The Grammys showed Robert Plant and Alison Krauss a whole lotta love as the duo easily swept the awards ceremony by taking home five prizes.

The unconventional pairing won Record of the Year for "Please Read the Letter," Album of the Year for "Raising Sand," Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "Rich Woman," Best Country Collaboration with Vocals for "Killing the Blues" and Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album for "Raising Sand." They were nonchalant about their win.

"Forty years after landing in this town, it's all different," Plant said. "It's fantastic."

Coldplay [ tickets ], with its Sgt. Pepper-inspired get-ups, cleaned up as well, winning three Grammys: Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance By a Duo or Group with Vocals for the song "Viva La Vida," and Best Rock Album for "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends." Lil Wayne [ tickets ] picked up the same amount for Best Rap Solo Performance ("A Milli"), Best Rap Song ("Lollipop") and Best Rap Album ("Tha Carter III").

Adele, Daft Punk, John Mayer, Ne-Yo, Al Green, Brad Paisley, Sugarland [ tickets ], Kirk Franklin, Peter Gabriel, James Conlon and John Corigliano were given a pair of prizes to take home. See the complete list for details.

"I told myself I was going to be cool because Paul McCartney and Coldplay are here," said Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles while accepting an award. "But I'm not cool."

In a tearjerker moment, Jennifer Hudson [ tickets ], whose mother, brother and nephew were murdered recently, won her first award for Best R&B Album, for her self-titled debut. She raised her award in victory and said, without acknowledging the killings, "I don't really know what to say. First of all, I have Whitney Houston presenting me. Thank God who has brought me through, and my family in heaven and those who are here today."

Soon thereafter, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson provided comedy relief, making cracks about kissing Katy Perry [ tickets ] and Kid Rock [ tickets ]'s community-service plan.

But the awards ceremony was marred by scandal. R&B singer/Grammy nominee Chris Brown [ tickets ] was accused of being involved in a felony domestic-violence incident, for which he later turned himself in to police. As is customary in domestic-violence cases, the police would not identify the victim, the Associated Press reported. However, his girlfriend Rihanna [ tickets ], like Brown, pulled out of the Grammys even though she was scheduled to perform. Instead, the Grammy Awards [ tickets ] filled the spot with a performance of "Let's Stay Together" by Al Green, Justin Timberlake, Keith Urban and Boyz II Men.

The performances/collaborations were typically strong during the 51st annual Grammys. U2 kicked off the show with its new single, "Get On Your Boots." Lil Wayne and Allen Toussaint paid tribute to New Orleans. Neil Diamond sang "Sweet Caroline" to a chorus of singers in the audience. Other performances included: Radiohead with the University of Southern California marching band; Jay-Z joining Coldplay; a tribute to The Four Tops; and Jennifer Hudson singing an emotional version of "You Pulled Me Through" that left her on the verge of tears. One of the strongest performances was, however, by the unlikely pairing of Stevie Wonder on keyboards/vocoder and the Jonas Brothers for "Superstitious."

Speaking of unlikely: after a war of words in the media, Blink-182 arrived on stage to surprise the audience with the news of a reunion.

"We played music together and we decided we're going to play music together again," said a mellow Travis Barker, the band's drummer, who survived a fiery plane crash last year.