The 12 Heaviest Bands Who Have Won a Grammy Award

Who are some of the heaviest artists that have won Grammy awards?

The first time metal was acknowledged as a genre was in 1989 with the category Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental. Of course, that was an infamous award, as Jethro Tull‘s Crest of a Knave beat Metallica‘s …And Justice for All. 

The following year, metal got its own category with Best Metal Performance, and it’s been included in every Grammy Awards ceremony since then. Fortunately, Metallica redeemed themselves that year and took home the award for the song “One,” as well as the following year with “Stone Cold Crazy.”

Since the early ’90s, a variety of rock and metal artists were nominated for and even won awards in the ceremony — some of which may have been a bit questionable as far as the label “metal” goes. One example was in 1995 when Soundgarden won in the category with the Superunknown hit “Spoonman.”

READ MORE: Here’s All the 2025 Rock, Metal + Alternative Grammy Nominees

“We’re not gonna leave the stage tonight until you tell us we’re heavy metal,” Chris Cornell sarcastically said while accepting the award.

So, who are the heaviest bands who’ve won Grammy awards? Keep scrolling to see the list below. We mentioned which category they won the award in underneath each image.