Controversies regarding Beyonce not winning the Album of the Year Award once again as it went to a surprised Harry Styles, an estimated 12.4 million people tuned in to watch stars Styles, Lizzo and Bad Bunny perform at the Grammy Awards, along with a tribute to 50 years of rap history.

That’s up from the pandemic-affected broadcasts of the last two years, the Nielsen company said on Monday. Live viewership was 8.8 million in 2021 and 8.9 million in 2022.

While the Grammys bounced back, it didn’t reach the viewership levels of pre-COVID days. Music’s showcase night was seen by 18.7 million people in 2020, Associated Press reported from New York.

A CNN report said the Grammys ceremony also reached its largest live-streaming audience in history on Sunday, up 33 percent from last year across Paramount+ and other CBS streaming platforms, according to a press release from CBS. The show also dominated social media with 53 million social video clips of Grammys content consumed as of Monday morning.

Live television viewership has declined across-the-board over the past few years, with pro football one of the few events to buck the trend.

There was no immediate estimate of how viewing broke down between CBS and its sister streaming service, Paramount+, which also covered the awards. The number is likely to increase slightly when delayed viewing is counted later, the AP report elaborated.

Controversy Follows the Awards: Increased viewership notwithstanding, once again the show ended with someone else winning album of the year as a controversy erupted with some alleging it to be ‘white privilige’.

This year was widely seen as a chance for the Grammys to honor the superstar Beyonce, who took home her 32nd award, with a marquee award, especially on a night where she could have (and did ) become its most decorated artist.

Instead, Harry Styles won, and a line from his acceptance speech stung those who thought Beyoncé should have won, AP report said.

What’s controversial about Styles’ win? Styles won for his third album, ‘Harry’s House’ and even he seemed surprised when his name was called.

The British pop star was competing against other giants in the industry: like ABBA, Adele, Bad Bunny, Brandi Carlile, Coldplay, Lizzo, Kendrick Lamar, and Beyoncé.

While accepting the award, he said, “This is really, really kind. I’m so, so grateful… I’m just so — This doesn’t happen to people like me very often. And this is so, so nice. Thank you very, very much.”

The line, “this doesn’t happen to people like me very often,” drew criticism in the hours after his win.

Styles was born and raised in Northern England and rose to fame in 2010 when he auditioned for the Simon Cowell-led talent competition show ‘The X Factor’. He placed third with the boyband One Direction. His solo career has earned him several Grammys and Billboard-charting albums and singles.

Styles hasn’t said what he meant by his words. Some have interpreted it as him trying to express how far he’d come from his youth. Others, however, see the remark as an example of white privilege.

Why are people mad at Styles’ words? Many of Beyoncé’s fans are fiercely protective of the singer. They’re called the Beyhive, after all.

Despite Beyoncé’s 32 Grammy wins – the most of any artist in history – many are troubled by the fact she has yet to win Album of Year and that she’s lost to white musicians every time she has been nominated.

Washington Post pop music critic Chris Richards, in a story headlined “Beyoncé just made Grammy history. Why does it feel like she still lost?” wrote that her historic achievement feels hollow.

“Why does that feel like not enough,” Richards asked. “Because for the past 20 years and counting, the Recording Academy has routinely failed to recognize Black artists at their creative peaks — and to her credit, Beyoncé keeps updating that peak with each new album.”

Similar criticism was raised in other stories and by online commenters, some of whom noted a Black woman hadn’t won album of the year since Lauryn Hill in the late ’90s.

What is Beyoncé’s Grammy history? The artist is tied with her husband, Jay-Z, for most nominations all-time with 88 but she has only won 32 times. Most significantly, Beyoncé has lost album of the year four times to Taylor Swift, Beck, Adele and now Styles.

Beyoncé has been nominated in each of the most prestigious categories across her decades-long career but she has won in these categories just once for ‘Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)’.

According to the Billboard, the Recording Academy boasts more than 12,000 voting members. The entire membership is allowed to vote in the big four categories — best new artist, record, song and album of the year. Members are also responsible for nominating in their area of expertise, as well as voting on the winners of these categories.

(Beyonce photo courtesy her Instagram account)