-to-back years, and Wonder won all three of his awards in four years.
Three engineers have won album of the year four times for their work on albums with Swift, Adele and Bruno Mars: Şerban Ghenea, John Hanes and Tom Coyne. Swift thanked Ghenea in her acceptance speech when she won the award for “Folklore.” He is nominated as part of the “Midnights” team so could see his total album of the year wins rise to five if Swift wins.
Swift has won 12 Grammys. She’s been nominated 52 times, including six awards this year:
Swift has performed at the Grammys every year she has gone on to win album of the year, so fans will be waiting to see if she performs a track from “Midnights” or possibly a vault track from “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” or “1989 (Taylor’s Version).” Revisit Swift’s past acceptance speeches and performances below.
Swift is the only female artist to win album of the year three times, for her second, fifth and eighth albums. Here are her acceptance speeches:
2010 “Fearless” win: “Thank you so much! This is album of the year! Oh my God! Thank you so much. I just hope that you know how much this means to me and to Nathan my producer and to all these musicians that you see on this stage, that we get to take this back to Nashville. Our families are freaking out in their living rooms. My dad and my little brother are losing their minds in the living room right now, and this is for my dad. Thank you for all those times you said I could do whatever I wanted in life. And my mom, you’re my best friend. And this is the story, all of us, when we are 80 years old and we are telling the same stories over and over again to our grandkids and they’re so annoyed with us. This is the story we’re going to be telling over and over again. In 2010, that we got to win album of the year at the Grammys. Thank you!”
2016 “1989” win: “I want to thank the fans for the last 10 years and the Recording Academy for giving us this unbelievable honor. I want to thank all of my collaborators that you see on this stage. Mostly, I want to thank my co-executive producer, Max Martin, who has deserved to be up here for 25 years. And as the first woman to win album of the year at the Grammys twice, I want to say to all the young women out there, there are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame. But if you just focus on the work and you don’t let those people sidetrack you, someday when you get where you’re going, you will look around and you will know that it was you and the people who love you who put you there. And that will be the greatest feeling in the world. Thank you for this moment.”
2021 “Folklore” win: “Oh God! I want to thank all of my collaborators who are on the stage. I want to thank Şerban Ghenea. I want to thank Justin Vernon. I’m so excited to meet you someday. Joe, who is the first person that I play every single song that I write, and I had the best time writing songs with you in quarantine. I want to thank James, Inez and Betty, and their parents, who are the second and third people that I play every new song that I write. But mostly, we just want to thank the fans. You guys met us in this imaginary world that we created, and we can’t tell you how honored we are forever by this. Thank you so much, and thank you to the Recording Academy, we will never forget that you did this for us. Thank you so much.”
Before Swift’s speech her close friend and co-producer Aaron Dessner said, “It’s hard to believe I’m standing up here with one of the greatest living songwriters who somehow put trust in me to collaborate in this crazy time we all lived through.”
In 2021, Swift brought the “Folklore” cottage to Los Angeles for a 5-and-a-half-minute mash-up of “Cardigan,” “August” and “Willow.” The camera started with a tight shot of Swift’s face basking in moonlight atop the mossy roof. Stars danced in a projected silhouette forest behind her as the camera panned from the roof into a cozy, quaint attic. A music interlude featured her two co-producers Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner until Swift appeared with a guitar and chimed “salt air and the rust on your door.” She ended with the first track of “Evermore.”
In 2016, Swift opened the Grammys with “Out of the Woods.” Her live rendition of the “1989” bop featured powerhouse vocals during the bridge when she growled “20 stitches in the hospital room.” Swift wore a sparkly pantsuit and sleek blond bob. Fog filled the stage of a haunting forest dreamscape. Co-producer Jack Antonoff strummed the guitar next to a live band as white lights danced to the synth beats.
In 2014, before the 10-minute version was released on “Red (Taylor’s Version),” Swift played a 5-minute acoustic rendition of “All Too Well.” The intimate performance made headlines for Swift’s seven head bangs that punctuated her piano playing before the bridge. There’s a moment at 3:56 when her eyes pierce through the screen to the ex she’s singing about: “But you keep my old scarf.” The 10-minute version won best music video in 2023 but not song of the year.
In 2013, Swift appeared in the middle of a white, red and black circus. The ringmaster donned a white outfit complete with a bedazzled silver staff and top hat to sing “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” Circus performers inspired by “Alice in Wonderland” wore fun checkerboard skirts and rabbit ears as they danced around the “Red” singer. During the bridge, Swift rolled her eyes and sported a British accent to imitate an ex calling to say, “I still love you.” To which her response was, “I’m sorry. I’m busy opening up the Grammys, and we are never getting back together. Like ever.”
“Someday, I’ll be singing this at the Grammys,” Swift sang in 2012. The country music star brought her “Speak Now” era to the stage, strumming “Mean” on her “13” banjo. Her live band performs around her in a scene obliterated by a tornado. An unhinged salon door, bare ladder, wooden bed frame and picket fence are some of the remnants nailed together for a ramshackle background.
In 2010, Ryan Seacrest introduced a young Swift at the Grammys. Swift played a minute of “Today Was a Fairytale” before announcing a legend. “It is a fairy tale and an honor to share a stage with Stevie Nicks.” The two performed Nicks’ “Rhiannon” before transitioning into a slower, folksy version of “You Belong With Me.”
In 2009, Swift made her Grammys debut performing “Fifteen” from “Fearless” with Miley Cyrus. The teen stars sat in chairs encircled by fans. Swift wore a translucent white dress over a fitted black outfit. As she plucked her polish-stained guitar, she took the first verse. Cyrus belted out the top of the chorus “cause when you’re 15.” The two interchanged lyrics throughout the almost 4-minute heart-stirring performance.
Follow Bryan West, the USA TODAY Network’s Taylor Swift reporter, on Instagram, TikTok and X as @BryanWestTV.
