NBC’s America’s Got Talent is one of the nation’s premier talent competitions, and Billboard is looking back at many of the winning acts that have made history on the show to date.
Created by former American Idol judge, X Factor mastermind, and Syco Entertainment founder Simon Cowell, the global talent competition debuted in the U.S. on NBC in 2006. The idea was to discover the best talents of all ages across the country—whether they specialized in singing, dancing, magic, ventriloquism, or even dog training—and then give them the spotlight in a Las Vegas Strip show with a cash prize of up to $1 million.
The program has seen a rotating panel of star judges, with season 19 wrapping up with Cowell joined by Heidi Klum, Sofia Vergara, and Howie Mandel, as well as host Terry Crews. Each judge helps tally votes from the audience to determine the most talented contestant, and every season’s top winner has showcased a wide variety of skills.
A handful of musicians have won in the past, including the show’s very first champion, then-11-year-old singer Bianca Ryan, whose small frame concealed a powerhouse voice when she delivered “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” from Dreamgirls. Other music winners include the late opera singer Neal Boyd (season 3), jazz vocalist Landau Eugene Murphy Jr. (season 6), then-12-year-old singer-songwriter Grace VanderWaal (season 11), and blind, autistic singer Kodi Lee (season 14)—as well as the most recent winner, 55-year-old singing janitor Richard Goodall. Two ventriloquists have also taken home the top prize: Terry Fator in season 2 and then-12-year-old Darci Lynne in season 12.
Below is the full list of talented performers who have won at the end of each season.
