Major awards won by the Pet Shop Boys
I'm listing only what I consider to be "major" awards. The Boys have also won a great many "lesser" awards, such as being named "Artist of the Year" or having a song declared "Single of the Year" by one newspaper or another, but I'm leaving those out because it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to be comprehensive.
- 1987: Ivor Novello Awards (U.K.) - Best International Hit (for "West End Girls")
- 1987: BPI ("Brit") Awards (U.K.) - Best Single (for "West End Girls")
- 1988: Ivor Novello Awards (U.K) - Best International Hit (for "It's a Sin")
- 1988: BPI ("Brit") Awards (U.K.) - Best Group
- 1988: Houston Film Festival (U.S.) - Gold Jury Award (for It Couldn't Happen Here)
- 1988: Berolina Awards (Germany) - Group of the Year
- 1991: Music Week (U.K.) - Best Video of the Year 1990 (for "Being Boring")
- 1994: Siggraph Wave Awards (U.S.) - Best Music Video (for "Liberation")
- 1994: Effects & Animation Festival (U.K.) - Best Music Video (for "Liberation")
- 1999: Viva Comet Awards (Germany) - Best International Video (for "I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Any More")
- 2000: RSH Gold Awards (Germany) - Best International Band
- 2000: Ivor Novello Awards (U.K.) - Outstanding Contribution to British Music
- 2003: A-Ward (Germany) - Pioneers of Pop: Outstanding Contribution to Pop Music
- 2003: World Awards (International) - The World Arts Award
- 2004: Q Magazine (U.K.) - Q Inspiration Award
- 2005: Song of the Decade 1985-1994 (U.K.) - "West End Girls" (winner of voting by six million BBC Radio 2 listeners in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Ivor Novello Awards)
- 2008: Cannes International Advertising Festival (France) - Gold Cyber Lion Award for "Other Interactive Digital Media Innovative Ideas" (for the "Integral" video)
- 2009: BPI ("Brit") Awards (U.K.) - Outstanding Contribution to Music
- 2011: Evening Standard Theatre Awards (U.K.) - "Beyond Theatre" Award (with collaborator Javier De Frutos, for The Most Incredible Thing)
- 2013: Q Magazine (U.K.) - Q Outstanding Contribution to Music Award
- 2015: Mnet Asia Music Awards (International) - Worldwide Inspiration Award
- 2017: VO5 NME Awards (U.K.) - "Godlike Genius" Award
- 2024: MTV Europe Music Awards (International) - Pop Pioneers Award
- 2026: Viña del Mar International Song Festival - Silver and Gold Seagull Awards for musical achievement
Note: There had long appeared to be a question as to whether the Pet Shop Boys and "It's a Sin" did indeed win the 1988 Ivor Novello Award for Best International Hit. Some sources (including the Pet Shop Boys' own official website and their posting online in May 2026 of a photo of three Novello Award statuettes) indicated they did. But others, including, at one time, the Ivor Novello Awards' website, stated that Stock, Aitken, and Waterman won it that year as the composers of Rick Astley's big hit "Never Gonna Give You Up." The Novello Awards site has, however, since been corrected. There's no longer any question whatsoever that PSB indeed won the 1988 award for "It's a Sin."
I'm indebted to the Pet Shop Boys Discography website as the source of much of the information that appears in this list.All text on this website aside from direct quotations (such as of lyrics and of other nonoriginal content) is copyright © 2001-2026 by Wayne Studer. All Rights Reserved. All lyrics and images are copyright © their respective dates by their respective owners. Brief quotations and small, low-resolution images are used for identification and critical commentary, thereby constituting Fair Use under U.S. copyright law. Billboard chart data are copyright © their respective dates by Billboard Media, LLC.