Every year, the Recording Academy dishes out dozens of Grammy Awards. From pop to hip-hop, classical, bluegrass, rock, country, folk, and onward, earning a golden gramophone trophy is a major milestone in any artist’s career—and one that, for most, happens rarely. But for the most revered singers and songwriters, Grammy wins can stack up fast.
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Which artist has earned the most Grammy Awards? Well, it isn’t Paul McCartney, with 18 wins between his various bands and solo projects. Nor is it Elvis Presley, who became a singing sensation years before the Grammy Awards launched.
Some familiar names are just outside the Top 11 with 20 or more Grammy wins, including U2 (22 wins), Vince Gill (22), and Bruce Springsteen (20). But the title (as of this writing in mid-2023) belongs to a massive musical and cultural figure from the world of pop. And it’s not Taylor Swift (she’s scored 12 wins, an impressive showing from pop music’s modern-day heavyweight, but nowhere close to the top of the heap).
Let’s dig into which artists crack the Top 11 of the all-time Grammy Awards wins list.
7. (tie) Jay-Z – 24 wins
Talk about a power couple. Jay-Z, an acclaimed rapper, entrepreneur and husband to Beyoncé, follows his wife as one of the most-awarded artists in Recording Academy history. He won his first Grammy in 1999, behind the breakout album Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life and hasn’t looked back. Now decades into a career that includes 88 Grammy Award nominations, it would be rare for Jay-Z to work on a project and not receive a nod from voters.
7. (tie) Kanye West – 24 wins
Jay-Z isn’t the only rapper to snag 24 Grammy wins. He shares that title with Kanye West, the often polarizing and wildly influential Chicago-raised rapper who earned his first gramophone in 2004, behind breakout debut album The College Dropout. Including Dropout, West has earned four all-genre Album of the Year nominations and four wins in the Best Rap Album category. His most recent victory as of this writing was for Best Rap Song in 2022, for “Jail” off the studio album dedicated to his late mother, Donda.
6. (tie) John Williams – 25 wins
The nonagenarian composer provided the soundtrack for countless childhoods with his magical film scores to beloved film franchises like Star Wars, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Home Alone, and so many others.
6. (tie) Vladimir Horowitz – 25 wins
A celebrated pianist who made his American performance debut at New York City’s Carnegie Hall nearly a century ago, Horowitz scored his first Grammy Award in the program’s inaugural year, for Best Classical Performance, Instrumentalist. He soon became a regular at the ceremony, earning trophies at each of the first 11 Grammy Awards ceremonies. His last win was a posthumous one, at the 35th annual ceremony in 1993.
6. (tie) Stevie Wonder – 25 wins
When someone says “Stevie Wonder,” what album comes to mind? Talking Book? Songs in the Key of Life? Hotter Than July? Fulfillingness’ First Finale? With a catalog as rich and deep as Wonder’s, it should come as no surprise that he earns a spot among the artists with the most Grammy wins.
5. Pierre Boulez – 26 wins
A French composer, Pierre Boulez began his career in the 1940s, but it wasn’t until 1967 that he brought home his first pair of gramophones, for Album of the Year, Classical, and Best Opera Recording. Another two dozen trophies would follow.
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4. (tie) Chick Corea – 27 wins
Jazz enters the conversation with Chick Corea, a pace-setting pianist who played in Miles Davis’ band and helped shape the progressive genre offshoot known as jazz fusion. Corea has won the most jazz Grammys out of any artist in Recording Academy history, last earning a pair of trophies in 2022, months after his death at age 79.
4. (tie) Alison Krauss – 27 wins
Bluegrass powerhouse Alison Krauss quietly became one of the winningest artists in Grammy history due partly to two breakout projects: The soundtrack to the early-2000s Coen Brothers flick O Brother Where Art Thou?, and Raising Sand, a 2007 duet album with Robert Plant. Both efforts won the coveted Album of the Year prize, but neither fully capture the Grammy dominance of Krauss, who has scored trophies in folk, bluegrass, and country music, amongst other genres.
3. Quincy Jones – 28 wins
The third-winningest artist in Grammys history is also be one of the most celebrated record producers and composers of a generation. A 79-time Grammy Awards nominee, Jones has worked with the likes of Michael Jackson, Paul Simon, Aretha Franklin, and many, many more popular music luminaries.
2. Georg Solti – 31 wins
Solti was a Hungarian-British composer and conductor who led the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for more than two decades. He earned 74 Grammy Award nominations in his career, largely in classical categories. His first win, for Best Opera Recording, came in 1962, with his last coming in 1997, the same year he died at age 84.
1. Beyoncé – 32 wins
She’s called Queen Bey for a reason. In 2023, Beyonce broke the all-time record for Grammy Award wins, catapulted by Renaissance, her standout album from a year earlier. She won four awards at the 2023 ceremony in Los Angeles, including Best Dance/Electronic Music Album, which was the trophy that cemented her place in the Grammy Awards history books. When she accepted the record-setting award on stage inside the Crypto.com Arena, a tearful Beyoncé said, “I’m trying not to be too emotional, and I’m trying to just receive this night.”
Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
