In honor of Women’s History Month, let’s look at records that women have set at awards shows. These aren’t simply instances of the first woman to do this or that; these are cases where a woman holds a record that isn’t gender-specific.

In some cases, women are absolutely crushing it in a particular category. Billie Eilish set a record in 2020 as the youngest person to win the Grammy for album of the year. She was just 18 when she won for When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? The old record was held by Taylor Swift, who was 20 when she won for Fearless. Before that, it was held by Alanis Morissette, who was 21 when she won for Jagged Little Pill. And before that it was held by Barbra Streisand who was 22 when she won for The Barbra Streisand Album. Between them, these four women have held this record continuously since Streisand first set it in May 1964.

The all-time youngest winners in the three other Big Four Grammy categories are also women. Eilish is the youngest winner for record of the year, for “Bad Guy,” also in 2020. Lorde, 17 at the time, was the youngest winner for song of the year, for “Royals.” LeAnn Rimes, just 14 at the time, was the youngest winner for best new artist.

A total of 16 artists have received Grammy nominations in each of the Big Four categories — album, record and song of the year, plus best new artist — in the same calendar year. A whopping 12 of those artists have been women, from Bobbie Gentry (1968) to Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter (both 2025).

Women solo artists have won the Grammy for best new artist at each of the last nine ceremonies, from Alessia Cara in 2018 to Olivia Dean in 2026.

Women also rule at the MTV Video Music Awards. The four artists who have won the most Moon Persons (it still doesn’t roll off the tongue as easily as Moonman, does it?) are all women. Swift and Beyoncé are tied for the lead with 30 wins each, followed by Lady Gaga (22) and Madonna (20).

In the history of the Academy Awards, just four people have been nominated for Oscars for acting and songwriting in the same year. Three are women: Mary J. Blige, Lady Gaga and Cynthia Erivo.

Here are 20 more awards show records held by women: