53 all-time KCBS records — every one with a holder, a number, and the date it was set, read out of 107 scored contests and 19,077 result rows. Beat one and you appear here the next morning.
Overall scores are only ever ranked against their own series — Master out of 720, Backyard out of 360 — so the overall-score records here are Master boards unless they say Backyard. The Backyard series keeps a full record board of its own.
State and provincial record books are here; outside North America, every country has its own page under Regions →
Showing the MS record book — every record below counts only contests held in MS. Records that can't honestly be cut by state are left out rather than shown with their national holder: power ratings, career streaks and Team of the Year are computed over a team's whole career, wherever they cooked it.
The biggest — and smallest — numbers anybody has ever put in front of six judges.
RAZORRACKS at Southaven Springfest Apr 21, 2023
34-team field · won the contest
Four meats, six judges, one afternoon. The biggest total anybody has ever assembled.
Rollin Smoke BBQ at Roast N Boast Oct 17, 2025
won the board
The Backyard board runs on its own scale, so it keeps its own record — pooled with Master it would never surface at all.
HOTTY TOTTY BBQ CREW at Don't Be Cruel BBQ Duel Mar 15, 2013
won the category with it
Held jointly by 10 or more — nobody has beaten it.
The best chicken anybody has ever turned in. 180 is the ceiling — every judge at the table handing back a nine — so a tie goes to whoever got there first.
HOTTY TOTTY BBQ CREW at Hog Wild BBQ Festival Oct 2, 2014
won the category with it
Held jointly by 10 or more — nobody has beaten it.
The best pork ribs anybody has ever turned in. 180 is the ceiling — every judge at the table handing back a nine — so a tie goes to whoever got there first.
GIVE IT TO GOD at Grilling on the River '13 Apr 12, 2013
won the category with it
Held jointly by 10 or more — nobody has beaten it.
The best pork anybody has ever turned in. 180 is the ceiling — every judge at the table handing back a nine — so a tie goes to whoever got there first.
Butts A Blaze at Don't Be Cruel BBQ Duel Mar 15, 2013
won the category with it
Held jointly by 10 or more — nobody has beaten it.
The best brisket anybody has ever turned in. 180 is the ceiling — every judge at the table handing back a nine — so a tie goes to whoever got there first.
Electro-Que-ted at Southaven Springfest Apr 24, 2026
finished 2nd, behind RAZORRACKS
A day this good takes a Grand Championship almost anywhere. These are the ones that ran into somebody having a better one.
RAZORRACKS at Smokin on the Rez BBQ and Music Festival (DAY 1) Aug 23, 2019
and still beat 28 other teams
The days the judges gave nothing away. Somebody still had to win, and this is the smallest number that ever did it in a real field.
Southaven Springfest Apr 24, 2026
33 teams · won with 713.1316
What it cost to walk. At these contests a total that wins most weekends was only good enough for tenth.
Smokin on the Rez Apr 4, 2025
17 teams · top score 700.4796
Judging tables are not interchangeable. At these contests the whole field scored high — not just the winner.
D'Iberville BBQ Throw Down Festival Feb 22, 2019
16 teams · even the win only took 704.0344
The other end of the same measurement: the contests where hardly anybody got a good card all day.
Organizer Portal Nov 11, 2023
29 contests · best 704.5600
Anyone can catch one good day. This is the highest anybody has averaged across a real career.
CAJUN BLAZE at D'Iberville BBQ Throw Down Festival Feb 22, 2019
over THE BLUE BLOODS
Not a contest so much as an exhibition — the runner-up in each of these was closer to tenth than to the winner.
RAZORRACKS at Southaven Springfest Oct 29, 2021
over HOT COLE'S BBQ
A whole weekend — four meats, twenty-four judging cards — decided by a rounding error.
Grand Championships, reserve finishes, dynasties and droughts.
RAZORRACKS Apr 24, 2026
from 26 contests · first in 2019
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The headline record of the sport: how many times a team has walked away with the whole thing.
South Pork Oct 4, 2019
from 26 contests · 2 titles
Held jointly by 4 — nobody has beaten it.
Second overall is the hardest place to finish. These teams have done it more than anybody.
SWIGGIN PIG Apr 8, 2016
across 13 contests, still waiting
The cruellest record in the book. Every team here has stood on the stage second, and never once first.
RAZORRACKS Apr 24, 2026
6 titles from 26 contests
Winning often matters more than winning a lot. This is how often a team turns up and takes the whole thing.
CAJUN BLAZE Jun 17, 2016
the 2016 season
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The best year anybody has ever had. Four in a season is a career year; these went past it.
CAJUN BLAZE Feb 22, 2019
6 titles in all
A dynasty at one contest is one kind of record. Winning at thirty different ones is another kind entirely.
RAZORRACKS at Southaven Springfest Apr 24, 2026
won 2019–2026
The contest a team has made their own — turning up every year and taking it home again.
THE BLUE BLOODS at Mississippi Springfest May 9, 2014
2013–2014, straight
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Defending a title once is an achievement. Nobody on this board gave one up willingly.
BREW 'N' BAR-B-QUE at Don't Be Cruel BBQ Duel Mar 15, 2013
won it with 698.2856
Every Grand Championship counts the same in the standings. Not every one means beating this many people.
BOOTYQUE at Downtown BBQ Throwdown Oct 7, 2016
the title finally came in 2016
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Proof it is worth going back. Every team here cooked for years before the call finally came.
RAZORRACKS Apr 24, 2026
2019 → 2026 · 6 titles
Staying good is harder than getting good. These teams were winning contests more than a decade apart.
RAZORRACKS Apr 24, 2026
in 1 state
Some contests hand out a state championship alongside the trophy. These teams have collected the most of them.
The four meats: who wins them, and who has been handed a flawless card.
BAYOU BOOGIE BBQ May 27, 2016
across all four meats
Every category win is a walk to the stage. This is the longest walk in the sport.
BAYOU BOOGIE BBQ Oct 2, 2015
the 2015 season
One team, one year, and a stack of first-place calls that would furnish most careers.
VICTORY LANE BBQ Sep 15, 2017
in 4 different meats · first in 2015
A 180 means all six judges handed back a nine for appearance, taste and tenderness. These teams have collected them.
VICTORY LANE BBQ at Southaven Springfest Apr 22, 2016
Brisket, Pork
Held jointly by 4 — nobody has beaten it.
One perfect card is a story worth retelling. Two before the awards ceremony is a record.
VICTORY LANE BBQ Sep 29, 2016
the 2016 season
A whole year of turning in boxes nobody at the table could mark down.
VICTORY LANE BBQ at Sam's Club National BBQ Tour May 20, 2016
first in 2015 · 8 contests to complete the set
A perfect card in chicken, ribs, pork AND brisket. The date is the day the set was completed; the board is led by whoever needed the fewest contests to finish it.
HOTTY TOTTY BBQ CREW at Don't Be Cruel BBQ Duel Mar 15, 2013
Chicken · Mar 15, 2013
Where the 180 club starts. These are the oldest perfect cards anywhere in the data.
Southaven Springfest Apr 22, 2016
shared by 6 teams in a field of 41
Some tables run hot. At these contests the judges handed out flawless cards all afternoon.
Longevity — the teams who keep turning up, and keep turning it in.
KILLER HOGS Jun 19, 2020
2013 → 2020
Before anything else, competition barbecue is showing up. Nobody has shown up more often than this.
BLIND HOG BBQ Apr 24, 2026
2013 → 2026 · 16 contests
Rigs wear out and cooks retire. These teams were still turning in boxes more than a decade after their first one.
FIRE DANCER BBQ Apr 25, 2025
38 contests, 2013 → 2025
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
Not just a long career — a busy one, season after season, with no quiet years in the middle.
FIRE DANCER BBQ Dec 31, 2025
2013 → 2025, no gaps
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
An unbroken run. Every single year, the rig came back out of the shed.
SOUTHSIDE BBQ Aug 25, 2018
the 2018 season · 1 title
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
A season spent almost entirely in a parking lot somewhere, next to a smoker.
CAJUN BLAZE Aug 24, 2019
from 27 contests
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The measure of a team that is always in it — not always winning, but always there at the end of the day.
CAJUN BLAZE Aug 24, 2019
26 from 27 contests
Consistency, stated as a percentage. Turn up, and this is how often you were still standing at the end.
Misfits of Smoke at Roast N Boast Oct 18, 2024
2013 → 2024
The contest a team never misses — on the calendar in ink, every single year.
Records held by the contests themselves rather than by the teams.
Don't Be Cruel BBQ Duel Mar 15, 2013
won with 698.2856
The largest gathering of smokers the data has ever recorded in one place.
Roast N Boast Oct 18, 2024
2013 → 2024 · about 21 teams a year
The institutions. These contests have been feeding judges for as long as the data goes back.
Stand by Your Grill Aug 19, 2016
4 editions · biggest 65
One big year is a fluke. These contests pull a crowd every single time they run.
Roast N Boast Oct 18, 2024
from 10 editions with a champion on file
The contests nobody owns. Turn up here and last year counts for nothing.
Southaven Springfest Apr 25, 2025
in a field of 34 · won with 699.9428
Out of 720 points, this many teams finished inside ONE of the leader. Any of them could have won it with a better garnish.
Barbecue With A View (BACKYARD ONLY) Nov 12, 2021
30 teams cooking for it
What was actually on the table. Listed purses only — KCBS does not publish who took home which slice of it.
Aug 23, 2013 Aug 23, 2013
across 1 states and provinces
Held jointly by 5 — nobody has beaten it.
One Saturday, this many contests, every one of them lighting a fire at the same hour.
The 2016 season Oct 7, 2016
across 1 states and provinces
The high-water mark for the sport itself — the year the calendar was fullest.
Somebody has to run the table. These are the ones who have run the most.
Janet Appleton Oct 18, 2024
2019 → 2024
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The people who make a contest a contest — table captains, score checkers, keepers of the rulebook.
Janet Appleton Nov 12, 2021
the 2021 season
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Thirty contests in a year means most of a summer spent beside a scoring table.
Janet Appleton Oct 18, 2024
at 13 contests
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
How many separate teams have taken a Grand Championship at a contest this rep was running.
| Team | GCs this season |
|---|---|
| RAZORRACKS | 1 |
| Year | Series | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 ↗ | Backyard | DAWGS BBQ 🏆 | 1,356 |
| 2026 ↗ | Master | JANKY LEG BBQ 🏆 | 2,682 |
| 2025 ↗ | Backyard | Electro-Que-ted 🏆 | 1,414 |
| 2025 ↗ | Master | GETTIN' BASTED 🏆 | 2,826 |
| 2024 ↗ | Backyard | WEEZ'S GROOVIN' BBQ 🏆 | 1,404 |
| 2024 ↗ | Master | CHUNKY BBQ 🏆 | 2,734 |
| 2023 ↗ | Master | JANKY LEG BBQ 🏆 | 2,773 |
| 2022 ↗ | Master | Uncle Pig's Barbeque Pit 🏆 | 2,761 |
| 2021 ↗ | Master | GETTIN' BASTED 🏆 | 2,804 |
| 2020 ↗ | Master | GETTIN' BASTED 🏆 | 2,670 |
| 2019 ↗ | Master | B-S BBQ OUTLAWS 🏆 | 2,774 |
| 2018 ↗ | Master | GETTIN' BASTED 🏆 | 2,840 |
| 2017 ↗ | Master | CLARK CREW BBQ 🏆 | 2,850 |
| 2016 ↗ | Master | PORKY BUTTS BBQ 🏆 | 2,846 |
| 2015 ↗ | Master | CLARK CREW BBQ 🏆 | 2,843 |
| 2014 ↗ | Master | WARREN COUNTY PORK CHOPPERS 🏆 | 2,936 |
| 2013 ↗ | Master | WARREN COUNTY PORK CHOPPERS 🏆 | 2,940 |
| 2013 ↗ | Master | TRUEBUD BBQ 🏆 | 2,940 |
| Category | Entries | Avg score | Avg winning score | Perfect 180s | 180s per 1,000 entries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brisket toughest room | 3,367 | 164.66 | 178.01 | 34 | 10.1 |
| Pork Ribs | 3,629 | 165.26 | 177.44 | 28 | 7.7 |
| Pork | 3,397 | 166.05 | 177.74 | 28 | 8.2 |
| Chicken | 3,596 | 166.44 | 178.01 | 42 | 11.7 |
Sorted by average score — the category at the top scores lowest across the whole field, which usually means the judges are hardest to please there.