35 Famous Musicians Who Have Never Won a Grammy

With 32 Grammy awards to her name, Beyoncé holds the title for most wins ever. (Her husband Jay-Z isn’t too far behind her with 24). Other beloved musicians on the list of multiple Grammy Award winners include Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, and Paul McCartney.

But there are plenty of acclaimed artists who have never been honored with the Recording Academy’s little golden record. From ABBA to Tupac, here are 35 of them.

1. ABBA

Nominations: 5

The Swedish pop group’s first nomination wasn’t until the 2022 Grammys, when “I Still Have Faith in You” was up for Record of the Year.

2. Arctic Monkeys

Nominations: 9

The Alex Turner–fronted British rock band has been in the running for Best Alternative Music Album three times, including for their 2006 debut studio album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not.

3. Backstreet Boys

Nominations: 8

The Backstreet Boys lost out on Best New Artist in 1998 to Lauryn Hill. (The other nominees were Andrea Bocelli, Natalie Imbruglia, and the Dixie Chicks.)

4. The Beach Boys

Nominations: 4

Three of the Beach Boys’ four nominations were for “Good Vibrations”; the other was for “Kokomo” more than 20 years later.

5. Björk

Nominations: 16

Some of the early nominations of Iceland’s eclectic pop princess were for her music videos, beginning with “Human Behavior” at the 1994 Grammys.

6. Blake Shelton

Nominations: 8

Gwen Stefani has 18 Grammy nominations and three wins to her name; her husband has yet to nab one.

7. Bob Marley

Nominations: 0

Bob Marley was never nominated for a Grammy, but he has two albums (Catch a Fire and Exodus) and three singles (“Get Up, Stand Up,” “No Woman, No Cry,” and “One Love”) in the Grammy Hall of Fame.

8. Brian McKnight

Nominations: 17

Brian McKnight was a fixture in the R&B award categories throughout the early 2000s; his most recent nomination was Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for “What We Do Here” at the 2005 Grammys.

9. Busta Rhymes

Nominations: 12

Trevor Smith, Jr., a.k.a. Busta Rhymes, has been nominated for plenty of his own songs, but his sole Album of the Year nod was for his feature on Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III. (It lost to Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’s Raising Sand.)

10. Chuck Berry

Nominations: 0

Despite having zero Grammy nominations to his name, rock ‘n’ roll legend Chuck Berry did receive a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, which was given to him in 1984.

11. Dean Martin

Nominations: 1

The King of Cool’s single Grammy nomination was for Everybody Loves Somebody in the Best Male Vocal Performance at the 1965 Grammys. He lost to Louis Armstrong for “Hello, Dolly!” (Back then, singles and albums could be nominated in the same category.)

12. Demi Lovato

Nominations: 2

Demi Lovato’s Confident was up for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 2017 Grammys, but Adele took home the trophy for 25.

13. Diana Ross

Nominations: 13

After two nominations for her work with the Supremes, Diana Ross earned her first solo nod for “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” at the 1971 Grammys. Shockingly, she has never won a Grammy, but she has been a presenter during the ceremony on seven occasions and also has a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

14. Grateful Dead

Nominations: 0

The Grateful Dead has never been up for a Grammy, but front man Jerry Garcia did get a nomination for his participation on the 1992 album Bluegrass Reunion.

15. Guns N’ Roses

Nominations: 3

“Live and Let Die” was up for Best Hard Rock Performance With Vocal at the 1993 Grammys but lost to “Give It Away” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. (So did Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy.”) 

16. Jennifer Lopez

Nominations: 2

Both of Jennifer Lopez’s nominations were for Best Dance Recording: “Waiting for Tonight” and “Let’s Get Loud.”

17. Jimi Hendrix

Nominations: 1

The guitar-smashing rock legend was nominated for a Grammy months after his death in September 1970. His “Star Spangled Banner” lost the award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Performance to Henry Mancini’s album Theme From ‘Z’ and Other Film Music.

18. Jonas Brothers

Nominations: 2

The Jonas Brothers’s two nominations include Best New Artist (they lost to Adele) and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “Sucker” (Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus won for “Old Town Road”).

19. Journey

Nominations: 1

Journey’s single nomination was at the 1997 Grammys for “When You Love a Woman” in the Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal.

20. Katy Perry

Nominations: 13

Many of Katy Perry’s most memorable hits have been up for Grammys, including “Teenage Dream,” “Dark Horse,” “Hot N Cold,” “California Gurls,” and “I Kissed a Girl.”

21. Kiss

Nominations: 1

“Psycho Circus” was nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance at the 1999 Grammys, but Jimmy Page and Robert Plant won for “Most High.”

22. Lana Del Rey

Nominations: 11

The “Born to Die” singer has a chance to break her losing streak at this year’s Grammy Awards: She’s up for five awards, including Album of the Year for Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd.

23. Martina McBride

Nominations: 14

Martina McBride was a familiar name in country categories during the late 1990s and early 2000s, but she hasn’t been nominated in over a decade. 

24. Miley Cyrus

Nominations: 8

The former Disney Channel star also has a chance to get off this list pretty soon: She’s up for six awards at this year’s Grammys, including Album of the Year for Endless Summer Vacation and Record of the Year for “Flowers.”

25. Nicki Minaj

Nominations: 12

Nicki Minaj’s work on the Barbie soundtrack could earn her a career-first Grammy: Her song “Barbie World” is nominated for Best Song Written for Visual Media and Best Rap Song.

26. Notorious B.I.G.

Nominations: 4

Biggie’s first nomination was for his 1994 single “Big Poppa,” which lost the Best Rap Solo Performance award to Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise.”

27. NSYNC

Nominations: 8

NSYNC never won a Grammy, but Justin Timberlake went on to win 10.

28. Patti Smith

Nominations: 4

Half of Patti Smith’s nominations are for narrating audiobooks: one for Jo Nesbø’s novel Blood on Snow, and another for her own memoir M Train.

29. Queen

Nominations: 4

“Bohemian Rhapsody” was up for two Grammys: Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus, and Best Arrangement for Voices (Duo, Group or Chorus). It lost the former to Chicago’s “If You Leave Me Now” and the latter to Starland Vocal Band’s “Afternoon Delight.”

30. Rush

Nominations: 7

Six of Rush’s seven nominations were for Best Rock Instrumental Performance; the seventh was for the 2010 documentary Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage, which lost in the Music Video/Long Form category to When You’re Strange, a documentary about The Doors.

31. Selena Gomez

Nominations: 2

Selena Gomez’s earlier work wasn’t recognized at the Grammys at all, but her 2021 album Revelación was nominated for Best Latin Pop Album, and she has an Album of the Year nomination for being featured on Coldplay’s 2021 album Music of the Spheres.

32. Sia

Nominations: 9

Sia’s 2014 hit “Chandelier” was nominated for four Grammys: Best Music Video, Best Pop Solo Performance, Record of the Year, and Song of the Year. It lost the first two to Pharrell Williams’s “Happy” and the second two to Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me (Darkchild Version).”

33. Snoop Dogg

Nominations: 16

Calvin Broadus, better known as Snoop Dogg, has garnered a number of nominations for collaborating with artists like Katy Perry, Dr. Dre, and Kendrick Lamar. But some of his own singles, including “Gin and Juice” and “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” have also been up for Grammys.

34. Spice Girls

Nominations: 0

The Spice Girls never even got a Grammy nomination, let alone a win. But they do have a few American Music Awards and a handful of BRITs to their name.

35. Tupac Shakur

Nominations: 7

Tupac could posthumously win his first Grammy this year: Dear Mama, the documentary miniseries about the rapper and his mother, is nominated for Best Music Film.