Photo Gallery: Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest Through the Years

The Photo Archive.

A growing visual archive of the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest. Every image royalty-free, every photographer credited.

★ About this gallery: All photos below are sourced from Wikimedia Commons and are licensed for free editorial use under various Creative Commons terms. Each photo is credited inline. If you're a photographer who has photographed the contest and would like your work added to this archive, please get in touch — we will credit you and link back.

Joey Chestnut at the 2025 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest — 2025 · JULY 4

Chestnut's return.

**Subject:** Joey Chestnut · 17th Mustard Belt, post-ban return
**Photo:** SOCJ · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0

Joey Chestnut draped in the American flag after winning the 2010 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest — 2010 · JULY 4

The flag shot.

**Subject:** Joey Chestnut · 54 dogs · 4th straight Mustard Belt · Kobayashi banned, rushed the stage later
**Photo:** Michael (Flickr: Hello Turkey Toe) · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0

Joey Chestnut at the 2009 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest — 2009 · JULY 4

The 68.

**Subject:** Joey Chestnut · 68 dogs · World record, broke own record vs Kobayashi
**Photo:** Ethan from Manhattan · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0

Takeru Kobayashi at the 2009 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest — 2009 · JULY 4

The Tsunami.

**Subject:** Takeru Kobayashi · 64.5 dogs · 3rd straight runner-up to Chestnut · His final competitive year at Coney Island before the 2010 ban
**Photo:** Ethan from Manhattan · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0

Takeru Kobayashi at the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, 2006 — 2006 · JULY 4

The last reign.

**Subject:** Takeru Kobayashi · 53.75 dogs · His sixth and final Mustard Belt. He would lose to Chestnut in 2007.
**Photo:** sublies (Flickr) · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0

Miki Sudo at the 2015 Pumpkin Festival Competitive Eating event — 2015 · OCT

Sudo at the pumpkin.

**Subject:** Miki Sudo · The reigning women's Nathan's champion at a Pumpkin Festival eating event
**Photo:** Mark James Miller · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

The Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Wall of Fame countdown clock at the Coney Island location, September 2015 — 2015 · SEPT

The countdown clock.

**Subject:** The Wall of Fame countdown to the next contest, mounted on the side of the Coney Island Nathan's
**Photo:** DanTD · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

The Nathan's Famous Wall of Fame in 2007 — every Mustard Belt champion through that year — 2007 · MARCH

The Wall.

**Subject:** The Wall of Fame inside Nathan's Famous at Coney Island, listing every champion through 2006 — Chestnut's name added later that year.
**Photo:** David Shankbone · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

The original Nathan's Famous storefront at Surf and Stillwell, Coney Island, 2019 — 2019 · JUNE

Surf & Stillwell.

**Subject:** The original Nathan's Famous on the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues in Coney Island, Brooklyn — the contest's home since 1916
**Photo:** Ajay Suresh · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0

About royalty-free editorial photos

Photos on this page are all sourced from Wikimedia Commons, the free media library that's the visual half of Wikipedia. Every photo here is licensed under Creative Commons — meaning anyone can use them, including us, including you, as long as the photographer is credited and the license terms are respected.

If you're attending the contest and taking your own photos, consider uploading them to Wikimedia Commons under a CC BY or CC BY-SA license. It's how the visual archive of the contest gets richer over time. The 2009 photos in this gallery are from a Manhattan amateur photographer named Ethan; the 2025 photo is from a user named SOCJ; the 2010 victory shot is from a Flickr user nicknamed "Hello Turkey Toe." None of them were paid. They just wanted the moment preserved.

Want a photo added?

If you photographed the Nathan's contest and want your work in this archive, please write in. We will credit you with the original photographer name and license you specify, and link back to your portfolio or social if you'd like.