TheGrammy Award forBest New Artist has been awarded since the2nd Annual Grammy Awards in 1960 (except in 1967)[1] "for a new artist who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording which establishes the public identity of that artist." Since 2022, the award is presented by the previous year's winner during the televised ceremony.
The Best New Artist award has a reputation for being given to artists whose music industry success ends up being short-lived; it is sometimes asserted, with varying degrees of sincerity, that the award itself brings acurse.[2][3] This viewpoint was expressed byTaffy Danoff, a former member ofStarland Vocal Band (known for "Afternoon Delight"), in an interview forVH1's100 Greatest One Hit Wonders: "We got two of the five Grammys – one was Best New Artist. So that was basically the kiss of death and I feel sorry for everyone who's gotten it since."[4]
The category is also notable for being the only category to date in which a Grammy Award has been revoked: this occurred in 1990, whenMilli Vanilli originally won the award, but band membersFab Morvan andRob Pilatus later admitted that they did not contribute their own vocals on their albumGirl You Know It's True.[5] The award was subsequently vacated.[6]
Of the 65 acts who have won the award since its inception, 34 are solo female artists, 19 are duos or groups, and 12 are solo male artists. Of the solo male artists, half were given the award in its first decade; since 1970, only six solo male artists have won the award, the most recent beingChance the Rapper in 2017. From 1997 to 2003, and again from 2018 to 2025, all the winners were solo female artists.
Only five artists have won both Best New Artist andAlbum of the Year in the same year:Bob Newhart in 1961,Christopher Cross in 1981,Lauryn Hill in 1999,Norah Jones in 2003, andBillie Eilish in 2020. Of these, Cross, Jones, and Eilish had songs winningRecord of the Year andSong of the Year for the same year, with Cross as the sole songwriter, Eilish as co-writer, and Jones lacking songwriting credit, which therefore made her miss out on completing the single year big four Grammy achievement, a feat that only Cross and Eilish attained; whileAdele was the only artist to win all General field Grammys from separate occasions. Only two artists havelost Best New Artist yet won Album of the Year in the same year:Vaughn Meader in 1963 andAlanis Morissette in 1996.
For the award's first several years of existence, comedians and comic acts were regularly nominated, and one, Bob Newhart, won the award. However, this ended abruptly after 1963, and since then, only one comedian has been nominated for the award:Robin Williams in 1980. (That same year, the semi-comic actThe Blues Brothers was also nominated.) Of all the winners, only three have beencountry artists. In 1997,LeAnn Rimes became the first country artist and (at age 14) the youngest artist to win the award.[7][8][9] She was followed byCarrie Underwood in 2007[9][10] andZac Brown Band in 2010.[11] Additionally, 2017 marked the first time that two country artists were nominated in this category in the same year, in whichMaren Morris andKelsea Ballerini were both nominated.[12] In 1990,Tone Lōc became the first rap artist to be nominated. In 2012,Skrillex became the first electronic-music artist to be nominated.
In 1961,Miriam Makeba became the first South African artist to be nominated. In 1969,José Feliciano became the first Puerto Rican and blind artist to be nominated and win the award. In 1986,A-ha became the first Norwegian artists to be nominated whileSade became the first Nigerian to be nominated and win. In 1993,Jon Secada became the first Cuban to be nominated. In 2004,Sean Paul became the first Jamaican to be nominated. In 2012,Nicki Minaj became the first Trinidadian to be nominated. In 2020,Rosalía became the first Spanish and first all Spanish-language artist to be nominated. In 2021,Kaytranada became the first Haitian to be nominated. In 2022,Arooj Aftab became the first Pakistani artist to be nominated. In 2026, Sophia, Yoonchae and Manon fromKatseye, became the first Philippine, South Korean and Swiss artists to be nominated.
From 1995 to 2021, members of theNational Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences nominated their choices for the best new artist. A list of the top twenty artists was given to the Nominations Review Committee, a specially selected group of anonymous members, who initially selected the top five artists to gain a nomination in the category in a special ballot; the number of nominated artists was increased to eight in 2018.[14][15] The rest of the members then vote on a winner from the final nominees.[16] In 2021, it was announced that the Nomination Review Committees would be disbanded, and the final nominees for best new artist would be decided by votes from members.[17] Starting in 2022, the number of nominees in the category increased to 10.[18] However, the decision to expand the number of nominees in this category was made 24 hours before the nominees were announced after an early version of the nominations list had already been circulated. This allowedBaby Keem andArooj Aftab to be nominated as they were the artists who received the most votes besides the other eight nominees.[19] As of the2024 ceremony, the number of nominees has been reduced to eight.[20]
Over the years, the eligibility rules for this category have changed several times. In 2010,Lady Gaga's exclusion from the Best New Artist category caused theRecording Academy to change eligibility requirements for the next ceremony. She was ineligible for the nomination because her hit "Just Dance" had been nominated in 2008. The new rule stated that an artist may be nominated as long as that artist has not previously released an entirealbum and has subsequently not won a Grammy.[21][22] In June 2016, the Grammy organization amended the Best New Artist rules once again, to remove the album barrier "given current trends in how new music and developing artists are released and promoted".[23] To be eligible in the category of Best New Artist, the artist, duo, or group:
Must have released a minimum of five singles/tracks or one album (until 2020 there was a maximum of 30 singles/tracks or three albums, but this maximum limit was removed for the 2021 awards season)
May not have entered into this category more than three times, including as a performing member of an established group.
Must have achieved a breakthrough into the public consciousness and impacted the musical landscape during the eligibility period.
These new rules were put in effect with the59th Annual Grammy Awards. The category was then expanded to include eight nominees in2019.[24] Starting in 2021, screening committees were charged with determining whether the artist had attained a breakthrough or prominence prior to the eligibility year. Such a determination would result in disqualification.[25]
^[I] Each year is linked to the article about the Grammy Awards held that year. ^[II] The Grammy Award for Best New Artist was not presented during the 9th Grammy Awards.[90][91] ^[III]Milli Vanilli were originally presented with the award on February 21, 1990, but the award was revoked on November 19, 1990, following an admission by band membersFab Morvan andRob Pilatus that they were not the actual singers on the album.[5] The category was declared vacant for 1990.
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