All this week, Billboard has been looking at the most successful producers of the 2000s. But who are the most awarded producers since 2000? Let’s take a look at the producer category at five top awards shows.
Grammy Awards
Pharrell Williams has won the Grammy for producer of the year, non-classical three times in this century, more than anyone else. He won the 2003 award in collaboration with Chad Hugo in The Neptunes and won the 2013 and 2018 awards on his own.
Williams won multiple Grammys in all three of these years. He also took the 2003 award for best pop vocal album for co-producing Justin Timberlake’s solo debut Justified; the 2013 award for album of the year for co-producing Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories (and two other awards for its breakout hit “Get Lucky”); and the 2018 award for best pop vocal album for co-producing Ariana Grande’s Sweetener.
Rick Rubin and Greg Kurstin are runners-up, with two wins each for producer of the year, non-classical since 2000. Rubin won the 2006 and 2008 awards. Kurstin won the 2016 and 2017 awards. Kurstin was the first producer to win back-to-back awards in this category since Babyface won three years running — 1995-97.
Remarkably, Rubin produced or co-produced three of the 2006 album of the year nominees: The Chicks’ Taking the Long Way (which won), Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Stadium Arcadium, and Timberlake’s sophomore album, FutureSex/LoveSounds. (And this was back when there were just five nominees in the category.) Rubin was the sole producer of the albums by The Chicks and the Peppers and was one of five producers on Timberlake’s opus. Rubin won four other Grammys that year.
Kurstin won three other Grammys — album, record and song of the year — at the 2016 awards for his work on Adele’s 25.
Producers who have won producer of the year, non-classical once since 2000 are Dr. Dre, T Bone Burnett, Arif Mardin, Chad Hugo (Williams’ partner in The Neptunes), John Shanks, Steve Lillywhite, Mark Ronson, Brendan O’Brien, Danger Mouse, Paul Epworth, Dan Auerbach, Max Martin, Jeff Bhasker, Finneas and Andrew Watt.
No female producer has ever won in this category, which was introduced at the 1974 awards. (Thom Bell was the inaugural winner.) Since 2000, two female producers have been nominated: Lauren Christy, who shared a 2003 nod with Graham Edwards and Scott Spock (as The Matrix), and Linda Perry, who received a 2018 nod. Perry was the first woman to receive a nod on her own in this category since Sheryl Crow and Lauryn Hill, who were each nominated at the 1998 awards.
Here are the producers who have amassed the most Grammy nominations for producer of the year, non-classical since 2000:
Six nods:
Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis (plus five more nods prior to 2000; their total of 11 nods is the most for any producer in the history of this category)
Five nods:
Danger Mouse, Nigel Godrich
Four nods:
Pharrell Williams, Greg Kurstin, T Bone Burnett
Three nods:
Dan Auerbach, Larry Klein, Dr. Dre, Rob Cavallo (plus two more nods prior to 2000), Rick Rubin (plus two more nods prior to 2000)
Two nods:
Dave Cobb, Jack Antonoff, Ricky Reed, John Hill, Blake Mills, Max Martin, Jeff Bhasker, Diplo, Paul Epworth, Dr. Luke, The Smeezingtons, will.i.am, Howard Benson, Chad Hugo
Here are the top winners in the producer category at four other awards shows:
ACM Awards
Jay Joyce has won this award (which was introduced in 2003) five times, more than anyone else. Dann Huff is runner-up, with three wins. Tony Brown and Dave Cobb have each won twice.
Producers who have won once are James Stroud, Buddy Cannon, Mark Wright, Paul Worley, Frank Liddell and busbee. The latter producer won following his untimely death in September 2019.
BET Hip Hop Awards
Kanye West, DJ Mustard and Metro Boomin have each won this award (which was introduced in 2006) twice. West won in 2009 and 2012. The wins for DJ Mustard and Metro Boomin were consecutive, in 2014-15 and 2016-17, respectively.
Producers who have won once in the category are Jermaine Dupri, Timbaland, Akon, Swizz Beatz, Lex Lugar, Mike Will Made-It, Pharrell Williams, DJ Khaled and Hit-Boy.
iHeartRadio Music Awards
No producer has won this award (which was introduced in 2017) twice. Benny Blanco, Andrew Watt, Louis Bell, Finneas and Max Martin have each won once.
Juno Awards
Bob Rock and Daniel Lanois have each won producer of the year three times since 2000 at Canada’s premier awards show. Brian Howes has won twice.
