Beyoncé (photo from Jason Merritt/GettyImages.com)

The triumph of powerhouse stars-of-the-night tandem of Beyoncé and Taylor Swift proved anti-climactic as each won quite a handful of the gold-plated gramophones as predicted.

The young Swift was genuinely pleased and shocked to win for the major category of Album of the Year (“Fearless”). She sang a medley of her songs and even shared the stage with the amazing Stevie Nicks on Fleetwood Mac's classic "Rhiannon." Swift ended her set with a countrified version of “You Belong with Me” also with Nicks.

The unstoppable Beyoncé, meanwhile, took home six awards. Missing out on receiving the first one due to her preparation for her live performance, Beyoncé gave a usual stunning show complete with military-style back-up reminiscent of her idol, Michael Jackson’s “They Don’t Care About Us” dancers for “This Is It.” She also incorporated Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know” into her fist-pumpin’ power set.

Beyoncé isn’t new to the Grammys stage but still appeared nervous at one point. During one of her acceptance speeches, she acknowledged her husband, music mogul Jay-Z, with a touching, “I love you.”

But despite Stephen Colbert’s jokes about the self-congratulatory nature of awards shows, it is really the performances that will prove memorable, giving the show its most earnest but crowd-wowing telecast in years.

Lady Gaga set the bar early on with her stunning opening number, “Poker Face,” for which she wore a green-sequined bodysuit and angel wings. She later on shared the stage---and conjoined pianos---with a rhinestone-rockin’ Elton John. But perhaps to the disappointment of her very fashionable fans, Gaga left the ceremony with only two trophies.

Pink’s jaw-dropping “Glitter in the Air” number had a Cirque du Soleil-type crescendo with her joining a handful of aerialists at the satellite stage within the ground level audience, singing while suspended nearly upside down above the crowd and dripping with water—and lots of drama.

Lionel Richie also gave a heartfelt intro to the 3D tribute to the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson—the unprecedented production number that had some audience members (including Beyoncé, Rihanna and Will.i.am) and TV audiences wearing their 3D glasses to watch the short film that accompanied Jackson’s “Earth Song.”

The multi-star salute may have included Celine Dion, Usher, Jennifer Hudson, Carrie Underwood and Smokey Robinson, but beyond the collective star power, the underlying message is more about what human beings can do to save our planet—a concern Jackson had been pushing long before it became fashionable to do so.

After the tribute, Jackson’s two kids, Prince and Paris (both dressed with armbands and red stripes on their pants reminiscent of one of Jackson’s famous looks), took the stage to accept their father's Lifetime Achievement Award.

As Prince nervously but commandingly took the microphone, and with Paris’ own simple follow-up statement, “Daddy was supposed to be here. Daddy was gonna perform this year… We love you daddy,” the Staples Center audience was on its feet, tears filling their eyes.

Celebrating its 20th year in the business, Dave Matthews Band offered a live rendition of “You and Me” off “Big Whiskey and the GooGrux King.” With a string section and members of the Grammy Jazz Ensemble joining them midway through the set, it seemed another touching, if low-key, compared to the other numbers that were all in salute to the band’s co-founder, saxophone player LeRoi Moore, who died in 2008 due to complications from an ATV accident.

Perhaps to drive the point of this year’s Grammys across—of music allowing people to come together not just to give purpose to its makers and inspiration to its followers, but also to affect real change—Haiti-native Wyclef Jean took the stage to thank the American people for its generosity.

He then introduced Andrea Bocelli and Mary J. Blige for a powerful and beautiful duet of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” as clips of the Haiti devastation showed on giant screens behind them.

A pumped-up performance of rap super trio Drake, Li’l Wayne and Eminem was a rousing finale to the evening’s festivities.

And the Grammy went to:

Beyoncé:

Song of the Year (“Single Ladies [Put a Ring on It]”)
Female R&B Vocal Performance  (“Single Ladies [Put a Ring on It]”)
Best R&B Song (“Single Ladies [Put a Ring on It]”)
Female Pop Vocal Performance (“Halo”)
Traditional R&B Performance for the Etta James cover, “At Last;”
Contemporary R&B Album (“I Am… Sasha Fierce”)

Taylor Swift:

Album of the Year (“Fearless”)
Female Country Vocal Performance (“White Horse”)
Country Song (“White Horse”)
Country Album (“Fearless”)

Black Eyed Peas:

Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals ("I Gotta Feeling”)
Pop Vocal Album (“The E.N.D.”)

Lady Gaga:

Dance Recording ("Poker Face”)
Electronic/Dance Album (“The Fame”)

Kings of Leon:

Record of the Year ("Use Somebody”)
Rock Performance by a Duo or Group (“Use Somebody”)
Rock Song (“Use Somebody”)

Green Day:

Rock Album (“21st Century Breakdown”)

*A complete list of winners is available on www.grammy.com and www.eonline.com

Other interesting tidbits about the Grammy's

Here are the record setters for competitive awards won by artists (not including various special awards presented by the Recording Academy)

· Most Grammy Awards won by a group: U2, with 22 Grammys in their career (more than any recording groups)

· Most Grammy Awards won by a female artist: Alison Krauss, 26 Grammys

· Most Grammy Awards won by a male artist: Stevie Wonder, 22 Grammys

· Most Grammys won in a lifetime: Sir Georg Solti, a Hungarian-British conductor who conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for twenty-two years, with 31 Grammys

· Most Grammys won in a single night: Tied between Michael Jackson in 1984 and Santana in 2000