Juno Award for Group of the Year

The Juno Award for Group of the Year has been awarded annually since 1970 in recognition of the best musical group or band in Canada. It is presented by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS). The five nominees in the category are decided through a combination of sales and CARAS member voting, and the recipient is chosen from among these nominees by member voting.^[1]

The award was previously named as Top Vocal Instrumental Group (1970–1971), Vocal Instrumental Group of the Year (1972–1973), and Best Group (1999–2002). In 1972 and 1973, awards were also given for Outstanding Performance of the Year – Group.

Achievements

Jim Cuddy (left) and Greg Keelor (right), members of Blue Rodeo, the winner of the award in 1989, 1990, 1991, 1996 and 2008.

With six wins, the alternative rock band Arkells is the most winning group in the category. Arkells is also tied for most consecutive wins, three, with rock band Loverboy and country rock band Blue Rodeo. Blue Rodeo's 13 total nominations is slightly edged out by the 14 garnered by hard rock and progressive rock band Rush, including a record eight consecutive nominations from 1977 to 1984. The record for the most nominations without ever winning is held by April Wine, who were nominated 8 times from 1975 to 1983.

Country and folk group The Rankin Family, winners in 1994, are the first non-rock group to ever win the award. The next were electronic dance music groups A Tribe Called Red in 2018 and Loud Luxury in 2020. Though several French-language groups have been nominated, none has ever won the award.

In 2014, Tegan and Sara became the first all-female band and the first duo to win this award.

Recipients

Top Vocal Instrumental Group (1970–1971)

Year	Winner	Ref.
1970	The Guess Who	[2]
1971	The Guess Who	[3]

Vocal Instrumental Group of the Year and Outstanding Performance of the Year – Group (1972–1973)

In 1972 and 1973, two awards were given for group of the year and outstanding performance by a group.

Year	Vocal Instrumental Group of the Year	Outstanding Performance of the Year – Group	Refs.
1972	The Stampeders	Lighthouse	[4][5]
1973	Lighthouse	Edward Bear	[6][7]

Group of the Year (1974–1998)

Year	Winner	Nominees	Ref.
1974	Lighthouse	Gary & Dave The Guess Who The Stampeders	[8][9]
1975	Bachman–Turner Overdrive	April Wine Lighthouse The Guess Who The Stampeders	[10]
1976	Bachman–Turner Overdrive	April Wine Beau Dommage Harmonium The Stampeders	[11]
1977	Heart	April Wine Bachman–Turner Overdrive Rush The Stampeders	[12]
1978	Rush	April Wine Bachman–Turner Overdrive The Stampeders Trooper	[13]
1979	Rush	Chilliwack Prism Triumph Trooper	[14]
1980	Trooper	April Wine Max Webster Prism Rush	[15]
1981	Prism	April Wine Harlequin Max Webster Rush	[16]
1982	Loverboy	April Wine Prism Rush The Rovers	[17]
1983	Loverboy	April Wine Chilliwack Rush Saga	[18]
1984	Loverboy	Chilliwack Payola$ Red Rider Rush	[19]
1985	The Parachute Club	Helix Honeymoon Suite Strange Advance Triumph	[20]
1986	Honeymoon Suite	Loverboy Platinum Blonde Rush Triumph	[21]
1987	Tom Cochrane and Red Rider	The Parachute Club Rock and Hyde The Box Triumph	[22]
No award ceremony was held in 1988
1989	Blue Rodeo	Glass Tiger Honeymoon Suite Rush Tom Cochrane and Red Rider	[23]
1990	Blue Rodeo	Cowboy Junkies Rush The Jeff Healey Band Tom Cochrane and Red Rider	[24]
1991	Blue Rodeo	Cowboy Junkies Rush The Jeff Healey Band The Northern Pikes	[25]
1992	Crash Test Dummies	Blue Rodeo Glass Tiger Rush The Tragically Hip	[26]
1993	Barenaked Ladies	54-40 Blue Rodeo Les B.B. The Tragically Hip	[27]
1994	The Rankin Family	Blue Rodeo Moxy Früvous Rush The Jeff Healey Band	[28]
1995	The Tragically Hip	Barenaked Ladies Crash Test Dummies Spirit of the West The Watchmen	[29]
1996	Blue Rodeo	Headstones Odds The Rankin Family The Tea Party	[30]
1997	The Tragically Hip	54-40 I Mother Earth Moist Noir Silence [fr]	[31]
1998	Our Lady Peace	Big Sugar Blue Rodeo Great Big Sea The Tea Party	[32]

Best Group (1999–2002)

Year	Winner	Nominees	Ref.
1999	Barenaked Ladies	Matthew Good Band Philosopher Kings The Rankins The Tragically Hip	[33]
2000	Matthew Good Band	La Chicane Moist Our Lady Peace The Tea Party	[34]
2001	Barenaked Ladies	Blue Rodeo soulDecision The Moffatts The Tragically Hip	[35]
2002	Nickelback	Matthew Good Band Our Lady Peace Sum 41 The Tea Party	[36]

Group of the Year (2003–present)

Year	Winner	Nominees	Ref.
2003	Sum 41	Blue Rodeo Our Lady Peace Swollen Members The Tragically Hip	[37]
2004	Nickelback	Barenaked Ladies Finger Eleven La Chicane Our Lady Peace	[38]
2005	Billy Talent	Great Big Sea Simple Plan Sum 41 The Tragically Hip	[39]
2006	Nickelback	Barenaked Ladies Blue Rodeo Our Lady Peace Theory of a Deadman	[40]
2007	Billy Talent	Alexisonfire Hedley The Tragically Hip Three Days Grace	[41]
2008	Blue Rodeo	Arcade Fire Finger Eleven Hedley Kaïn	[42]
2009	Nickelback	Great Big Sea Simple Plan The Trews Tokyo Police Club	[43]
2010	Metric	Billy Talent Blue Rodeo Hedley The Tragically Hip	[44]
2011	Arcade Fire	Broken Social Scene Down With Webster Great Big Sea Three Days Grace	[45]
2012	Arkells	Down With Webster Hedley Nickelback Sam Roberts Band	[46]
2013	Marianas Trench	Billy Talent Metric Rush The Sheepdogs	[47]
2014	Tegan and Sara	Arcade Fire Blue Rodeo Hedley Walk Off the Earth	[48]
2015	Arkells	Chromeo Mother Mother Nickelback You+Me	[49]
2016	Walk Off the Earth	Hedley Marianas Trench Metric Three Days Grace	[50]
2017	The Tragically Hip	Arkells Billy Talent Tegan and Sara The Strumbellas	[51]
2018	A Tribe Called Red	Alvvays Arcade Fire Broken Social Scene Hedley - nomination withdrawn
2019	Arkells	Chromeo Metric The Sheepdogs Three Days Grace	[52]
2020	Loud Luxury	88Glam Elijah Woods x Jamie Fine The Reklaws Walk Off the Earth	[53]
2021	Arkells	Half Moon Run Loud Luxury The Glorious Sons The Reklaws	[54]
2022	Arkells	Loud Luxury Mother Mother The Reklaws Valley	[55]
2023	Arkells	Arcade Fire Billy Talent Metric The Reklaws	[56]
2024	The Beaches	Arkells Loud Luxury Nickelback Walk Off the Earth	[57]
2025	The Beaches	Crash Adams Mother Mother Spiritbox Sum 41	[58]

See also

• Music portal
• Canada portal

• List of bands from Canada
• Music of Canada