( CNN ) -- Sunday night 's 55th annual Grammy Awards were as much about the performances as it was the actual statues handed out . The evening saw some powerful collaborations among artists , and all eyes were on one controversial performer . Here are the top 5 moments of the night : . 1 ) Killer performances . Take your pick . From a spirited performance of `` The Weight '' by an all-star group including Sir Elton John , T Bone Burnett , the Zac Brown Band , Mavis Staples , Mumford & Sons and Brittany Howard of the Alabama Shakes , to the many duets like R & B crooner Miguel with Wiz Khalifa and Miranda Lambert with fellow country artist Dierks Bentley , it was all thrilling . Fun . reminded us as to why we loved them when they performed `` Carry On . '' But they won a big award of the night , song of the year , for their hit `` We Are Young . '' And the stars in the audience were grooving along during a tribute to Bob Marley led by Bruno Mars , Rihanna , Sting , Ziggy and Damian Marley . Even Taylor Swift won us over when she took to the stage dressed as a ringmaster and surrounded by circus/carnival types to kick off the ceremony with her hit `` We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together . '' Grammy coverage on Marquee . But one of the most eagerly awaited performances was : . 2 ) The return of Justin Timberlake to the stage . The Grammys went sepia-toned for Timberlake 's performance of his new single `` Suit and Tie , '' which offered plenty of homage to the Rat Pack era with Timberlake in a tux with a bow tie and a big band with similarly suited backup singers billed as `` JT and the Tennessee Kids . '' Jay-Z left his seat in the audience to run up on stage for his rap portion of the song . And Timberlake was cooler than cool as he segued into his new single `` Pusher Love Girl . '' The performance marked the return of Timberlake to music since he took a four-year break to focus on acting . Welcome home JT . 3 ) LL Cool J pulls triple duty . Sure , he 's a big acting star now , but do n't forget that LL , aka James Todd Smith , got his start in the hip hop game . So it felt right when the Grammy host donned a knit cap , a black T-shirt and some subtle bling to perform alongside Chuck D , Travis Barker , Tom Morello and DJ Z-Trip . They closed out the show with `` Welcome to the Terrordome '' and shouted out the late Beastie Boy , Adam `` MCA '' Yauch , with a `` No Sleep Till Brooklyn '' chant . He also kept the audience informed of what folks were saying on social media , reading tweets and responding to some . The Grammys got its monies worth with him . 4 ) Adele did n't wear black . You ca n't not love her as she sings like an angel , is hilarious and just seems so normal . But just like you can always count on a practically flawless performance when she grabs the mic , we thought she was also a sure bet to show up in a black frock . It 's kind of been like her thing . But no . When Adele took to the stage to claim the first award of the night , best pop solo performance for `` Set Fire to the Rain , '' she was wearing a flowery , red and black Valentino dress . New life as a mom and clearly new fashion choices : It was almost as surprising as Prince showing up to present Gotye and Kimbra the record of the year award for `` Somebody That I Used To Know . 5 ) The somewhat anticlimactic appearance of Chris Brown with Rihanna . Despite a few cutaways of the pair sitting together in the audience and Brown standing and clapping following her performance , seeing the two together was not as big a deal as the run up felt like it should be . Friday marked the fourth anniversary of Brown 's assault on Rihanna , which occurred before that year 's Grammy ceremony . The pair had been a huge focus of this year 's Grammys as fans waited to see if they would arrive at the ceremony together and how much `` togetherness '' they would exhibit . But in the end it felt like really no big deal . More surprising was six-time nominee Frank Ocean not winning any of the big awards he was up for . Ocean scored best urban contemporary album and shared best rap collaboration with Kanye West and Jay-Z for `` No Church in the Wild , '' but lost best new artist to Fun . and album of the year to Mumford & Sons . 55th Grammy Awards : The winners list . It was also more fun checking to see which artists ignored the reported Grammys memo asking them to cover up ( we are looking at you and your rather exposed bosom Katy Perry ) . Jennifer Lopez even joked about it while presenting . `` As you can see I read the memo , '' Lopez said , wearing a black dress cut extremely high and fully exposing one leg . CNN 's David Daniel contributed to this story .
The fourth Grammy Awards were held the year the night on Mumford & Sons . NEW : LL Cool J closes out show with a performance . NEW : Mumford & Sons beat Frank Ocean for album of the year .