Many of us are still shocked at Beyoncé’s surprising Album Of The Year loss at the 2023 Grammys this past Sunday (February 5). Beyhivers are, however, excited at the fact that while she didn’t get the coveted AOTY honor for her seventh studio album Renaissance, she did make history that night. On Grammy night, Beyoncé took home the Grammy awards for Best Dance Recording with her hit single, “Break My Soul,” Best R&B Song with “Cuff It,” Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance with “Plastic Off The Sofa,” and Best Dance/Electronica Album with Renaissance.
These wins brought the total amount of Grammys she’s earned in her career up to 32, which has made her the most Grammy-awarded artist of all time.
Let’s break down the Grammys she has won over the course of the past two decades.
Bey won her first two Grammys in 2001 at 43rd Grammy Awards as a member of Destiny’s Child. She shares the win with her bandmates Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams for Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal with their hit single, “Say My Name.” The following year, the group won again for Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal with “Survivor.”
Her first wins as a solo artist came in 2004, when she took home the awards for Best Contemporary R&B Album for her solo debut album, Dangerously In Love. On that album is the song “Dangerously In Love 2,” for which she won Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. Her Luther Vandross duet “The Closer I Get To You” won the Grammy for Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals. And of course, her solo breakthrough, “Crazy In Love,” which features Jay-Z, won Best R&B Song and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration.
In 2006, she, alongside her Destiny’s Child bandmates, took home the award for Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals for their song “So Amazing” from their last album, Destiny Fulfilled.
The following year, her sophomore album, B’Day, won Best Contemporary R&B Album.
In 2010, “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It),” won three Grammys, including Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, Best R&B Song, and Song Of The Year. “Halo” won the award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Both of these songs come from Beyoncé’s third solo album, I Am…Sasha Fierce, which won the Grammy for Best Contemporary R&B Album. Her cover of Etta James’ “At Last,” which she performed in the movie Cadillac Records, Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance.
In 2013, Love On Top from her fourth studio album 4 won Best Traditional R&B Performance. Later that year, she would release her game-changing self-titled fifth album by surprise.
With Beyoncé, she released a music video for each track, and several artists followed suit with the surprise release strategy. Given the album’s cultural impact, it seemed as though the Album Of The Year award was a given for the 57th Grammy Awards in 2015.
That year, she and Jay-Z took home the Best R&B Performance and Best R&B Song award for their collaboration, “Drunk In Love.” Beyoncé also won the award for Best Surround Sound Album, however, her loss for Album Of The Year sent the world into a big shock.
Two years later, the world was equally shocked when her sixth album, Lemonade, lost the Album Of The Year award again. She did, however, take home the Grammy for Best Urban Contemporary Album, as well as Best Music Video for Lemonade single “Formation.”
In 2019, she and Jay-Z won the Best Urban Contemporary Album for their joint album, Everything Is Love. The following year, her Netflix documentary, Homecoming, which goes behind the scenes of her 2018 Coachella performance, won the award for Best Music Film.
At the 2021 ceremony, her Megan Thee Stallion collaboration, “Savage,” won the Grammys for Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song. “Black Parade” and “Brown Skin Girl,” which are featured in her Disney+ short film Black Is King, won the Best R&B Performance and Best Music Video awards respectively.
So although Bey has not won the coveted Album Of The Year award, each of her solo albums have won Grammys in other categories. As the artist who hold the most Grammys, its safe to say the music speaks for itself.