The first world record in the men's shot put was recognised by the International Association of Athletics Federations in 1912. That inaugural record was the 15.54 m performance by Ralph Rose in 1909.^[1]

As of June 21, 2009, 51 world records have been ratified by the IAAF in the event.^[1] The distances by these men were accomplished with a 16-pound shot. Rose's 1909 record lasted almost 19 years, and the record was untouched for almost a dozen years surrounding World War II. The record was improved upon five times in 1960 and four times in 1934. The record set in 1990 held for over 31 years before it was broken in 2021. The current world record was set in 2023. Since 1954, marks set in Los Angeles have stood for 42 of those years and counting.

Mark	Athlete	Date	Location
15.54 m	Ralph Rose (USA)	21 August 1909	San Francisco, U.S.[1]
15.79 m	Emil Hirschfeld (GER)	6 May 1928	Breslau, Germany[1]
15.87 m	John Kuck (USA)	29 July 1928	Amsterdam, Netherlands[1]
16.04 m	Emil Hirschfeld (GER)	26 August 1928	Bochum, Germany[1]
16.04 m	František Douda (TCH)	4 October 1931	Brno, Czechoslovakia[1]
16.05 m	Zygmunt Heljasz (POL)	29 June 1932	Poznań, Poland[1]
16.16 m	Leo Sexton (USA)	27 August 1932	Freeport, U.S.[1]
16.20 m	František Douda (TCH)	24 September 1932	Prague, Czechoslovakia[1]
16.48 m	John Lyman (USA)	21 April 1934	Palo Alto, U.S.[1]
16.80 m	Jack Torrance (USA)	27 April 1934	Des Moines, U.S.[1]
16.89 m		30 June 1934	Milwaukee, U.S.[1]
17.40 m		5 August 1934	Oslo, Norway[1]
17.68 m	Charlie Fonville (USA)	17 April 1948	Lawrence, U.S.[1]
17.79 m	Jim Fuchs (USA)	28 July 1949	Oslo, Norway[1]
17.82 m		29 April 1950	Los Angeles, U.S.[1]
17.90 m		20 August 1950	Visby, Sweden[1]
17.95 m		22 August 1950	Eskilstuna, Sweden[1]
18.00 m	Parry O'Brien (USA)	9 May 1953	Fresno, U.S.[1]
18.04 m		5 June 1953	Compton, U.S.[1]
18.42 m		8 May 1954	Los Angeles, U.S.[1]
18.43 m		21 May 1954
18.54 m		11 June 1954
18.62 m		5 May 1956	Salt Lake City, U.S.[1]
18.69 m		15 June 1956	Los Angeles, U.S.[1]
19.06 m		3 September 1956	Eugene, U.S.[1]
19.25 m		1 November 1956	Los Angeles, U.S.[1]
19.25 m	Dallas Long (USA)	28 March 1959	Santa Barbara, U.S.[1]
19.30 m	Parry O'Brien (USA)	1 August 1959	Albuquerque, U.S.[1]
19.38 m	Dallas Long (USA)	5 March 1960	Los Angeles, U.S.[1]
19.45 m	Bill Nieder (USA)	19 March 1960	Palo Alto, U.S.[1]
19.67 m	Dallas Long (USA)	26 March 1960	Los Angeles, U.S.[1]
19.99 m	Bill Nieder (USA)	2 April 1960	Austin, U.S.[1]
20.06 m		12 August 1960	Walnut, U.S.[1]
20.08 m	Dallas Long (USA)	18 May 1962	Los Angeles, U.S.[1]
20.10 m		4 April 1964
20.20 m		29 May 1964
20.68 m		25 July 1964
21.52 m	Randy Matson (USA)	8 May 1965	College Station, U.S.[1]
21.78 m		23 April 1967
21.82 m	Al Feuerbach (USA)	5 May 1973	San Jose, U.S.[1]
22.86 m	Brian Oldfield (USA)	10 May 1975	El Paso, United States
21.85 m	Terry Albritton (USA)	21 February 1976	Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.[1]
22.00 m	Aleksandr Baryshnikov (URS)	10 June 1976	Paris, France[1]
22.15 m	Udo Beyer (GDR)	6 July 1978	Gothenburg, Sweden[1]
22.22 m		25 June 1983	Los Angeles, U.S.[1]
22.62 m	Ulf Timmermann (GDR)	22 September 1985	Berlin, Germany[1]
22.64 m	Udo Beyer (GDR)	20 August 1986
22.72 m	Alessandro Andrei (ITA)	12 August 1987	Viareggio, Italy[1]
22.84 m
22.91 m
23.06 m	Ulf Timmermann (GDR)	22 May 1988	Chania, Greece[1]
23.12 m	Randy Barnes (USA)	20 May 1990	Los Angeles, U.S.[1]
23.37 m	Ryan Crouser (USA)	18 June 2021	Eugene, U.S.[2]
23.56 m		27 May 2023	Westwood, U.S.[3]

• Women's shot put world record progression