Here’s a complete list of which talented act won at the end of every AGT season.
Grace VanderWaal on America’s Got Talent.
Trae Patton/NBC
NBC’s America’s Got Talent is one of the country’s leading talent competition shows, and Billboard is looking back at the many gifted winners who’ve made history on the series so far.
Created by former American Idol judge, X Factor mastermind and Syco Entertainment founder Simon Cowell, the global talent competition premiered in the U.S. on NBC in 2006. The idea was to find the best talent of any age in the country — whether they specialized in singing, dancing, performing magic tricks, acting as a ventriloquist or even training dogs to do tricks — and then have them headline a show on the Las Vegas Strip on top of winning a $1 million cash prize.
The show has seen a number of stars grace its judges’ panel, with the just-wrapped season 21 featuring Cowell alongside Mel B, Sofia Vergara and Howie Mandel, as well as host Terry Crews. Each of the judges recruits viewers’ votes to help crown the most talented contestant, and each season’s top pick runs the gamut of skill sets.
A handful of musicians have come out on top in the past, including the show’s first-ever champ, then-11-year-old singer Bianca Ryan, whose tiny frame belied her massive pipes on the Dreamgirls showstopper “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going.” Other musical winners include late opera singer Neal Boyd (season three), jazz singer Landau Eugene Murphy Jr. (season six), then 12-year-old singer-songwriter Grace VanderWaal (season 11) and blind and autistic singer Kodi Lee (season 14). Two singing ventriloquists have taken home the prize too, with Terry Fator winning season two and then-12-year-old performer Darci Lynne winning season 12.
Below is a complete list of which talented act won at the end of every season.
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Season 1
Winner: Bianca Ryan
Date Crowned: Aug. 17, 2006
At only 11 years old, the Philadelphia-based singer performed the Dreamgirls‘ showstopper “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” for her viral audition — and the only place she was going after that was straight to the finale.
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Season 2
Winner: Terry Fator
Date Crowned: Aug. 21, 2007
With more than 20 years of experience and opening gigs for country superstars like Reba McEntire and Garth Brooks, the Dallas native became the first ventriloquist to win the talent competition series.
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Season 3
Image Credit: Virginia Sherwood/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images Winner: Neal E. Boyd
Date Crowned: Oct. 1, 2008
The Sikeston, Missouri-based classical opera singer won the competition in its third season and eventually landed a top 10 classical album with 2009’s My American Dream. He sadly died a decade after his victory on June 10, 2018.
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Season 4
Winner: Kevin Skinner
Date Crowned: Sept. 16, 2009
The Kentucky-based country singer and guitar player quickly became a fan favorite in the fourth season with his stirring cover of Garth Brooks’ “If Tomorrow Never Comes.” The judges compared him to a diamond in the rough, and his unique ability carried him all the way to the end of the competition.
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Season 5
Winner: Michael Grimm
Date Crowned: Sept. 15, 2010
The Colorado-born, Mississippi-raised blues singer had love on the brain during the competition and revealed that his girlfriend at the time, Lucie Zolcerova, inspired his finale performance of Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman.” Not only did he win the fifth season, but he also got the girl at the end: He proposed to Zolcerova during a taping of Ellen just a day after he claimed victory (and she said yes!).
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Season 6
Winner: Landau Eugene Murphy Jr.
Date Crowned: Sept. 14, 2011
The Logan County, West Virginia, native and jazz singer let the spirit of Frank Sinatra guide him all the way to the end of the competition, starting with his audition performance of “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” to covering “My Way” in the finale.
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Season 7
Winner: Olate Dogs
Date Crowned: Sept. 13, 2012
Richard and Nicholas Olate, the Houston-based Chilean-American father-son duo of dog trainers, and their crew of rescue pups had the judges flipping out at the sight of all their tricks.
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Season 8
Winner: Kenichi Ebina
Date Crowned: Sept. 18, 2013
The Japanese dancer might have been a solo act, but he immersed himself so well with his surroundings that he acted as each of the characters in the video screen behind him.
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Season 9
Winner: Mat Franco
Date Crowned: Sept. 17, 2014
The Johnston, Rhode Island, native became the first magician to win the talent competition series. But his sleight-of-hand style of magic didn’t just secure him an AGT victory. His ongoing Las Vegas show, Magic Reinvented Nightly, earned him the best magic show award at the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Best of Las Vegas Awards and is the top-rated magic show in Vegas.
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Season 10
Winner: Paul Zerdin
Date Crowned: Sept. 16, 2015
The internationally renowned British comedian and ventriloquist, who had even performed in front of the Queen, had the judges giving him (and his puppet Sam) standing ovations round after round.
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Season 11
Image Credit: Trae Patton/NBC Winner: Grace VanderWaal
Date Crowned: Sept. 14, 2016
One of the most memorable wins in AGT history goes to the Lenexa, Kansas-born singer-songwriter and ukulele player, who took home the title at age 12. In the immediate years following her victory, VanderWaal released the full-length album Just the Beginning, accepted the Rising Star Award at Billboard‘s Women in Music, won a Radio Disney Music Award and Teen Choice Award, and toured with Imagine Dragons.
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Season 12
Image Credit: Trae Patton/NBC Winner: Darci Lynne
Date Crowned: Sept. 20, 2017
The Oklahoma native (and her puppet Petunia) became the second singing ventriloquist to win AGT following her “idol” Terry Fator and went on to sell out headlining shows across the country, perform at the Grand Ole Opry, open for Fergie at Caesars Palace and star in her own NBC Christmas special My Hometown Christmas.
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Season 13
Winner: Shin Lim
Date Crowned: Sept. 19, 2018
The Canada-born, Massachusetts-based act became the second magician to win AGT following Mat Franco. The fellow “sleight-of-hand artist” also became the 2015 International Federation of Magic Societies (FISM) champaign for the close-up card tricks he always has up his sleeve.
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Season 14
Image Credit: Trae Patton/NBC Winner: Kodi Lee
Date Crowned: Sept. 18, 2019
The Lake Elsinore, California-based singer, who is blind and autistic, took home the title after a string of stirring performances at the piano. His flawless cover of Donny Hathaway’s “A Song for You” earned Lee the first golden buzzer of the competition from judge Gabrielle Union, securing his title as the favorite ever since.
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Season 15
Winner: Brandon Leake
Date Crowned: Sept. 23, 2020
The Stockton, California, native blew away the competition and captivated millions with his emotional spoken-word pieces before finally taking the crown.
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Season 16
Winner: Dustin Tavella
Date Crowned: Sept. 15, 2021
The magician was a man of many talents during his season 16 run. He impressed in the first round with his card trickery, then pulled out his mentalist skills in the semis, and in the final stretch, floored everyone with routines that fused storytelling and eye-popping magic.
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Season 17
Image Credit: Casey Durkin/NBC* Winner: Mayyas
Date Crowned: Sept. 14, 2022
The Lebanese all-women dance group was a strong contender from the start, earning a golden buzzer from judge Sofia Vergara during the June 21 episode. They even managed to impress Simon Cowell that night, with the acerbic judge noting at the time, “It was arguably the best dance act we’re likely to have ever seen. And we are honored to have you here.”
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Season 18
Winner: Adrian Stoica and Hurricane
Date Crowned: Sept. 27, 2023
Stoica and his border collie Hurricane proved that dogs aren’t just a man’s best friend, but also a man’s best co-star on the 18th season of AGT. The dynamic duo’s theatrical skits and tricks eventually made them the first pup act to win the show in over 10 years, and only the second to take the grand prize after the Olate Dogs in 2012.
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Season 19
Image Credit: Trae Patton/NBC Winner: Richard Goodall
Date Crowned: Sept. 24, 2024
Goodall went from elementary-school janitor to millionaire in a matter of seconds when he was crowned the winner of AGT‘s 19th season, having charmed audiences with powerful vocal performances of Michael Bolton’s “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You,” Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” and Journey’s “Faithfully.”
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Season 20
Image Credit: Trae Patton/NBC Winner: Jessica Sanchez
Date Crowned: Sept. 24, 2025
It took 20 years, but the singer — who was 30 and pregnant during this season — finally won NBC’s singing competition after first competing when she was just 10 years old and getting eliminated in the semifinals round at the time. The singer stunned not only the judges, but also viewers on the finals Sept. 23, when she nailed Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars’ collab “Die With a Smile” — a hit that topped the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks.
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Season 21
Image Credit: Trae Patton/NBC Winner: Nene Royal
Date Crowned: Sept. 23, 2026
The 16-year-old from Phuket, Thailand, locked in her win with her Sept. 22 finale performance of The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army,” a popular track that reached No. 76 on the Hot 100 in May 2003, well before the rising musician was even born. The judges were so impressed Howie Mandel even said that the rocker should take the competition.
