[WATCH] Adele wins big at The Grammy Awards

Adele swept the Grammy Awards on Sunday, taking home statuettes for the top prizes - album, record and song of the year - in a shock, history-making victory over Beyonce on a night marked by political statements and emotional tributes.

Adele, 28, won all five Grammys for which she was nominated, including for her comeback album "25" and her soaring ballad "Hello."

She became the first person in Grammy history to win the top three awards twice, following her wins for her last album "21" in 2012.

Fighting back tears, Adele took the podium and paid tribute to Beyonce, who had led the night's nominations with nine for her politically edgy "Lemonade."

"My idol is Queen B and I adore you. You move my soul every day," Adele said as she looked at Beyonce, who was making her first public appearance since announcing she was pregnant with twins.

She hailed Beyonce's album as "monumental and so well thought out, and so beautiful and soul-baring," suggesting it should have won, bringing her rival to tears.

Speaking to reporters after the show, Adele said she had been worried "25" would flop: "I didn't really find my voice, and I don't know if I did find it even at the end."

Beyonce only won two awards– for best music video for "Formation" and  

best urban contemporary album for "Lemonade" – out of the nine categories she was nominated for.

Adele’s wins came at the end of a politically charged ceremony where rapper Busta Rhymes referred to Donald Trump as “President Agent Orange.”

After a night of hurried political statements, A Tribe Called Quest delivered a vigorous rebuke to the new presidential administration during a tribute to Phife Dawg, who died in March 2016. The group said the performance of We the People was also in honour of protesters.

The hip-hop group was joined by Rhymes who thanked “President Agent Orange” for “perpetuating evil in the United States”. The tribute ended with people of different races gathered on stage as Q-Tip repeatedly shouted: “Resist” as the camera faded to commercial.

Their performance was matched in intensity only by Beyoncé, who woke up a sleepy show with a lengthy spoken-word introduction that boomed from the speakers as a psychedelic video of herself, and dozens of other women, played on stage.