The 57th Grammy Awards on Sunday became the night of Sam Smith, the freshman British singer-songwriter who took three of the four top awards, for record, song and new artist.

The runaway success of Smith's career in the span of barely eight months dramatically demonstrated the new world in which music is created, given birth and blossoms at lightning speed thanks to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and other creations of the Internet age.

"Stay With Me," Smith's breakthrough hit, was named record and song of the year, a deeply heartfelt plea to a departing lover.‎

What turned into a huge night for the artist came eight months after the release of his debut album, "In the Lonely Hour," which also took the pop vocal album award.

Less than a year ago, Smith was virtually unknown outside his native England, but thanks to the near-instantaneous speed of word-of-mouth through the blogosphere, the album has sold nearly 2 million albums in the U.S. and more than 5 million worldwide, allowing Smith to headline Madison Square Garden in New York in January and fill two nights at the 18,000-capacity Forum in Inglewood just last week.

@blackboxupdate