Nirvana was an American rock band formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington. The band went through a succession of drummers and eventually settled on Dave Grohl, who joined the band in 1990.^[1] They have released three studio albums: Bleach (1989), Nevermind (1991), and In Utero (1993). The first album was released on the Sub Pop record label, while the remaining albums were released by DGC Records.^[2]

The band received several awards and nominations in their debut year in 1992, including nominations for Favorite New Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Artist from the American Music Awards, Best Alternative Music Performance for Nevermind from the Grammy Awards, and Video of the Year and Viewer's Choice for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from the MTV Video Music Awards. They received the Best Alternative Video award for "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Best New Artist from the MTV Video Music Awards in the same year. The song "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was also nominated for Best Rock Song at the 1993 Grammy Awards, but it lost to "Layla" by Eric Clapton. Clapton's win over Nirvana would later be named one of the "10 biggest upsets" in Grammy history by Entertainment Weekly.^[3] After receiving five nominations from the Grammy Awards without winning any of them, the band finally received the Best Alternative Music Performance award for MTV Unplugged In New York in 1996. Overall, Nirvana has received twelve awards from twenty-five nominations.

The American Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony created by Dick Clark in 1973. Nirvana has received one award from two nominations.^[4][5][6]

The Billboard Music Awards honor artists for commercial performance in the U.S., based on record charts published by Billboard.^[8] The awards are based on sales data by Nielsen SoundScan and radio information by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems.^[9] The award ceremony was held from 1990 to 2007, until its reintroduction in 2011.^[10]

The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. Nirvana has won one award from three nominations.^[11][12]

The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States. Nirvana has received 1 award from a total of seven nominations.^{[4][14][15][16][17][18]} In 2023, Nirvana were awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2023 Grammy Awards. Notably, Pat Smear was honored at the event (alongside Novoselic and Grohl), despite his brief tenure in the band. Each member received their own trophy at the ceremony.^[19]

The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame are also inducted as part of the awards ceremonies.^[21]

MOJO Awards are awarded by the popular British music magazine, Mojo, published monthly by Bauer.

The MTV Video Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony established in 1984 by MTV. Nirvana has received five awards from ten nominations.^{[4][22][23][24]}

Founded by the British music magazine NME, the NME Awards are awarded annually. Nirvana has won four awards from nine nominations.^[25][26]

The O Music Awards ^[27] is an awards show presented by Viacom to honor music, technology and intersection between the two.^[28] The 1st O Music Awards ceremony was held on April 28, 2011 on Fremont Street in Downtown Las Vegas.^[29]

The Pollstar Concert Industry Awards aim to reward the best in the business of shows and concerts.^[30]