Longest Jeopardy! Winning Streaks of All Time: The Top 10, From Ken Jennings's 74 to Jamie Ding's 31

Per-game figure is our division of regular-season winnings by games won. Tournament money is not included.

The gist: Ken Jennings still owns the longest Jeopardy! winning streak, 74 games in 2004, and nobody has come within 34 wins of it. The newest name in the top five is Jamie Ding, whose 31-game run ended in April.

With Season 43 starting Monday and a two-day champion walking in, it's a good week to know where the bar sits. Here's the list, how each run ended, and what a new streak would need to crack it.

Why are almost all the long streaks from after 2003?

Because before that, they weren't allowed. Until September 8, 2003, a champion who won five games in a row retired undefeated and got a Tournament of Champions seat instead of a sixth game.

That's why Brad Rutter, the show's biggest lifetime money winner, has only five regular games. It also means every name in the table above played in the uncapped era, and eight of the ten did it after 2013.

How did Ken Jennings get to 74?

He first played on June 2, 2004, less than a year after the cap came off, and didn't lose until the episode that aired November 30. Nancy Zerg beat him in his 75th game.

His $2,520,700 in regular play works out to about $34,064 a night. Here's the odd part: Amy Schneider averaged slightly more per game, $34,570, over her 40. Jennings's edge was never the nightly haul. It was showing up 74 times and not having a bad day.

Who else has won 30 or more games?

Amy Schneider, 40 wins

Schneider's run straddled the 2021–22 new year and set the women's record, taking it from Julia Collins's 20. Rhone Talsma ended it in January 2022.

Matt Amodio, 38 wins

Amodio's streak ran through summer and early fall 2021 and ended against Jonathan Fisher, who went on to win 11 of his own. Amodio's $39,963 per game is second only to Holzhauer on this list.

James Holzhauer, 32 wins

Holzhauer is the outlier on money. He averaged $76,944 a game, more than double anyone else in the top ten, and holds the single-game record of $131,127.

Emma Boettcher beat him on June 3, 2019, which left him about $58,000 short of Jennings's regular-season total.

How good was Jamie Ding's 2026 run?

Good enough to move into fifth all time with 31 wins and $882,605, one game behind Holzhauer. It was the longest streak since Schneider's, and it ended in late April.

He also became the rare champion people remember for the wardrobe: orange sweaters in Princeton's school color. Honestly, the sweaters got about as much coverage as the Final Jeopardy! wagers.

Which streaks just missed the top ten?

The cutoff is 19 wins, so a 20th victory is the ticket in. The Jeopardy! Fan's ultra-champs list, updated in July, has these next in line:

Remsen is the most recent. The Memphis attorney and theater producer lost at the end of June, going into Final Jeopardy! with the lead and coming out second.

Mattea Roach, sixth on the main list, is the best Canadian result ever, and her 23-game run ended by a single dollar. Cris Pannullo's 21 came later that same year, so four of the top seven streaks landed between summer 2021 and the end of 2022.

What would Matthew Riggle need to join the list?

Riggle, a math instructor at an Alabama community college, returns Monday with two wins and $64,400. His $32,200 per game is already ahead of Ding's pace and just behind Jennings's.

We counted weeknights forward from the Season 43 premiere week, assuming he wins every game and nothing gets preempted:

👉 Even a perfect run can't touch the record until two days before Christmas. That's how far out 74 is.

One preemption or holiday encore pushes every date back. Game three is the realistic question, and the Jeopardy! section will have Monday's players by mid-morning.

Frequently asked questions

Who has the longest Jeopardy! winning streak?

Ken Jennings, with 74 consecutive wins in 2004. Amy Schneider is second with 40.

Is there still a limit on how many games you can win?

No. The five-game limit ended on September 8, 2003. Champions now play until they lose.

Who is the current Jeopardy! champion?

Matthew Riggle, with two wins. He plays his third game on the Season 43 premiere, Monday, Sept. 14.

If you missed how last season wrapped, Yogesh Raut's win in the Masters final and Andrew He's Invitational title in Friday's encore are both written up. Every night's result sits in the results archive, and the city-by-city air time guide covers where to watch. Wheel fans get their own giveaway walkthrough in the SPIN ID explainer.

Sources

• The Jeopardy! Fan — Ultra-Champs (10+ Game Winners), updated July 17, 2026
• Jeopardy! record tables (Wikipedia), compiled from the show's official records
• Deseret News — Adam Remsen's run ends
• TV Insider — Season 43 premiere date

By the Game Show On Air desk · Updated Sept. 14, 7:16 a.m. ET