Exclusive | How Carlos Santana ruled a historic Grammy night with his Supernatural sweep 25 years ago

Carlos Santana had no idea about the kind of otherworldly magic that his “Supernatural” album was going to conjure up when it swept the Grammys 25 years ago.“I didn’t have any expectations, but I had what I call ‘willingness,’” the 77-year-old guitar god told The Post via email.“I just opened my heart to manifest blessings and miracles.“Before the show, my kids were asking me about it,” he continued.

“I was trying to stay grounded.”But as the night went on at the newly built Staples Center in Los Angeles on Feb.23, 2000, “Supernatural” — the blockbuster LP by Santana’s namesake — was on its way to historic heights propelled by its smash singles “Smooth” (featuring Rob Thomas) and “Maria Maria” (featuring the Product G&B).Santana would tie Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” record for the most Grammy wins by an artist in one night with eight victories.

And the album “Supernatural” would go a step further with another win that brought its total to nine out of 11 nominations — sharing the record for the winningest album with U2’s “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.” And a quarter century later, both records still stand.“It was really validating,” said Santana, who had only won one Grammy before in three previous nominations.“All I could think about was being that kid from Mexico and all I wanted to do was play with Michael Bloomfield and Jerry Garcia, and then to have the night unfold as it did was incredible.

I know they were smiling down on me.”Going into the 42nd annual awards, longtime Grammy producer Ken Ehrlich had a feeling that Santana and “Supernatural” — which led the nominees — would have a big night.He just didn’t know how big.“I did try and handicap the show, and it was clearly a frontrunner,” he told The Post about the album, which featured an all-star array of guest artists, including Dave Matthews, Lauryn Hill and Eric Clapton.

“It was very unique, different than pretty...