2009 Grammy Winners

The 51st annual Grammys saw the unlikely pairing of the former Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant and Alison Krauss that produced the hit album “Raising Sand” won five Grammys on Sunday.  The duo swept the Grammy this year, bagging awards for Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album, Best Country Collaboration With Vocals, Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals, Record of the Year, and the highly coveted Album of the Year.

Lil Wayne — who led the field with eight nominations — won three awards, including best rap album for “Tha Carter III,” for which he literally hopped on stage to receive. (His tally came to four Grammys if you count his inclusion on “Swagger Like Us,” which won best rap performance by a duo or group.)

Coldplay also took home three awards, including best rock album for “Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends.”

Rihanna and Chris Brown, both nominated for awards and scheduled to perform, were absent after the Los Angeles Police Department announced that Brown — who is dating Rihanna — was the subject of an investigation into a felony domestic violence battery from around 12:30 a.m. Sunday.  Some of the night’s surprises did make it into the broadcast. Actor Dwayne Johnson made a crack about Kid Rock earning “community service hours” for appearing on the show, a reference to the country-fried rapper nearly missing the broadcast because of some legal entanglements of his own. The three members of the Southern California pop-punk band Blink-182 announced they are getting back together, big news considering their 2005 breakup ended a run of platinum-selling albums.

Other notable winners included: Rick Rubin for producer of the year; Adele for best female pop vocal performance (“Chasing Pavements”); Duffy for best pop vocal album (“Rockferry”); Radiohead for best alternative music album (“In Rainbows”); Metallica for best metal performance (“My Apocalypse”); Al Green for best R&B performance by a duo or group with vocals, and best traditional R&B vocal performance; Daft Punk for best dance recording, and best electronic dance album; George Strait for best country album (“Troubadour”); and B.B. King for best traditional blues album (“One Kind Favor”).

A complete list of winners is available at http://www.grammy.com.