Nirvana awards and nominations
Cobain and Novoselic at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards
Totals[a]
Wins17
Nominations27
Note
  1. ^ Certain award groups do not simply award one winner. They recognize several different recipients, have runners-up, and have third place. Since this is a specific recognition and is different from losing an award, runner-up mentions are considered wins in this award tally. For simplification and to avoid errors, each award in this list has been presumed to have had a prior nomination.

Nirvana was an American rock band formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington. The band went through a succession of drummers and eventually settled on Dave Grohl, who joined the band in 1990.[1] They have released three studio albums: Bleach (1989), Nevermind (1991), and In Utero (1993). The first album was released on the Sub Pop record label, while the remaining albums were released by DGC Records.[2]

The band received several awards and nominations in their debut year in 1992, including nominations for Favorite New Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Artist from the American Music Awards, Best Alternative Music Performance for Nevermind from the Grammy Awards, and Video of the Year and Viewer's Choice for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from the MTV Video Music Awards. They received the Best Alternative Video award for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Best New Artist from the MTV Video Music Awards in the same year. The song "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was also nominated for Best Rock Song at the 1993 Grammy Awards, but it lost to "Layla" by Eric Clapton. Clapton's win over Nirvana would later be named one of the "10 biggest upsets" in Grammy history by Entertainment Weekly.[3] After receiving five nominations from the Grammy Awards without winning any of them, the band finally received the Best Alternative Music Performance award for MTV Unplugged In New York in 1996. Overall, Nirvana has received twelve awards from twenty-five nominations.

American Music Awards

The American Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony created by Dick Clark in 1973. Nirvana has received one award from two nominations.[4][5][6]

Year Nominee / work Award Result
1992 Nirvana Favorite New Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Artist Nominated
1995 Nirvana Favorite Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Artist Won

BMI Pop Awards

Year Nominee / work Award Result Ref.
1996 "About a Girl" Award-Winning Song Won [7]

Billboard Music Awards

The Billboard Music Awards honor artists for commercial performance in the U.S., based on record charts published by Billboard.[8] The awards are based on sales data by Nielsen SoundScan and radio information by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems.[9] The award ceremony was held from 1990 to 2007, until its reintroduction in 2011.[10]

Year Nominee / work Award Result
1994 Nirvana Top Billboard 200 Artist - Duo/Group Nominated

Brit Awards

The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. Nirvana has won one award from three nominations.[11][12]

Year Nominee / work Award Result
1993 Nirvana International Breakthrough Act Won
International Group Nominated
1994 Nominated

GAFFA Awards

Denmark GAFFA Awards

Delivered since 1991, the GAFFA Awards are a Danish award that rewards popular music by the magazine of the same name.

Year Nominee / work Award Result Ref.
2006 Unplugged in New York Best Foreign Music-DVD Won [13]
2009 Live at Reading Won

Grammy Awards

The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States. Nirvana has received 1 award from a total of seven nominations.[4][14][15][16][17][18] In 2023, Nirvana were awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2023 Grammy Awards. Notably, Pat Smear was honored at the event (alongside Novoselic and Grohl), despite his brief tenure in the band. Each member received their own trophy at the ceremony.[19]

Year Nominee / work Award Result
1992 Nevermind Best Alternative Music Performance Nominated[20]
1993 "Smells Like Teen Spirit" Best Hard Rock Performance Nominated
Best Rock Song Nominated
1994 In Utero Best Alternative Music Performance Nominated
1995 "All Apologies" Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal Nominated
Best Rock Song Nominated
1996 MTV Unplugged in New York Best Alternative Music Performance Won
2023 — Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award Honored

Juno Awards

The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame are also inducted as part of the awards ceremonies.[21]

Year Nominee / work Award Result
1993 Nevermind Best Selling Album (Foreign or Domestic) Nominated

MOJO Awards

MOJO Awards are awarded by the popular British music magazine, Mojo, published monthly by Bauer.

Year Nominee / work Award Result
2007 Live! Tonight! Sold Out!! Vision Award Nominated

MTV Video Music Awards

The MTV Video Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony established in 1984 by MTV. Nirvana has received five awards from ten nominations.[4][22][23][24]

Year Nominee / work Award Result
1992 "Smells Like Teen Spirit" Video of the Year Nominated
Best New Artist in a Video Won
Best Alternative Video Won
Viewer's Choice Nominated
1993 "In Bloom" Best Alternative Video Won
1994 "Heart-Shaped Box" Video of the Year Nominated
Best Alternative Video Won
Best Art Direction in a Video Won
Best Cinematography in a Video Nominated
Viewer's Choice Nominated

NME Awards

Founded by the British music magazine NME, the NME Awards are awarded annually. Nirvana has won four awards from nine nominations.[25][26]

Year Nominee / work Award Result
1991 "Smells Like Teen Spirit" Best Single Won
1995 Kurt Cobain's Suicide Bummer of the Year Won
2000 "Smells Like Teen Spirit" Best Single Ever Won
2003 "You Know You're Right" Best Video Nominated
2005 With The Lights Out Best Music DVD Nominated
2008 Unplugged in New York Won
2010 Live at Reading Nominated
2012 Nevermind Best Reissue Nominated
2014 In Utero Nominated

O Music Awards

The O Music Awards [27] is an awards show presented by Viacom to honor music, technology and intersection between the two.[28] The 1st O Music Awards ceremony was held on April 28, 2011 on Fremont Street in Downtown Las Vegas.[29]

Year Nominee / work Award Result
2011 "Smells Like Teen Spirit" Best Vintage Viral Video Won

Pollstar Concert Industry Awards

The Pollstar Concert Industry Awards aim to reward the best in the business of shows and concerts.[30]

Year Nominee / work Award Result
1992 Themselves Best New Rock Artist Won
Nevermind Tour Club Tour of the Year Nominated

References

  1. ^ Harrington, Richard; Leiby, Richard (1994-04-09). "Nirvana Singer Found Dead". The Washington Post.
  2. ^ "Main Albums". allmusic. Retrieved 2008-10-11.
  3. ^ Endelman, Michael (2007). "Grammy's 10 Biggest Upsets". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2008-10-11.
  4. ^ a b c "Nirvana". Rock on the Net. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
  5. ^ "19th American Music Awards". Rock on the Net. Retrieved 2008-10-11.
  6. ^ Hilburn, Robert (1995-02-01). "Pret-a-Pop Comes to the Shrine Pop music". Los Angeles Times.
  7. ^ "Billboard". June 1996.
  8. ^ "About | Billboard Music Awards". Billboard Music Award. Archived from the original on May 12, 2015. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  9. ^ "50 Cent, Green Day Reap Major Billboard Music Awards". Billboard. December 7, 2005. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  10. ^ Grein, Paul (May 13, 2015). "Billboard Music Awards Predictions: Sure Things and Oddities". Yahoo!. Archived from the original on June 30, 2015. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  11. ^ "The Brit Awards". Everyhit.com. Retrieved 2009-04-28.
  12. ^ "History".
  13. ^ "1991-2014 GAFFA Prize - And the winners are ..." GAFFA (in Danish). Denmark. Retrieved September 2, 2019.
  14. ^ "34th Grammy Awards - 1992". Rock on the Net. Retrieved 2008-10-11.
  15. ^ "35th Grammy Awards - 1993". Rock on the Net. Retrieved 2008-10-11.
  16. ^ "36th Grammy Awards - 1994". Rock on the Net. Retrieved 2008-10-11.
  17. ^ "37th Grammy Awards - 1995". Rock on the Net. Retrieved 2008-10-11.
  18. ^ Grein, Paul; Hilburn, Robert (1996-02-25). "Grammy Carey-Over?". Los Angeles Times.
  19. ^ "Nirvana Receives The Lifetime Achievement Award At The 2023 GRAMMYs". www.grammy.com. Retrieved 2023-02-14.
  20. ^ Gaar, Gillian (September 21, 2023). "11 Reasons Why 1993 Was Nirvana's Big Year". GRAMMY.com. Retrieved September 22, 2023.
  21. ^ "Submit to The JUNO Award". Juno Award. Archived from the original on 7 September 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  22. ^ "1992 Video Music Awards". MTV. Retrieved 2008-10-11.
  23. ^ "1993 Video Music Awards". MTV. Retrieved 2008-10-11.
  24. ^ "1994 Video Music Awards". MTV. Retrieved 2008-10-11.
  25. ^ "NME awards winners". BBC Online. Retrieved 2009-04-28.
  26. ^ "Muse & Kasabian win big". BBC Online. February 25, 2010. Retrieved August 23, 2010.
  27. ^ "MTV to Launch OMAs, Digital Music Awards Show in April". Billboard. Associated Press. February 24, 2011. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
  28. ^ "About the O Music Awards". Viacom. Archived from the original on February 2, 2012. Retrieved May 28, 2012.
  29. ^ "Viva Las Vegas!". O Music Awards Blog. Viacom. April 19, 2011. Retrieved May 28, 2012.
  30. ^ "Pollstar Awards Archive". Pollstar. Archived from the original on June 16, 2015. Retrieved August 22, 2015.

External links

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