The following is a list of recipients of Kennedy Center Honors. Kennedy Center Honors have been awarded since 1978:
- 2003 James Brown, Carol Burnett, Loretta Lynn, Mike Nichols, and Itzhak Perlman
- 2002 James Earl Jones, James Levine, Chita Rivera, Paul Simon, and Elizabeth Taylor
- 2001 Julie Andrews, Van Cliburn, Quincy Jones, Jack Nicholson, and Luciano Pavarotti
- 2000 Mikhail Baryshnikov, Chuck Berry, Plácido Domingo, Clint Eastwood, and Angela Lansbury
- 1999 Victor Borge, Sean Connery, Judith Jamison, Jason Robards, and Stevie Wonder
- 1998 Bill Cosby, Fred Ebb & John Kander, Willie Nelson, André Previn, and Shirley Temple Black
- 1997 Lauren Bacall, Bob Dylan, Charlton Heston, Jessye Norman, and Edward Villella
- 1996 Edward Albee, Benny Carter, Johnny Cash, Jack Lemmon, and Maria Tallchief
- 1995 Jacques d'Amboise, Marilyn Horne, B.B. King, Sidney Poitier, and Neil Simon
- 1994 Kirk Douglas, Aretha Franklin, Morton Gould, Harold Prince, and Pete Seeger
- 1993 Johnny Carson, Arthur Mitchell, George Solti, Stephen Sondheim, and Marion Williams
- 1992 Lionel Hampton, Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Ginger Rogers, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Paul Taylor
- 1991 Roy Acuff, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Fayard Nicholas, Harold Nicholas, Gregory Peck, and Robert Shaw
- 1990 Dizzy Gillespie, Katharine Hepburn, Rise Stevens, Jule Styne, and Billy Wilder
