With her third Grammy win so far on Sunday — and 31st overall in a career more than two decades deep — Beyoncé tied the conductor Georg Solti as the most awarded musician in the show’s 64-year history. She had entered the day tied with the producer Quincy Jones in second place, with 28.
Beyoncé’s latest prize was for best R&B song, with her track “Cuff It” beating out songs from Mary J. Blige, Muni Long, Jazmine Sullivan and PJ Morton.
Beyoncé was not present to accept the award. In her place, the songwriter The-Dream, one of the eight writers credited on “Cuff It,” took the stage, his opening remarks bleeped by the telecast. “Beyoncé thanks y’all,” he added quickly before leaving.
Trevor Noah, the show’s host, insisted that Beyoncé was “on her way,” blaming Los Angeles traffic.
Beyoncé, 41, had previously won at the afternoon preshow ceremony for best dance/electronic recording (“Break My Soul”) and best traditional R&B performance (“Plastic Off the Sofa”), but was not present to collect those trophies.
Nominated for nine Grammys on Sunday — five of which are airing during the prime-time show — Beyoncé could pass Solti, who died in 1997, with a win in any of the remaining categories in which she was recognized, including song, record and album of the year. She is also nominated for best dance/electronic album and best R&B song (for “Cuff It”).
“Cuff It” lost best R&B performance during the preshow to “Hrs and Hrs” by Muni Long; and “Be Alive,” from the Will Smith film “King Richard,” lost best song written for visual media to “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from “Encanto.”
All of Beyoncé’s nominations this year except for “Be Alive” stemmed from her hit album “Renaissance,” including nods for the LP’s No. 1 single, “Break My Soul,” in the top three all-genre categories; and R&B field nominations for “Cuff It,” “Virgo’s Groove” and “Plastic Off the Sofa.”
Beyoncé’s first career Grammy wins came in 2001, as a member of the R&B group Destiny’s Child. In the years since, she has consistently been awarded in genre categories, but has won just one major award, for song of the year, as a writer of “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)” in 2010.
The most nominated artist ever — with 88 nods, tied with her husband, Jay-Z — Beyoncé has lost album of the year three times and record of the year six times.
