| 100% | GEORGE | 6 | ___ Gershwin, "Rhapsody in Blue" composer who was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize Special Citation |
| 77% | ELLINGTON | 9 | Duke ___, "Money Jungle" composer who was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize Special Citation |
| 69% | FRANKLIN | 8 | Aretha ___, "Respect" singer who was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize Special Citation |
| 69% | MONK | 4 | Thelonious ___, "Round Midnight" musician who was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize Special Citation |
| 54% | DYLAN | 5 | Bob ___, "Mr. Tambourine Man" singer who was awarded a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation |
| 52% | JOHNCOLTRANE | 12 | "Blue Train" jazz saxophonist who was posthumously awarded a 2007 Pulitzer Prize Special Citation: 2 wds. |
| 51% | ARETHAFRANKLIN | 14 | "Respect" singer who was posthumously awarded a 2019 Pulitzer Prize Special Citation: 2 wds. |
| 48% | HANKWILLIAMS | 12 | "Your Cheatin' Heart" singer who was posthumously awarded a 2010 Pulitzer Prize Special Citation: 2 wds. |
| 41% | LAMAR | 5 | Kendrick ___, "Money Trees" rapper who was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Music |
| 40% | IDA | 3 | ___ B. Wells, African-American civil rights leader who was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize special citation |
| 38% | ZAPPA | 5 | Frank who was honored with a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997 |
| 37% | SAGAN | 5 | Carl ___, astrophysicist who was the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize and multiple Emmy Awards |
| 36% | AGEE | 4 | He won a posthumous Pulitzer Prize in 1958 |
| 36% | JONIMITCHELL | 12 | 15-Across and 44-Across singer-songwriter who was honored with a Gershwin Award in 2023 (2 wds.) |
| 35% | MORENO | 6 | Rita who was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004 |
| 35% | ANSEL | 5 | Adams who was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1980 |
| 35% | PAT | 3 | Coach Summitt who was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012 |
| 34% | BRUCE | 5 | Jack ___, Cream bassist who was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006 |
| 34% | PAT | 3 | Former basketball coach Summitt who was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012 |
| 34% | ELIOT | 5 | T.S. ___ who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature |
| 34% | MERIT | 5 | Pulitzer Prize is awarded for this in literature |
| 34% | ALISONBECHDEL | 13 | "Fun Home" author and cartoonist who was awarded a "genius grant" in 2014: 2 wds. |
| 33% | SYLVIAPLATH | 11 | American poet and novelist who won a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for "The Collected Poems" in 1982: 2 wds. |
| 33% | OKLAHOMA | 8 | Musical awarded a special Pulitzer in 1944 |
| 33% | NKJEMISIN | 9 | "The Fifth Season" sci-fi author who was awarded a "genius grant" in 2020: 3 wds. |
| 32% | EDITHWHARTON | 12 | 13-Across and 25-Across writer who was the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize in Literature, for her 1920 novel "The Age of Innocence" (2 wds.) |
| 32% | JUNOTDIAZ | 9 | "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" author who was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship "genius grant" in 2012: 2 wds. |
| 32% | TONI | 4 | Morrison who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom |
| 32% | TONIMORRISON | 12 | "Beloved" novelist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in the year 1993: 2 wds. |
| 32% | BACH | 4 | Who was voted the "Greatest Composer of All Time," in a 2019 BBC poll |