Kendrick Lamar has made music history by becoming the most awarded rapper in Grammy Awards history, confirming his place among the greatest artists of all time. At the 68th Grammy Awards, the Compton-born rapper surpassed Jay-Z’s long-held record of 25 Grammy wins, pushing his total to 27 awards and setting a new record.
Kendrick entered the night with 22 Grammy wins, meaning he needed four more victories to move ahead of Jay-Z. During the pre-show, he won Best Rap Performance, Best Melodic Rap Performance, and Best Rap Song, quickly raising his total to 25 and tying Jay-Z’s record.
The historic moment came later in the evening when Kendrick won Best Rap Album for GNX. That win gave him his 26th Grammy, officially placing him alone at the top of hip-hop’s all-time Grammy list. By the end of the night, his total climbed to 27 wins from 66 career nominations, making him the fifth most-awarded artist in Grammy history across all genres, behind only Beyoncé, Sir Georg Solti, Quincy Jones, and Chick Corea. Jay-Z had held the title of the most awarded rapper with 25 Grammy wins before Kendrick broke it.
At the 2026 Grammys, Kendrick’s wins covered several major categories. Along with Best Rap Album for GNX, he won Best Rap Song for “tv off,” Best Melodic Rap Performance for “Luther” with SZA, and Best Rap Performance as a featured artist on Clipse’s “Chains & Whips.” “Luther” also won Record of the Year, making Kendrick the first rapper ever to win the award two years in a row.
That achievement followed an unforgettable moment at the 2025 Grammys, when Kendrick’s diss track “Not Like Us” dominated the awards. The song, released during his highly publicized feud with Drake, became a global hit and won five Grammy awards in one night including Record of the Year and Song of the Year. It was the first diss track in Grammy history to achieve such success, and the rivalry helped push the song into mainstream pop culture.
Although Kendrick has not yet won Album of the Year, he has already made history in that category. When the 2026 nominations were announced, he became the first rapper to be nominated five times as a lead artist and the first solo artist ever to earn five consecutive Album of the Year nominations.
From To Pimp a Butterfly in 2016 to Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers in 2023 and now GNX in 2026, Kendrick has won Best Rap Album three times.
