An unusual ceremony paid tribute to and raised money for those affected by the California wildfires while giving Beyoncé her first album of the year. Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar ruled the Grammys during a night that also paid tribute to those affected by the California wildfires. The night’s biggest prize, for album of the year, went to Beyoncé for Cowboy Carter, the first time she has won the award. It was presented by members of the Los Angeles country fire department in one of many of the night’s tributes to those affected by the wildfires. The ceremony took place at the Crypto.com arena in LA.

The singer is only the fourth Black woman to win the award. “It’s been many many years,” she said to loud applause. A visibly shocked Beyoncé also won for best country album, saying she “really was not expecting this” as she accepted the award. “Sometimes genre is a codeword to keep us in our place as artists and I just want to encourage people to do what they’re passionate about,” she said.

She was given the award by Taylor Swift. “I will never forget standing here almost exactly 15 years ago,” she said while looking back on her win in this category. Beyoncé, who also won for best country duo performance with Miley Cyrus, became the first Black woman to win a country Grammy for 50 years. Chris Stapleton took home the award for best country solo performance. Lamar won five awards for his controversial Drake diss track Not Like Us which is currently the subject of a defamation lawsuit. He took home both song and record of the year. During one of his speeches, Lamar, who is performing at next week’s Super Bowl halftime show, said he wanted to “dedicate this one to the city”.

After last year saw Taylor Swift, SZA, Miley Cyrus and Billie Eilish dominate, this year saw another strong female showing with Beyoncé, Sabrina Carpenter, Charli xcx, Doechii and Chappell Roan winning many of the major awards. In the competitive best new artist category, Chappell Roan beat out Shaboozey, Raye, Benson Boone and Sabrina Carpenter. She used her speech to call on the industry to “offer a livable wage and healthcare especially to emerging artists” before telling the story of how she struggled to survive in her early days as a musician. “Labels, we got you but do you got us?” she asked.

Charli xcx picked up three awards in the pop categories but lost out on pop solo performance and pop vocal album to Sabrina Carpenter. Doechii won for best rap album, becoming only the third woman to do so. Other female winners included SZA who picked up best R&B song for Saturn, St Vincent who took home best alternative music album, best rock song and best alternative music performance, Kacey Musgraves who picked up best country song for The Architect and Shakira who won best Latin pop album. The Colombian singer dedicated her award to “all my immigrant brothers and sisters”.

Jimmy Carter was also a posthumous winner for the audio book category while Dave Chappelle and Chris Brown were controversial picks for comedy album and R&B album respectively. Host Trevor Noah began the night by referring to the “unusual” circumstances that have changed the tone and motivation of this year’s awards. “This city has just been through one of the largest national disasters in American history,” he said while speaking about the devastating California wildfires and calling attention to the spirit of those who have endured.

To kick off the show, he introduced Dawes, a band who have lost homes and instruments as a result of the fires. They have also helped raise money for nearly 100 other families. They were joined by artists including John Legend, Sheryl Crow and St Vincent for a special performance paying tribute to Los Angeles. Noah drew attention to a number of charities and organisations, telling those in the room and viewers at home that there would be a QR code which would allow people to contribute. He later said that Amazon Music, CBS and Mastercard had donated.

He also said the night would highlight local businesses affected by the fires with the venue both catered and decorated by some and with a certain amount of advertising space given to others. While presenting the award for song of the year, Diana Ross said: “May this moment remind us all of the power we hold to rebuild, to lift and to come together with compassion.”. Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars performed a duet of California Dreamin’ after a montage highlighting Californians who had lost their homes in the fires. The pair later won the best pop duo performance award for their song Die with a Smile. In her acceptance speech, she said: “Trans people are not invisible. Trans people deserve love. The queer community deserves to be lifted up.”.