| Year | Dates | Host | Additional information |
| 1988 | | No host | |
| 1989 | | No host | |
| 1990 | | No host | |
| 1991 | | No host | |
| 1992 | | No host | |
| 1993 | | No host | |
| 1994 | | Peter Benchley | |
| 1995 | | No host | |
| 1996 | | No host | |
| 1997 | | No host | |
| 1998 | | No host | |
| 1999 | | No host | |
| 2000 | | Nigel Marven | |
| 2001 | | Nigel Marven | |
| 2002 | | Nigel Marven | |
| 2003 | | No host | |
| 2004 | | The cast of American Chopper | |
| 2005 | | Adam Savage, Jamie Hyneman | |
| 2006 | | Mike Rowe | |
| 2007 | | Les Stroud | |
| 2008 | July 27 — August 2 | Jamie Hyneman, Adam Savage, Mike Rowe | Both a new MythBusters shark special and a shark-themed episode of Dirty Jobs premiered for the event. |
| 2009 | August 2 — August 8 | Les Stroud | The season premiered with Blood in the Water, a recreation of the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916. |
| 2010 | August 1 — August 7 | Craig Ferguson | The programming block featured six brand-new shark specials. It was advertised by the second appearance of the giant inflatable shark attached to the Discovery Channel building nicknamed "Chompie". Shark Week 2010 was rated the most viewed Shark Week ever with 30.8 million unique viewers. Shark Week is now the longest-running program event on cable. |
| 2011 | July 31 — August 6 | Andy Samberg | Programming featured seven specials. |
| 2012 | August 12 — August 18 | Philip DeFranco | "Chompie", the 446-foot-long, great white shark, was once again hung on the Discovery Channel headquarters building. To honor the series' 25th anniversary, viewers were encouraged to vote via Twitter (now X) or Facebook on which item a mechanical megalodon shark would crush with its hydraulic jaws in the "Shark Week Chompdown". |
| 2013 | August 4 — August 10 | Josh Wolf | The event began with Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives, a fictitious documentary-style film which hypothesized the megalodon shark existing in present times. A marketing campaign for the event launched during Discovery's Skywire Live, featuring a newscast covering the return of "Snuffy The Seal" to the ocean, only to see a shark jump out and devour the seal on camera (carrying the slogan "It's a bad week to be a seal"). An aftershow—Shark After Dark Live—was also introduced, hosted by Josh Wolf. |
| 2014 | August 10 — August 16 | Josh Wolf | The programming block featured fourteen programs, including five Shark After Dark LIVE episodes shown for the first five days after two new programs each night. |
| 2015 | July 5 — July 12 | Eli Roth | The block lasted eight days, and consisted of 14 new episodes, including a special titled Shark Week Sharktacular that premiered on June 23. It highlighted the best moments in Shark Week history, and previewed Shark Week 2015. Also, eight special "Sharkopedia Edition" episodes aired. For the third year in a row, five Shark After Dark LIVE episodes hosted by will premiere on the first five nights. |
| 2016 | June 26 — July 2 | Eli Roth | |
| 2017 | July 23 — July 29 | Eli Roth | To celebrate its 29th anniversary, selected U.S. theaters, beginning July 18, showed a "best of" episode from 2016 while also debuting a new 2017 special. |
| 2018 | July 22 — July 28 | Shaquille O'Neal | To celebrate its 30th anniversary, Shark Week created a limited edition Shark Week Box for dedicated fans to complement the Shark Week Experience. |
| 2019 | July 28 — August 4 | Rob Riggle | |
| 2020 | August 9 — August 16 | Josh Gates | |
| 2021 | July 11 — July 18 | Josh Gates | |
| 2022 | July 24 — July 30 | Dwayne Johnson | All Elite Wrestling, whose Dynamite and Rampage shows air on Warner Bros. Discovery-owned channels, participated in Shark Week with a shark cage-themed match; their Fight for the Fallen event benefited ocean wildlife charities. |
| 2023 | July 23 — July 29 | Jason Momoa | Programs included Jaws vs the Meg, Great White Fight Club, Raiders of the Lost Shark, Cocaine Sharks, and Dawn of the Monster Mako. |
| 2024 | July 7 — July 13 | John Cena | Programs included Belly of the Beast, Great White Serial Killer: Sea of Blood, and Monster Hammerheads: Species X. |
| 2025 | July 20 — July 26 | Tom Bergeron | A featured program is Dancing With Sharks, an interspecies dance competition inspired by Dancing with the Stars. |
