LOS ANGELES - Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift both won their first Grammys -- and soon after, their second -- but both lagged behind Beyonce as the pre-telecast ceremony of the 52nd Grammy Awards drew to a close on Sunday.

The three young women were expected to dominate the proceedings this year, and that was how things were shaping up as the first 100 prizes were given out during the non-televised portion of the show, where the bulk of the hardware is handed out before the evening gala.

Beyonce led the pack with four awards, including best R&B song and contemporary R&B album, with Gaga and Swift picking up two each. All three artists held multiple nominations heading into the evening show, including nods in three of the show's marquee categories: album of the year, record of the year and song of the year.

The Black Eyed Peas won three trophies during the early show while Maxwell, Jay-Z, Eminem, Jason Mraz, Bela Fleck and Kings of Leon were each two-time winners.

Canadians Neil Young and Michael J. Fox both won their first-ever Grammy prizes, while Vancouver's Michael Buble took his second career award.

Among the feted trio of 20-something pop stars, Gaga struck first, winning awards for best dance recording ("Poker Face") and best electronic/dance album ("The Fame.") The platinum-blond electro-pop oddball wasn't around to pick up her first-ever Grammy, though she was said to be in the building.

Swift soon caught up. As she won her first award of the night -- best female country vocal performance for "White Horse" -- she raised her hand to her mouth in shock as she gingerly made her way to the stage.

"This is this is my first Grammy, you guys! I mean, this is a Grammy!" she said, eyes wide in surprise.

She wore the same shell-shocked look a few minutes later when she reappeared onstage to claim the award for best country song -- again for "White Horse," which she co-wrote with Liz Rose.

"Years ago, this curly-headed 14 year old walked up to me and said: 'You think you'd write with me sometime?"' Rose recalled.

"Thankfully, I said yes."

All three are set to perform in the evening ceremony.

Beyonce is set to do a medley of "If I Were a Boy" and Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know." Gaga will be accompanied onstage by Elton John. And Swift will be joined by Stevie Nicks for a medley of Swift's "Today was a Fairytale" and "You Belong With Me" and Fleetwood Mac's "Rhiannon."

The Black Eyed Peas, meanwhile, are set to perform a medley of their hits "Imma Be" and "I Gotta Feeling," which will feature a video collage of fan-generated YouTube clips (along with celebrity cameos from the likes of 50 Cent, Adam Lambert and Alex Rodriguez).

Bon Jovi, meanwhile, will perform a medley of "We Weren't Born to Follow" and "Who Says You Can't Go Home" with Jennifer Nettles, plus another track -- "Livin' on a Prayer," "Always" or "It's My Life" -- that will be selected based on online votes.

Young claimed his trophy for best boxed or special limited edition package, given for the elaborately designed first volume of his long-awaited "Archives" collection.

The Toronto-born singer's first-ever Grammy came only days after he was celebrated on Friday night as the MusiCares Person of the Year, which recognizes an artist's philanthropy.

He had the opportunity to add to his tally later but lost out best solo rock vocal performance to Bruce Springsteen.

Fox, who was raised in Burnaby, B.C., picked up the prize for best spoken word album for his reading of "Always Looking Up," a memoir about his battle with Parkinson's disease.

Buble, meanwhile, won best traditional pop vocal album for "Michael Buble Meets Madison Square Garden." It's the same category the 34-year-old won in 2008.

Toronto rapper Drake didn't win either award for which he was nominated, but he was still scheduled take the stage later to perform his hit "Forever" with Lil Wayne and Eminem, along with a percussion assist from Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker.

Alberta powwow dance group Northern Cree, Toronto R&B singer Melanie Fiona, hard-rockers Nickelback and producer David Foster also went home empty-handed in their categories.

Montreal duo Beast's video for "Mr. Hurricane" lost out to the Black Eyed Peas' ubiquitous "Boom Boom Pow" clip, but the pair swaggered through a performance of the stuttering rocker at the afternoon ceremony while their trippy clip played overhead.

"Are you sure that was the pre-telecast?" said host Tia Carrerre, apparently impressed by the band's performance.

Claus Ogerman won for best instrumental arrangement accompanying vocalists for Diana Krall's "Quiet Nights." Krall, from Nanaimo, B.C., was also connected to Yo-Yo Ma's & Friends' "Songs of Joy and Peace," which won best classical crossover album and also featured Natalie MacMaster of Inverness County, N.S.

The Grammys air at 8 p.m. on Global and CBS.