Last year’s Grammy Awards generated a record number of social media interactions, making it TV’s biggest social event of 2014. So how did this year’s show hold up, and what social events emerged?

2014 saw social media success for the Grammys, with a record-breaking 34 million interactions. This figure included 15.7 Twitter mentions and 13.5 million Facebook mentions, causing the show to become the number 1 trending topic. But this year set another record, with over 20 million tweets and 45 million Facebook mentions worldwide making it, (according to Nielsen Social), the biggest social entertainment program of the 2014-2015 season to date. Perhaps this was due to Kanye West’s second attempt at stage-crashing, which earned him the most social mentions, and generated the greatest number of tweets per minute. This year, West drew laughs from the crowd when he attempted to grab the microphone from Beck, who won the award for Best Album. In a flurry of tweets, images, and posts, fans and celebrities alike took to social media to make a comparison with the rapper’s controversial interruption of Taylor Swift during 2009’s VMAs.

The other big social media talking points of the night were Annie Lennox’s incredible performance with Hozier, Sam Smith’s four wins including Record of the Year which secured the top spot in terms of social mentions, and Beyonce, Ed Sheeran, and Iggy Azalea. The Grammys have undoubtedly received a huge social boost this year, eclipsed only by 2012’s show which was bolstered by the tragic news of Whitney Houston’s death the day before. Interestingly though, this year’s social media success didn’t translate into TV ratings, with 23.5 million viewers in comparison to last year’s 28.5 million, although it was still the most watched TV show of the night- we imagine that there could only have been a shift in viewers tuning into the online live-stream instead.

So what were our additional social highlights this year? At the top has to be the inclusion of YouTube star Tyler Oakley as red carpet interviewer for the show’s live-stream. It’s great to see a social media star have a presence at a global event, and a clever move from the Grammys to draw social media fans and viewers. Oakley successfully posed a variety of his own questions to celebrities, as well as those taken from fans on social platforms, in what he described as a great opportunity to represent “#TeamInternet. And indeed, we also loved seeing another social media and Internet first, in which YouTube stars Pentatonix, whose A Cappella-style music has seen their channel achieve 7.5 million subscribers, took home a Grammy in the Best Instrumental or A Cappella Arrangement category. Lastly, one of the most entertaining social events at this year’s awards was CBS’s social coverage and reporting, in which Shad Moss, the channel’s host, was asked to complete a list of Grammys Social Challenges. These included taking a selfie with a Grammy award, photo bombing an artist, and taking questions and challenges from fans.

Did you tune into this year’s Grammy Awards, and follow the action on social media? We’d love to hear what you thought of this year’s digital events, so please tweet to us @PracticeDigital and share your comments on our Facebook page.