With a total of eight nominations, Kendrick Lamar leads the field for the coveted music award this year, including song of the year and album of the year. While the rapper didn't release an album of his own in 2018, he was executive producer for the soundtrack to the blockbuster film, "Black Panther." Still only 31, Pulitzer Prize-winning Lamar has already pocketed 11 Grammys.

Rapper Drake is a close second in terms of 2019 Grammy nominations, and he might ultimately take home more awards than Lamar — even though it's claimed both turned down offers to perform at the award ceremony. Drake and Lamar stand to profit from an increase in the number of nominations per main category in the wake of criticism that the awards were to white and too male-dominated.

Brandi Carlile's folk-rock ballads tackle contemporary social issues such as opioid addiction and the migrant crisis, while her 2018 album "By the Way, I Forgive You" topped the US charts and has garnered celebrity fans like former president Barack Obama. The gay 38-year-old is the most-nominated woman at the Grammy's with six, including best Americana album and song of the year for "The Joke."

Lady Gaga scored five nominations this year, four alone for the song "Shallow" from the movie "A Star Is Born." Although she sings the song with co-star Bradley Cooper, he would not be a co-winner for song of the year because he didn't co-write the number. A possible Best Duo award would go to both Lady Gaga and Cooper, however.

Anton Zaslavski was three when his family relocated from the Soviet Union to Germany, where he grew up and learned classical music.In 2012, now known as Zedd, he moved to the US and soon became a top DJ and producer working with the likes of Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande. Having won his first Grammy in 2014 for breakout album "Clarity," this year Zedd is thrice-nominated for the song "The Middle."

Latvian conductor Mariss Jansons is an honorary member of both the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic orchestras, and he holds the Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal. Nominated for Best Choral performance of Rachmaninov's "The Bells" with the Symphony Orchestra and Choir of Germany's Bayerischer Rundfunk broadcaster, he just might win another Grammy this year to add to his first in 2006.

Bruno Mars (right) dominated the Grammy Awards on Sunday, taking home all six awards he was nominated for, including record of the year and album of the year for "24K Magic" and song of the year for the No. 1 hit "That's What I Like." He beat out top nominees, including Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar, for record of the year. Earlier in the night, he performed his song "Finesse" with Cardi B (left).

Though not in attendance, German electronic music band Kraftwerk took home the award for best dance/electronic album for "3-D The Catalogue." The longtime performers previously received a Grammy for lifetime achievement in 2014.

Latin dance hit "Despacito," one of the biggest global hits of all time, failed to take home any awards despite three nominations, including song of the year and record of the year. Nevertheless, the performance by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee was a huge hit.

Kendrick Lamar swept all the rap prizes, but lost out in the main categories. Lamar took home five awards, including best rap album for "DAMN." and best rap song for "HUMBLE." He opened the evening with an act that featured U2 frontman Bono and provocative imagery, including an American flag and dancers dressed in military fatigues and men in red hoodies whom Lamar mimed shooting one by one.

The social commentary continued with jabs at Donald Trump, as host James Corden introduced a video of celebrities reading from Michael Wolff's controversial and unflattering book on the president, "Fire and Fury: Inside The Trump White House." John Legend, Cher, Snoop Dogg, Cardi B, and DJ Khaled read from the best-seller, with Trump's Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton chiming in at the end.

The #MeToo movement was a central theme at Sunday's ceremony, with many performers wearing white roses in support of the campaign against sexual harassment and abuse. Kesha's song "Praying," which deals with mental illness and alleged abuse she suffered at the hands of her former music producer, was performed by a chorus of women, including Camila Cabello (right) and Cyndi Lauper (left).

Lady Gaga wore a white rosebud and a Time's Up pin on the red carpet, promoting the slogan for the movement launched on January 1 by hundreds of prominent women in the entertainment industry. During her performance of ballads "Joanne" and "Million Reasons," she whispered "Time's up," another reference to the #MeToo movement.

Musicians honored the victims of the mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival last October in Las Vegas, as well as the bombing outside an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester in May. Country artists Eric Church, Maren Morris and Brothers Osborne — part of the lineup in Las Vegas — gave an emotional performance of Eric Clapton's classic "Tears in Heaven," standing in front victims' names.

Though not nominated, many other music greats were part of the show in New York. Other performers included Pink, Childish Gambino, Emmylou Harris and Chris Stapleton, Sam Smith, Rihanna with DJ Khaled and Bryson Tiller, Sting and SZA, and Elton John and Miley Cyrus, seen here.