The 34-year-old went into this evening's star-studded ceremony as firm favourite to scoop the biggest individual prize in football for the first time in his career following a stunning 2021-22 campaign.
Benzema scored 44 goals and assisted 15 more in just 46 games across all competitions, including 15 goals and two assists in 12 Champions League outings and 27 goals and 12 assists in 32 La Liga games.
The Frenchman's contributions helped Real Madrid to lift both trophies, and he has now won the Ballon d'Or for the first time.
Benzema succeeds seven-time winner Lionel Messi as the Ballon d'Or winner, becoming only the second player other than Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo to take the award since 2007.
The striker becomes the fifth different French player to win the prestigious trophy, following in the footsteps of Raymond Kopa, Jean-Pierre Papin, Zinedine Zidane and Michel Platini, the latter of whom won it three times.
At 34, Benzema is also the oldest Ballon d'Or winner since Sir Stanley Matthews scooped the inaugural award in 1956.
"Seeing this award in front of me makes me really proud of the work I have done. It was childhood dream, to have the motivation... I had two role models [Zinedine] Zidane and Ronaldo and always I had this dream in my mind that anything is possible," Benzema said upon receiving the award.
