Taylor Swift Grammys
It was a successful night for Taylor Swift who won the coveted album of the year for 1989 Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images for NARAS

The biggest night in music turned into a shambles with the Grammys 2016 suffering one problem after another. Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar walked away happy after winning the top awards but with cancelled performances and technical difficulties, the issues have outweighed the positives prompting viewers criticising the awards show.

Rap legend LL Cool J took the honour of hosting the Los Angeles awards ceremony for the fifth time on 15 February and received praise for his presenting skills. However, not even he could stop the underlying chaos at the Staples Center as the awards ceremony experienced a string of hitches. With such a star-studded line-up which included Justin Bieber, The Weeknd and Lady Gaga, the Grammys 2016 promised to be one of the biggest years yet so where did it all go wrong?

Rihanna cancels performance

Fans were hoping the pop star would perform Kiss It Better, lifted off her new album Anti, live for the first time but news of her sudden cancellation broke shortly before the awards kicked off. TMZ reports that Rihanna, 27, had been suffering from bronchitis for several days before the show and was taking antibiotics.

Although the singer had arrived at the Staples Center ahead of the awards, a doctor ordered her to rest her vocals forcing her to pull out of the performance. Sharing her disappointment, Rihanna told her Twitter followers: "#NAVY so sorry I couldn't be there ..... Thanks Grammys and CBS for your support tonight."

Rihanna Anti
Rihanna cancelled her performance at the Grammys 2016 due to an illness Kevin Winter/Getty Images for iHeartMedia

Adele suffers technical difficulties

There is rarely a time when Adele gives a poor performance but even the powerhouse vocalist is not immune to technical issues. The British singer was in the midst of singing the ballad All I Ask when her sound abruptly cut out, only to return a few seconds later. Despite the clear technical problems, many also criticised Adele's vocals for being off-key but the singer later explained the mishap on Twitter, writing: "The piano mics fell on to the piano strings, that's what the guitar sound was. It made it sound out of tune. S**t happens. Because of it though... I'm treating myself to an in n out. So maybe it was worth it."

Gwen Stefani music video fall

The No Doubt singer made history by filming the music video for her new single Make Me Like You completely live during the awards ceremony. However, perhaps with pressures of the big task, one of Stefani's body doubles took a tumble while dancing on roller blades. Happens to the best of us.

Not enough Beyonce

Prior to the awards, there were rumours that queen Bey would make a surprise appearance to perform her new single Formation but the singer was a no-show. Well, the singer did turn up to the awards but only to present the record of the year accolade to the winners, Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson for Uptown Funk.

However, fans were not happy with Beyonce's brief appearance and some even claimed the ceremony would have improved if the singer actually sang at the awards. It was believed that Beyonce was due to sit front row at the Grammys after a leaked photo of the seating arrangement showed her sitting near songwriter Jeff Bhasker but the singer simply presented the award and left.

Beyonce Grammys 2016
Beyonce presented at the Grammys 2016 but did not perform, much to the dismay of her fans Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

Lauryn Hill cancels on The Weeknd

Lauryn Hill was revealed as a last-minute addition to the line-up to sing a duet with The Weeknd but she cancelled her appearance. In a statement released to Billboard, Hill's reps accused the Grammys of announcing the singer's performance without confirmation, explaining: "The Grammys announced a performance by Ms Lauryn Hill prematurely and without approval. Ms Hill had concerts all weekend, leaving no time to prepare, and was uncertain she would even be able to make it to LA in time to rehearse for the event.

"Any performance that could have happened was never confirmed, and should not have been advertised as such. Ms Hill was invited to do a collaboration with an artist she appreciates. The performance was intended to be a surprise and unfortunately due to its last-minute nature, was unable to come to fruition."

Grammys live stream fails

Viewers at home were hoping to catch the action through a live-stream on the Grammys website but found there was no connection. CBS, which was broadcasting the awards on TV, issued a statement explaining the problem, saying: "Some users experienced temporary difficulty accessing the live online feed of the Grammys. Our location services provider had a brief issue verifying user location. That issue has since been resolved and all users are back online."