LOS ANGELES >> The 58th annual Grammy Awards on Monday celebrated a young generation of chart-dominating pop stars, with Taylor Swift winning album of the year for “1989” and Kendrick Lamar sweeping the rap categories, even as the show devoted much of its airtime to lionizing musical heroes of decades past.

Although Swift had been nominated for all of the most prestigious categories, the top awards were split fairly evenly among a crop of young stars at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Mark Ronson won two awards, including record of the year, for “Uptown Funk,” the upbeat, retro dance song featuring Bruno Mars that dominated radio last year and that they performed at the Super Bowl. Ed Sheeran, the cherubic British singer-songwriter, won song of the year for his soul-inflected ballad “Thinking Out Loud,” sharing the prize with his co-writer, Amy Wadge.

And Lamar, the rapper whose complex songs about black identity and racial strife have dazzled critics and become touchstones of the Black Lives Matter movement, took five prizes and delivered a confrontational medley of his songs “The Blacker the Berry” and “Alright.”

Accepting her trophy for album of the year, Swift said she was the first woman to win the prize twice and made a statement that was a firm affirmation of her own celebrity, as well as what many viewers interpreted as a response to Kanye West, who recently released lyrics referencing their on-and-off feud.

“All the young women out there, there are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame,” she said. “If you just focus on the work and don’t let those people sidetrack you, someday you will get where you are going.”

Lamar honored classic rap albums of the past as he accepted the award for best rap album. “This for hip-hop. This for Snoop Dogg, ‘Doggystyle.’ This for ‘Illmatic,’ this for Nas. We will live forever, believe that.”

Seconds before Ronson and Mars won the record of the year award, an anxious Mars shouted from the audience to presenter Beyonce, “Let’s go, Beyonce! Let’s do it!” On stage he added, “This is dedicated to the fans right here.”

Ronson gave a shout-out to Prince, James Brown and George Clinton for being leaders in funk.

Sheeran, who in addition to song of the year won best pop solo performance for “Thinking Out Loud,” was taking home his first prizes.

Accepting the award for song of the year, Sheeran thanked his parents, “who have flown in for the past four years to come to the Grammys, and every single time I lose, they go, ‘Maybe next year.’”

Meghan Trainor won best new artist; she had been nominated for record of the year at last year’s awards, though the Grammys’ current rules allowed her to be nominated this year.

But in another Grammy tradition, the show also relied heavily on earnest tributes. John Legend, Demi Lovato, Luke Bryan, Trainor and Tyrese Gibson sang Lionel Richie songs, and Jackson Browne joined surviving members of the Eagles to honor Glenn Frey. Chris Stapleton, Gary Clark Jr. and Bonnie Raitt performed a sensuous tribute to B.B. King.

In one of the night’s most eye-catching moments, Lady Gaga sang snippets of 10 David Bowie songs in just over six minutes, beginning with “Space Oddity” — as digital effects provided by Intel made her face seem like an animated version of the cover of his album “Aladdin Sane” — and continuing through “Changes,” “Fashion,” “Let’s Dance” and “Heroes,” among others.

Adele performed a version of her song “All I Ask” that fell short of her usual level of vocal perfection (she later tweeted, “The piano mics fell on to the piano strings” to explain the poor sound), and in another surprise, Rihanna canceled her scheduled appearance, with her representative saying that after a rehearsal earlier in the day, her doctor put the singer on vocal rest because she was at risk of damaging her vocal cords.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.