The TV shows with the most Emmys in history

Boardwalk Empire earned a total of 20 Emmy wins during its 5-season run, including Outstanding Directing of a Drama Series for Martin Scorsese in 2011, making it one of the most decorated period dramas in TV history. The series captured the gritty world of Prohibition-era Atlantic City, with a critically acclaimed lead performance by Steve Buscemi. While Steve was nominated twice for Best Leading Actor, he never received the accolade, but this didn’t impact Boardwalk’s Emmy standing, with its wins spanning categories from Outstanding Art Direction to Costume Design.

The action-thriller 24 received 20 wins across nine seasons, where Emmy voters proved they couldn’t get enough of Kiefer Sutherland thwarting crime. For his lead role as Jack Bauer, Kiefer was nominated for the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series award for four years before he finally won it in 2006, and went on to receive one more nomination in the category the following year. The show also won four well-deserved Emmys for stunt work.

The long-running police procedural series is the third show to have earned 20 Emmys, with its award season spanning from 1994 to 2002. Dennis Franz picked up the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series award in 1994 for his starring role as Detective Andy Sipowicz, with the show claiming additional wins for art direction, writing, and casting the same year. Dennis went on to win the same award in 1996, 1997, and 1999, making him one of the most decorated members of this category alongside the likes of Bryan Cranston for Breaking Bad and Jon Hamm for Mad Men.

With an incredible 39 seasons, American Masters was a docuseries that chronicled the lives of American artists through archival footage and interviews. The show has won the Outstanding Documentary or Non-Fiction Series award, and its predecessor, the Outstanding Non-Fiction Series award, an incredible total of 10 times, and has picked up numerous honours for sound mixing and writing. American Masters has profiled artists like Charlie Chaplin, Aretha Franklin, and John Lennon, with celebrities like Oprah Winfrey appearing as guest interviewees.

The Jeremy Allen White-led culinary dramedy cooked up a staggering 10 wins during its first year at the Emmys in 2023, including Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for Jeremy and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for Ayo Edebiri. While it continued to dominate the following year, earning Jeremy a second Lead Actor award, The Bear surprisingly didn’t pick up a win in any of its 13 nominated categories in 2025. With a highly anticipated fifth season set to drop in 2026, we’re sure the show’s Emmy journey is far from done.

There have been 34 seasons of the infamous dance competition show since it first aired in 2005, with the latest season airing just days after the 2025 Emmys. Its first awards came in 2006 for costuming and technical direction, but it surprisingly didn’t pick up its first Outstanding Choreography award until 2013, when Derek Hough received the honour. He later shared the same award with his sister, Julianne Hough, and Tessandra Chavez in 2015, and earned several more wins for his solo choreographic work on the show.

The New Jersey-based Mafia series picked up an impressive 21 Emmys across only six seasons, storming the awards scene in 1999 with 16 nominations and a notable Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for Edie Falco as Carmela Soprano. James Gandolfini went on to win the Lead Actor award for three consecutive years from 2000, and numerous members of the Soprano family have also picked up supporting actor and actress nominations, proving great acting definitely runs in the family.

Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino’s period show about a 1950s housewife-turned-comedian was a big hit with the Emmys across its 5-season run, winning Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for star Rachel Brosnahan in 2018. The show also picked up numerous supporting actor and actress awards, including an Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series award for Jane Lynch, as well as some well-earned accolades for costuming, hair, and makeup.

The ‘70s sitcom received 22 Emmys in just under a decade, including Outstanding Series – Comedy in 1971 and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for Carroll O’Connor in 1977. The popular show had a particularly good year in 1978, sweeping six of the nine categories it was nominated in, including a second Lead Actor award for Carroll and Outstanding Lead Actress for Jean Stapleton.

Another family-centered show with an impressive 22 wins, ABC’s Modern Family won the award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2010, with Eric Stonestreet picking up the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series award for his role as Cameron Tucker, beating out castmates Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Ty Burrell in the same category. The show went on to become virtually undefeatable in the Outstanding Comedy Series category, winning the award consecutively until 2016. Ty ended up winning the 2011 Supporting Actor award alongside his on-screen wife Julie Bowen, who picked up Outstanding Supporting Actress.

Chicago-based medical drama ER earned an astonishing 23 nominations in its first year, 1995, taking home awards for editing, directing, and was even recognized for its wonderfully iconic (and very 90s) title sequence with an award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Graphic Design and Title Sequences. ER went on to earn the Outstanding Drama Series award the following year, and remained a regular nominee well into the 2000s, with its most recent win being for Outstanding Direction for a Drama Series in 2009 for the show’s final episode.

Royal drama The Crown made a regal entrance at the Emmys, earning 13 nominations in its debut year, including wins for its lavish production design and costumes, and an Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series nod for John Lithgow as Winston Churchill. Its biggest moment came in 2021 when it swept the major drama categories – Outstanding Drama Series, Lead Actor and Actress, and Supporting Actor and Actress – becoming the first drama series to win all seven top awards in a single year. It rounded out its successful award show run with three more wins in 2024 for its final season, including a Supporting Actress award for Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana.

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Classic sketch comedy series The Carol Burnett Show first appeared on screens in the ‘60s, and would go on to earn 70 nominations over its 11-season run. Notably, it earned the award for Outstanding Variety Series – Musical in 1972, and an Outstanding Achievement by a Performer in Music or Variety for Harvey Korman that same year. An Emmy veteran prior to having her own show, Carol went on to score 25 wins across three decades through The Carol Burnett Show, and went on to pick up even more for her acting work after the show ended.

Earning a then-record 21 Emmy nominations for its first season, gritty police procedural series Hill Street Blues had a striking awards show debut that signalled a new era for network drama. That year, it took home eight wins, including Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Lead Actor/Actress in a Drama Series for stars Daniel J. Travanti and Barbara Babcock. The show went on to win four consecutive Outstanding Drama Series awards from 1981 to 1984, racking up a total of 26 Emmy wins across seven seasons, ending its run in 1987 as one of the most decorated dramas in TV history.

The West Wing chronicled the inner workings of a fictional U.S. president and his senior staff – and made an immediate impact at the Emmys. The show took home nine wins in 2000, including Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Supporting Actor/Actress in a Drama Series for Richard Schiff and Allison Janney. It went on to win Outstanding Drama Series four years in a row (2000–2003), a streak now shared with the aforementioned Hill Street Blues and later Game of Thrones. By the end of its 7-season run, the show had amassed an impressive 26 Emmy wins.

Set in a cozy Boston bar “where everybody knows your name”, the ‘80s sitcom Cheers picked up 13 nominations in its debut year, including a win for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1983. Over its 11-season run, the show became an Emmy juggernaut, earning wins for stars like Ted Danson, Rhea Perlman, and Bebe Neuwirth, and collecting awards for outstanding writing and directing. By the time it wrapped in 1993, Cheers had earned 28 Emmys and earned its status as one of the most critically celebrated sitcoms of all time.

TV darling and The Dick Van Dyke Show alum Mary Tyler Moore defined the sitcom landscape with her debut show, spotlighting a single, independent woman navigating life and work in Minneapolis. The series snagged multiple wins throughout its run, including three consecutive Outstanding Comedy Series awards from 1975 to 1977. Mary’s charm, paired with a stellar supporting cast like Ed Asner and Valerie Harper, earned the show acting honours galore. By the time the curtain fell after seven seasons, The Mary Tyler Moore Show had racked up a remarkable 29 Emmy wins – now that deserves a hat toss.

RuPaul’s Drag Race sashayed onto the reality competition scene and quickly became a cultural phenomenon, dazzling audiences and Emmy voters alike. RuPaul himself had a record-breaking eight-year streak of wins in the Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program category, with the streak being broken in 2024 by Alan Cumming for his work on The Traitors. The show has also won no shortage of awards for makeup, hair, and costume design over its 17-season-and-counting run, and was also nominated across eight categories at the 2025 ceremony. With 29 wins under its belt so far, we have no doubt that RuPaul will return to dazzle at next year’s awards.

A staple of the late-night talk show scene, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver is now a 32-time Emmy Award recipient after last Sunday’s ceremony, where the show won for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series and Outstanding Scripted Variety Series. John himself has received three nominations for hosting, winning one, while the writing team has earned an impressive 11 consecutive nominations – and 10 wins – in the Outstanding Writing category. HBO has renewed the show for three more seasons, so expect to see John once again ruling the Emmys in the future.

Since its debut in 1989, The Simpsons has become an unstoppable force in animated television, with the residents of Springfield winning over viewers across generations. Sitting at a staggering 37 seasons now, the show has received nominations at every Emmy Awards since 1990, earning nominations for Outstanding Animated Program and Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance in 2025. Episodes of the show have won 12 awards for the Outstanding Animated Program category, with other accolades stemming from music and voice-over work. With the show having been renewed for four more seasons in 2025, we’re pretty confident The Simpsons team will be enjoying their 36th Emmy awards next year.

A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier continued the story of psychiatrist Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) as he swapped Boston barstools for Seattle airwaves, and the show quickly found its own identity – and an avalanche of Emmys. The show is the most Emmy-awarded sitcom in history, having scored 37 wins across its 11-season run, including five straight Outstanding Comedy Series awards from 1994 to 1998, a record streak at the time. After a two-decade hiatus, Frasier returned to the Emmys after its reboot earned numerous nominations, scoring yet another win in 2025 for Outstanding Picture Editing for a Multi-Camera Comedy Series. Though the reboot was cancelled by Paramount+ after two seasons, who knows what the future holds for this Emmy juggernaut?

With its sprawling cast, shock twists, and cinematic production value, Game of Thrones ruled the Emmys in ways that hadn’t been seen before. It tied the record for most Outstanding Drama Series wins in a row, alongside Hill Street Blues and The West Wing, and stars like Peter Dinklage became Emmy mainstays. It came as no surprise to viewers that the show cleaned up in the technical categories, from editing to stunt coordination, eventually amounting to 59 wins and 164 nominations across 8 seasons. Game of Thrones currently holds the record for the most Emmy Awards won by a single series, and whether you loved the finale or not, there’s no denying its staggering influence on TV.

No show in television history has owned the Emmys quite like Saturday Night Live. Since its debut in 1975, the iconic sketch comedy series has launched generations of comedy legends – from Eddie Murphy and Tina Fey to Kate McKinnon and Bill Hader – while keeping its finger on the pulse of American culture. With a mix of political satire, absurdist sketches, and celebrity guests, SNL has earned an unbelievable 93 Emmy wins and 338 nominations. The show won 3 awards at the 2025 Emmys for lighting, production, and camerawork, and there’s no doubt it’ll be eyeing up triple digits in the near future.