Beyoncé to U2: The top 4 GRAMMY winners of the 2000s
Who are the biggest GRAMMY winners for each decade from the 1950s to the 2010s? In our ongoing Music's Biggest Winners series, we'll take a look at the four artists (more in the case of ties) who received the most awards in each decade. You'll learn a little bit about the artists, their GRAMMY wins during the decade and other notable Recording Academy honors. Let's fire up the GRAMMY time machine and go back to the '00s.
2000s
Beyoncé, 16
Beyoncé and Alison Krauss each won 16 GRAMMYs in the 2000s, matching Henry Mancini's record, set in the '60s, for the most GRAMMYs won in a decade. This gives Beyoncé and Krauss joint custody of the record for most awards won in a decade by a female artist. Beyoncé won five GRAMMYs in 2003, matching the record for most GRAMMYs won in one night by a female artist. She did even better in 2009, winning six awards and setting a new female record. Beyoncé was still with Destiny's Child when she won her first three GRAMMYs. She won two awards for "Say My Name" and one for "Survivor."
Alison Krauss, 16
When Beyoncé and Krauss set a new record for most GRAMMYs won in a decade by a female artist, they broke Krauss' old record, set when she won 10 awards in the '90s. Krauss won eight of her 16 awards in the '00s for her work in Alison Krauss & Union Station. She won six (spread over two years) for Raising Sand, her hit album with Robert Plant. She also won for a collaboration with James Taylor and for producing Nickel Creek's This Side, which was voted Best Contemporary Folk Album in 2002. Krauss' tally for the decade includes two wins for Album Of The Year. Raising Sand won in 2008. She and Union Station were featured on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, which won in 2001.
U2, 15
U2 set new records for most GRAMMYs won in one decade by a rock act (surpassing Eric Clapton, who won 13 awards in the '90s) and by a group (surpassing Santana, who won eight GRAMMYs in the '90s). The Irish band also set a new record for most GRAMMYs won in one decade by an act from outside the United States (surpassing both Clapton and Georg Solti, the latter of whom won 13 awards in both the '70s and '80s). U2 won seven awards (spread over two years) for their 2000 album All That You Can't Leave Behind. The band won eight awards (again, spread over two years) for its 2004 follow-up, How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb.
Kanye West, 14
West set a new record for most GRAMMYs won in one decade by a rap artist. West won all but one of these awards in the Rap Field. The exception was Best R&B Song for Alicia Keys' "You Don't Know My Name," which West co-wrote. West's tally for the decade includes four awards for Best Rap Song and three for Best Rap Album.
The 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards will be held Jan. 26, 2014, at Staples Center in Los Angeles and once again will be broadcast live in high-definition TV and 5.1 surround sound on CBS from 8–11:30 p.m. (ET/PT). For updates and breaking news, visit The Recording Academy's social networks on Twitter and Facebook.
(Paul Grein, a veteran music journalist, writes for Yahoo Music.)
