Giacomo Agostini has won the most premier-class titles in Grand Prix motorcycle racing, with eight. Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez sit just behind, tied on seven premier-class titles each, and Marquez is the reigning champion after taking the 2025 MotoGP crown. "Premier class" is the top category of Grand Prix racing, called 500cc until 2001 and MotoGP from 2002, so these records run in one unbroken line from 1949 to today.
Counting every class a rider has won (125cc, 250cc, 350cc, Moto2 and the premier class together), Agostini still leads with 15 world titles, while Rossi and Marquez are tied again on nine each. Keeping the premier-class count separate from the all-class count is where most "most titles" answers go wrong, so this page treats them separately.
Who has the most MotoGP titles? The premier-class order
Ranked by premier-class (500cc plus MotoGP) world championships:
- Giacomo Agostini, 8 (1966-1972 and 1975)
- Valentino Rossi, 7 (2001-2005, 2008 and 2009)
- Marc Marquez, 7 (2013, 2014, 2016-2019 and 2025)
- Mick Doohan, 5 (1994-1998, all in a row)
- Four riders on 4 each: Geoff Duke, John Surtees, Mike Hailwood and Eddie Lawson
Agostini's haul is the benchmark: seven straight titles on the MV Agusta from 1966 to 1972, then an eighth on a Yamaha in 1975. Rossi took the last 500cc crown in 2001 and six more in the MotoGP era, while Marquez matched him by winning the 2025 title, his first since 2019. Doohan's five were consecutive, a run of sustained dominance only Agostini and Rossi have topped.
Premier-class titles vs total titles across all classes
This is the distinction that trips people up. A rider's premier-class count includes only 500cc and MotoGP crowns. Their total count adds the smaller classes they won on the way up:
- Giacomo Agostini: 15 total (8 premier-class, 7 in the 350cc class)
- Valentino Rossi: 9 total (1 in 125cc, 1 in 250cc, 7 premier-class)
- Marc Marquez: 9 total (1 in 125cc, 1 in Moto2, 7 premier-class)
So Rossi and Marquez are level twice over: tied on nine world titles across all classes, and tied on seven in the premier class. Agostini leads on both measures, and his 15 is the most world titles any rider has won in any class.
Most MotoGP titles by manufacturer
Counting the machine each rider was crowned on, Honda has carried the most premier-class champions:
- Honda, 21
- MV Agusta, 18
- Yamaha, 18
- Suzuki, 7
- Gilera, 6
- Ducati, 5
MV Agusta built its 18 in one long golden run through the 1950s and 1960s. Honda and Yamaha then took over from the 1980s onward. Ducati is the modern force: after Casey Stoner's breakthrough title in 2007, the Italian marque has won four in a row from 2022 to 2025 (Francesco Bagnaia in 2022 and 2023, Jorge Martin in 2024, and Marquez in 2025). These figures count the bike the riders' champion rode; the separate constructors' championship, which Honda also leads, can go to a different marque in the same season.
From 500cc to MotoGP: one unbroken title line
Grand Prix motorcycle racing has crowned a premier-class world champion every year since 1949, making it one of the oldest world championships in any sport. The class ran to a 500cc engine limit for decades, then moved to four-stroke prototypes and was renamed MotoGP in 2002. Because it is the same championship under a new name, the 500cc and MotoGP records are always counted together, which is why Agostini's 1960s and 1970s titles sit on the same all-time list as Marquez's modern ones. For the current shape of the class, see what is MotoGP.
Who is the current MotoGP champion?
Marc Marquez is the reigning champion, having won the 2025 MotoGP World Championship in his first season with the factory Ducati Lenovo Team. He clinched it at the Japanese Grand Prix on 28 September 2025 with five rounds to spare, ending a title drought that stretched back to 2019. It was his seventh premier-class title and his ninth across all classes. For the rule and calendar changes shaping the seasons that follow, see what's new in MotoGP for 2026.
In short
- Most premier-class (500cc/MotoGP) titles: Giacomo Agostini, with 8.
- Second, tied on 7 each: Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez.
- Most titles across all classes: Agostini again, with 15; Rossi and Marquez tie on 9.
- Most premier-class titles by manufacturer: Honda (21), then MV Agusta and Yamaha (18 each); Ducati has surged to 5, with four straight from 2022 to 2025.
- Reigning champion: Marc Marquez, 2025, on the factory Ducati.
- The through-line: one premier-class champion every year since 1949, called 500cc until 2001 and MotoGP from 2002.