Most frequent collaboratorBob Johnston · 80 tracks
GenresFolk RockRockBluesCountryAmericana
Songwriter
76%
Authorship
Holds writing credit on 312 of 412 tracks
Did Bob Dylan write his own songs?
Yes, the vast majority. Bob Dylan is one of the most prolific songwriters in history, writing around 76% of his catalogue and most of those entirely by himself, from 'Blowin' in the Wind' and 'Like a Rolling Stone' to 'Tangled Up in Blue.' The songs he did not write are traditional folk tunes and old standards he chose to record on albums like Self Portrait and his Sinatra covers. He briefly co-wrote with Jacques Levy on the 1976 album Desire.
By the Numbers
37
Studio Albums
412
Tracks Credited
76%
Self-Written
125M+
Records Sold
64
Years Active
104
Collaborators
Authorship Breakdown 312 / 412 self-written
Who wrote the songs?
Across all 412 tracks: how many Bob Dylan wrote alone, how many they co-wrote, and how many were written by others. The bracket marks every track they hold any writing credit on.
Bob Dylan has a writing credit76%
69%
6%
24%
Sole author286tracks69%
Co-written26tracks6%
Outside writers100tracks24%
Role Fingerprint how they contribute
Bob Dylan's roles across the catalogue
Share of all 412 tracks where they are personally credited, by role.
Lyricist (words)76%
Composer (music)76%
Producer42%
Performer100%
Authorship Over Time writing credit per album
Bob Dylan's writing credit per album, in release order. Hover any bar for the album.
avg 76%
15%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
33%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
89%
100%
100%
100%
63%
40%
100%
100%
0%
0%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
0%
0%
0%
100%
100%
1962Bob Dylan
1963The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
1964The Times They Are a-Changin'
1964Another Side of Bob Dylan
1965Bringing It All Back Home
1965Highway 61 Revisited
1966Blonde on Blonde
1967John Wesley Harding
1969Nashville Skyline
1970Self Portrait
1970New Morning
1973Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
1974Planet Waves
1975Blood on the Tracks
1976Desire
1978Street Legal
1979Slow Train Coming
1980Saved
1981Shot of Love
1983Infidels
1985Empire Burlesque
1986Knocked Out Loaded
1988Down in the Groove
1989Oh Mercy
1990Under the Red Sky
1992Good as I Been to You
1993World Gone Wrong
1997Time Out of Mind
2001Love and Theft
2006Modern Times
2009Together Through Life
2012Tempest
2015Shadows in the Night
2016Fallen Angels
2017Triplicate
2020Rough and Rowdy Ways
2023Shadow Kingdom
Early · 83% written
Mid · 82% written
Late · 61% written
Authorship by Decade track-weighted
89%
1960s
Bob Dylan, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan +7 more
83%
1970s
Self Portrait, New Morning +6 more
85%
1980s
Saved, Shot of Love +5 more
48%
1990s
Under the Red Sky, Good as I Been to You +2 more
100%
2000s
Love and Theft, Modern Times +1 more
20%
2010s
Tempest, Shadows in the Night +2 more
100%
2020s
Rough and Rowdy Ways, Shadow Kingdom
Authorship Spectrum pure performer to complete author
Where Bob Dylan sits on the scale from a pure performer (0%, sings songs written by others) to a complete author (100%, writes everything). The bright marker is their catalogue authorship score, plotted against other artists on the site.
Bob Dylan
Other artists on the site
Reference artists spread across the scale, closest by genre and era.
Bubble size = tracks worked on together. TW Tom Wilson · DD Don DeVito · JH John Hammond
The Authorship Story
Data Insight
Bob Dylan is perhaps the purest songwriter in this dataset: he writes virtually everything himself, carrying both lyricist and composer credit on nearly every track across his entire catalog. The one notable exception is Desire (1976), where he co-wrote most tracks with playwright Jacques Levy, seven of the album's nine songs carry the Dylan/Levy partnership. Every other album examined here is sole Dylan across the board, which is remarkable for an artist with 39 studio albums spanning over six decades.
Quick Facts
Nobel PrizeWon the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature, the first songwriter to do so
GrammysWon ten Grammy Awards over his career
OscarWon an Academy Award for Best Original Song
SongbookWrote hundreds of songs, most of them entirely on his own
InfluenceWidely regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time
Creative Fingerprint
One of the great solo songwriters: Bob Dylan wrote the overwhelming majority of his songs entirely alone across 37 albums, from 'Blowin' in the Wind' to 'Like a Rolling Stone.' The outside credits are almost all traditional folk songs and old standards he chose to record, plus a short collaboration with Jacques Levy on Desire.
The Story
Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman) is widely regarded as one of the most influential songwriters in the history of popular music, and in 2016 he became the first musician to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. Emerging from the Greenwich Village folk scene in the early 1960s, he transformed American music by wedding poetry and political consciousness to rock and roll, producing a body of work that spans more than six decades. His albums, from the protest anthems of his early career through the electric rock of Highway 61 Revisited, the confessional intensity of Blood on the Tracks, and the late-career trilogy of Time Out of Mind, Love and Theft, and Modern Times, remain benchmarks of songwriting craft.
Awards & Recognition
Won the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature, the first songwriter to receive it
Sold an estimated 125 million records worldwide
Won ten Grammy Awards over his career
Won an Academy Award for Best Original Song
Widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential songwriters of all time
Frequently Asked Questions Bob Dylan
Did Bob Dylan write his own songs?
Yes, the vast majority. Bob Dylan is one of the most prolific songwriters in history, writing around 76% of his catalogue and most of those entirely by himself, from 'Blowin' in the Wind' and 'Like a Rolling Stone' to 'Tangled Up in Blue.' The songs he did not write are traditional folk tunes and old standards he chose to record on albums like Self Portrait and his Sinatra covers. He briefly co-wrote with Jacques Levy on the 1976 album Desire.
Who wrote 'Like a Rolling Stone'?
'Like a Rolling Stone' (1965) was written entirely by Bob Dylan. It is often ranked among the greatest songs of all time and marked his move from folk into rock.
Who wrote 'Blowin' in the Wind'?
'Blowin' in the Wind' (1963) was written by Bob Dylan alone. It became an anthem of the civil rights and anti-war movements and one of his most famous songs.
Who wrote 'Hurricane'?
'Hurricane' (1975) was co-written by Bob Dylan and Jacques Levy for the album Desire. It is one of the few Dylan songs with an outside co-writer, telling the story of boxer Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter.
Did Bob Dylan win the Nobel Prize?
Yes. In 2016 Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize in Literature, cited for 'having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.' He was the first songwriter to receive it.
How many albums has Bob Dylan released?
This catalogue covers 37 of his studio albums, from his 1962 self-titled debut to Shadow Kingdom. His output spans more than six decades.
How many records has Bob Dylan sold?
An estimated 125 million worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time.
Why is Bob Dylan called the voice of a generation?
In the 1960s his protest songs, like 'Blowin' in the Wind' and 'The Times They Are a-Changin',' spoke for the civil rights and anti-war movements, and he was labeled the voice of his generation, a title he has often resisted.
He started in folk, went electric into folk rock and rock in the mid-1960s, and has moved through blues, country, gospel, and American standards across his career.
Bob Dylan
