| Year!!Recipient |
| a href="/encyclopedia/1962" title="1962">1962 | Bing Crosby |
| a href="/encyclopedia/1965" title="1965">1965 | Frank Sinatra |
| a href="/encyclopedia/1966" title="1966">1966 | Duke Ellington |
| a href="/encyclopedia/1967" title="1967">1967 | Ella Fitzgerald |
| a href="/encyclopedia/1968" title="1968">1968 | Irving Berlin |
| a href="/encyclopedia/1971" title="1971">1971 | Elvis Presley |
| a href="/encyclopedia/1972" title="1972">1972 | Louis Armstrong, Mahalia Jackson |
| a href="/encyclopedia/1984" title="1984">1984 | Chuck Berry, Charlie Parker |
| a href="/encyclopedia/1985" title="1985">1985 | Leonard Bernstein |
| a href="/encyclopedia/1986" title="1986">1986 | Benny Goodman, Rolling Stones, Andrs Segovia |
| a href="/encyclopedia/1987" title="1987">1987 | Roy Acuff, Benny Carter, Enrico Caruso, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, Woody Herman, Billie Holiday, B. B. King, Isaac Stern, Igor Stravinsky, Arturo Toscanini, Hank Williams Sr. |
| a href="/encyclopedia/1989" title="1989">1989 | Fred Astaire, Pablo Casals, Dizzy Gillespie, Jascha Heifetz, Lena Horne. Leontyne Price, Bessie Smith, Art Tatum, Sarah Vaughan |
| a href="/encyclopedia/1990" title="1990">1990 | Nat King Cole, Miles Davis, Vladimir Horowitz, Paul McCartney |
| a href="/encyclopedia/1991" title="1991">1991 | Marian Anderson, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Kitty Wells |
| a href="/encyclopedia/1992" title="1992">1992 | James Brown, John Coltrane, Jimi Hendrix, Muddy Waters |
| a href="/encyclopedia/1993" title="1993">1993 | Chet Atkins, Little Richard, Thelonius Monk, Bill Monroe, Pete Seeger, Fats Waller |
| a href="/encyclopedia/1994" title="1994">1994 | Bill Evans, Aretha Franklin, Artur Rubenstein |
| a href="/encyclopedia/1995" title="1995">1995 | Patsy Cline, Peggy Lee, Henry Mancini, Curtis Mayfield, Barbra Streisand |
| a href="/encyclopedia/1996" title="1996">1996 | Dave Brubeck, Marvin Gaye, Georg Solti, Stevie Wonder |
| a href="/encyclopedia/1997" title="1997">1997 | Bobby "Blue" Bland, Everly Brothers, Judy Garland, Stephane Grappelli, Buddy Holly, Charles Mingus, Oscar Peterson, Frank Zappa |
| a href="/encyclopedia/1998" title="1998">1998 | Bo Diddley, Mills Brothers, Roy Orbison, Paul Robeson |
| a href="/encyclopedia/1999" title="1999">1999 | Johnny Cash, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Smokey Robinson, Mel Torm |
| a href="/encyclopedia/2000" title="2000">2000 | Harry Belafonte, Woody Guthrie, John Lee Hooker, Mitch Miller, Willie Nelson |
| a href="/encyclopedia/2001" title="2001">2001 | Beach Boys, Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis, Jr., Bob Marley, The Who |
| a href="/encyclopedia/2002" title="2002">2002 | Count Basie, Rosemary Clooney, Perry Como, Al Green, Joni Mitchell |
| a href="/encyclopedia/2003" title="2003">2003 | Etta James, Johnny Mathis, Glenn Miller, Tito Puente, Simon and Garfunkel |
| a href="/encyclopedia/2004" title="2004">2004 | Eddy Arnold, Art Blakey, Carter Family, Morton Gould, Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jelly Roll Morton, Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins, Staples Singers |