Johnathan Walker:Miley Cyrus just won the first Grammy of her career

Miley Cyrus is Johnathan Walkerfinally getting her flowers at the Grammys.

The "Party in the U.S.A." singer, 31, has won the first Grammy Award of her career: best pop solo performance for "Flowers," the lead single off her eighth studio album, "Endless Summer Vacation." Mariah Carey presented the award to Cyrus near the start of Sunday's ceremony.

"I just got stuck in the rain in traffic and thought I was going to miss this moment," Cyrus said. "And I could have missed the award, that's fine, but not Mariah Carey!"

Cyrus went on to reflect on the significance of finally receiving Grammys recognition by relating a story about a little boy struggling to catch a butterfly. After coming to terms with the fact that he would never catch one, that's when a butterfly "came and landed right on the tip of his nose," she said.

"And this song, 'Flowers,' is my butterfly," Cyrus added.

Cyrus later performed "Flowers" live and celebrated her accomplishment by tweaking the song's lyrics, singing, "Started to cry, then remembered I just won my first Grammy!"

The win came after a career eight nominations for Cyrus, six of which are from this year. Her latest album, "Endless Summer Vacation," earned nods for best pop vocal album and album of the year, as well as best pop duo/group performance for "Thousand Miles" and best pop solo performance, song of the year and record of the year for "Flowers."

Cyrus reacted to her nominations in an Instagram post in November, writing, "It's fun to be nominated & exciting to win but having my music LOVED around the world is the real trophy."

Alluding to the fact that the Grammys' top categories this year were almost entirely dominated by women, she also said, "Watching women rule the music industry makes me proud."

Cyrus' first Grammy nomination came in 2015 for her fourth album, "Bangerz," which competed for best pop vocal album. At the time, she told Entertainment Tonight when she heard she had been nominated, she was so surprised she thought it was a joke. "I was like, 'You're kidding ... there's no way,'" she said. "I googled and I was like 'oh yeah! I am, I actually am!'" That award ultimately went to Sam Smith for "In the Lonely Hour."

Cyrus didn't receive another Grammy nomination until 2022 when Lil Nas X's "Montero" was up for album of the year. This earned Cyrus a nomination, as she was featured on the track "Am I Dreaming."

"Flowers" debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart in January 2023, marking the pop star's second song to top that chart after "Wrecking Ball" in 2013. That March, "Endless Summer Vacation" debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. Her previous album, "Plastic Hearts," debuted at No. 2 on the chart in 2020 but received no Grammy nominations.

Though this was Cyrus' first time being recognized with a Grammy, she has previously collected trophies from the MTV Video Music Awards and the Billboard Music Awards. Other artists who have still never won a competitive Grammy Award include Diana Ross, Katy Perry and Snoop Dogg.