Grammys 2025: 19 Most Shocking Winners From Previous Years

Successful your first Grammy is an enormous milestone for any musical artist, with big stars like Beyoncé, Adele, Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish all scooping multitudes of awards within the early levels of their profession.

Nonetheless, along with coveted titles like Album and Report Of The Yr, the Grammys additionally characteristic a large number of bizarre and area of interest classes – which signifies that there have been a good few stunning and surprising recipients over time.

Listed below are simply 14 of essentially the most stunning and surprising winners from Grammys previous…

Yeah, let’s begin with the biggie, we could?

Barack Obama is definitely a two-time Grammy winner, scooping each of his awards previous to being elected US President.

His two Grammy victories had been within the Finest Spoken Phrase Album class, for the audiobook variations of his Desires From My Father and The Audacity Of Hope.

However the former president isn’t the one member of his family to be recognised by the Recording Academy.

In 2020, Michelle Obama scooped her first Grammy for the audiobook model of her memoir, Changing into. 4 years later, she matched her husband when she picked up her second Grammy for one more of her audiobooks.

fmThese three could be unlikely Grammy-holders as people, however what’s much more uncommon is that they gained as a trio.

The previous US President, chief of the Soviet Union and display screen legend teamed up on a recording combining Peter And The Wolf and Wolf Tracks, touchdown the award for Finest Spoken Phrase Album for Kids in 2004.

Carrie Fisher landed a posthumous Grammy in 2018, once more within the Finest Spoken Phrase album class, for the audiobook model of her memoir, The Princess Diarist.

The Star Wars legend was beforehand nominated for a similar award in 2010, however misplaced out to Michael J Fox’s All the time Trying Up.

In the event you’re struggling to put the place you already know the identify “Baha Males” from, maybe the phrase “who let the canines out” will jog your reminiscence.

Regardless of their signature monitor being divisive at greatest, it was named Finest Dance Recording in 2001.

You may know Spike as the person behind thought-provoking movies like Being John Malkovich and the romantic comedy Her, or the big-screen adaptation of The place The Wild Issues Are.

Nonetheless, he additionally has a powerful variety of music movies underneath his belt, together with Björk’s It’s Oh So Quiet, Weezer’s Buddy Holly and Fatboy Slim’s Weapon of Selection, which landed him the Finest Music Video Grammy in 2002.

After finishing her well-documented quest to win an Emmy for her actuality present My Life On The D-Record, Kathy Griffin set herself a brand new mission in bagging a Grammy for Finest Comedy Album.

It took her six years (the primary particular she submitted was actually known as For Your Consideration), however she lastly did it in 2013, together with her comedy album Calm Down Gurrl.

Frankly, she ought to have gained one thing for her iconic discuss present theme tune, too.

The Titanic star’s awards cupboard isn’t precisely a barren one, with an Oscar, three Baftas, an Emmy and 4 Golden Globes to her identify.

In 2000, she was in a position to boast being a Grammy-winner too. Sadly, it wasn’t a win for her too-often-overlooked single What If, however a victory within the Finest Spoken Phrase Album For Kids class.

By the way, Kate is now only one Tony Award away from EGOT standing, one thing which hasn’t escaped her consideration both.

And whereas we’re as regards to EGOTs, Viola Davis reached this legendary standing in 2023, when she landed her first ever Grammy.

Sadly, it wasn’t for something musical (though there’s nonetheless loads of time for that!), however the audiobook model of her memoir Discovering Me.

After greater than 70 years within the leisure trade, the late, nice Betty White was lastly in a position to name herself a Grammy winner in 2012.

She obtained the honour for the audiobook model of her memoir If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Gained’t).

In 2005, the Scrubs alum picked up a Grammy for the accompanying soundtrack to his directorial debut Backyard State.

The compilation – produced by Zach himself – featured the entire mid-2000s staples you’d anticipate, together with Coldplay, The Shins and, naturally, Frou Frou’s Let Go, which might as soon as once more be used on the massive display screen within the Christmas rom-com The Vacation a 12 months later.

One other Grammy winner higher identified for the contributions to the performing world is Joaquin Phoenix.

Extra then a decade earlier than successful his first Oscar for Joker, Joaquin gained his first Grammy for the soundtrack to Stroll The Line, wherein he performed nation music famous person Johnny Money.

Taika Waititi’s work on Jojo Rabbit earned him his first Oscar in 2021, however the accolades didn’t finish there.

For overseeing the movie’s soundtrack album, Taika additionally picked up a Grammy within the Finest Compilation Soundtrack for Visible Media class.

Alright, this win really belongs to The Muppets as a collective, moderately than Kermit as a person.

The Muppets deserve all the awards, if we’re being trustworthy, so we’re happy to say they’ve obtained a handful of Grammys over time, first successful Finest Recording For Kids for his or her Muppet Present album in 1978. They went on to take dwelling the identical award the next 12 months for the soundtrack to The Muppet Film.

Nearly 30 years later, they triumphed in the identical class for his or her festive providing A Inexperienced And Purple Christmas.

Their fuzzy counterparts on Sesame Avenue may also boast a large number of Grammys to their identify, most not too long ago for his or her 2001 album Elmo And The Orchestra.

It’s in all probability no shock that Martin Luther King Jr’s Grammy win is within the Finest Spoken Phrase class, for the recording of his speech Why I Oppose The Struggle In Vietnam.

What may come as extra of a shock is the very fact he’d really been nominated twice prior, shedding only one 12 months earlier for the audio recording of his world-famous I Have A Dream speech.

After his loss of life in 2011, the late co-founder of Apple was awarded a posthumous honorary Grammy.

He was given the award for having modified the best way all of us eat and take heed to music, because of merchandise like iPods and the iTunes retailer.

The singing rodents even have a whopping six Grammy wins to their identify.

This consists of Finest Comedy Efficiency for The Chipmunk Track in 1959 (which, bizarrely, was even nominated for Report Of The Yr at that very same ceremony).