Grammy Awards 2026: The Dalai Lama, K-pop win first Grammys, Steven Spielberg achieves EGOT status

The 2026 Grammy Awards celebrate historic wins for the Dalai Lama, K-pop, and Spielberg's EGOT achievement amidst high spirits.

The 68th annual Grammy Awards are taking place on Sunday (February 1, 2026) and spirits were high from the jump after a few back-to-back, history making moments.

The Dalai Lama won his first Grammy for audio book, narration and storytelling recording, beating out Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. You ready that correctly.

“I am not the Dalai Lama,” Rufus Wainwright joked in an acceptance speech. “It was a privilege to participate on this project." “Golden” from “KPop Demon Hunters” won song written for visual media at the Premiere Ceremony, marking the first time a K-pop act has won a Grammy. Songwriters delivered their acceptance speech in both English and Korean, highlighting the song's bilingual appeal.

Music film went to “Music for John Williams,” which means director Steven Spielberg has officially won his first Grammy. That makes him an EGOT winner — an artist with an Emmy, Grammy, Tony and Oscar.

The Premiere Ceremony, a pre-telecast show held at the adjacent Peacock Theater, began with musician and host Darren Criss setting the scene — giving out the first award of the day, for best pop/duo group performance to Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande for "Defying Gravity.” They were not present to accept the award.

An impressive 86 Grammys will be handed out pre-broadcast.