The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since the 2nd Annual Grammy Awards in 1960 (except in 1967) "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 a curse. This viewpoint was expressed by Taffy Danoff, a former member of Starland Vocal Band (known for "Afternoon Delight"), in an interview for VH1's 100 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."
The category is also notable for being the only category to date in which a Grammy Award has been revoked: this occurred in 1990, when Milli Vanilli originally won the award, but band members Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus later admitted that they did not contribute their own vocals on their album Girl You Know It's True. The award was subsequently vacated.
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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 being Chance 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 and Album of the Year in the same year: Bob Newhart in 1961, Christopher Cross in 1981, Lauryn Hill in 1999, Norah Jones in 2003, and Billie Eilish in 2020. Of these, Cross, Jones, and Eilish had songs winning Record of the Year and Song 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; while Adele was the only artist to win all General field Grammys from separate occasions. Only two artists have lost Best New Artist yet won Album of the Year in the same year: Vaughn Meader in 1963 and Alanis 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 act The Blues Brothers was also nominated.) Of all the winners, only three have been country artists. In 1997, LeAnn Rimes became the first country artist and (at age 14) the youngest artist to win the award. She was followed by Carrie Underwood in 2007 and Zac Brown Band in 2010. Additionally, 2017 marked the first time that two country artists were nominated in this category in the same year, in which Maren Morris and Kelsea Ballerini were both nominated. In 1990, Tone Lōc became the first rap artist to be nominated. In 2012, Skrillex became the first electronic-music artist to be nominated.
Eleven female rappers have been nominated for the award; Neneh Cherry, Lauryn Hill, Nicki Minaj, Iggy Azalea, Saweetie, Latto, Ice Spice and Doechii; with 2021 marking the first time that multiple female rappers were nominated in the same year, when Chika, Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion were all nominated. Hill and Megan Thee Stallion are the only winners.
The Judds, Indigo Girls, Wilson Phillips, SWV, The Chicks, Haim, Chloe x Halle and Katseye are the only all-female groups to be nominated for the award.
The Beatles, Tom Jones, Graham Nash of Crosby, Stills & Nash; Culture Club, Sade, Amy Winehouse, Adele, Sam Smith, Dua Lipa and Olivia Dean are the only British or English winners. Anne Murray, Men Without Hats, Corey Hart, Glass Tiger, Crash Test Dummies, Shania Twain, Alanis Morrisette, Nelly Furtado, Avril Lavigne, Feist, Drake, Justin Bieber, Alessia Cara and Kaytranada are the only Canadian artists to be nominated with Cara winning in 2018, the only woman to win a major category that year. Sheena Easton and Big Country are the only Scottish artists to be nominated, with Easton winning in 1981. Lana Cantrell, Men at Work, Natalie Imbruglia, Iggy Azalea, Courtney Barnett and The Kid Laroi are the only Australian artists to be nominated, with Men at Work winning in 1983. The Swingle Sisters and Domi Louna from Domi & JD Beck; are the only French artists to be nominated, with the former winning in 1966, also the first foreign act to do so.
Astrud Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Eumir Deodato, Morris Albert and Anitta are the only Brazilian artists to be nominated. Neneh Cherry and Ace of Base are the only Swedish artists to be nominated. Andrea Bocelli and Måneskin are the only Italian artists 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 while Sade 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 from Katseye, became the first Philippine, South Korean and Swiss artists to be nominated.
1984 marked the first time that all of the nominees were from outside the United States (winner Culture Club, Eurythmics, Musical Youth, and Big Country were from the United Kingdom, and Men Without Hats were from Canada).
Natalie Cole, A Taste of Honey, Jody Watley, Tracy Chapman, Mariah Carey, Arrested Development, Toni Braxton, Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Esperanza Spalding, Chance the Rapper, Megan Thee Stallion, Samara Joy and Victoria Monét are the only African Americans to win the award.
Boy George of Culture Club, Tracy Chapman, Sam Smith, Billie Eilish, Megan Thee Stallion, Victoria Monét, and Chappell Roan are the only LGBT+ artists to win the award.
David Crosby and Carl Palmer hold the distinction of being the only artists to be nominated twice for this award. Palmer was nominated both times as a member of a supergroup: Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Asia, while Crosby was nominated as a member of The Byrds and won as a member of the supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash.
Eight artists who have been nominated for Best New Artist have later been awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award: The Beatles (1965, 2014), Chicago (1970, 2020), Cream (1969, 2006), Jefferson Airplane (1968, 2016), Antônio Carlos Jobim (1965, 2012), Led Zeppelin, (1970, 2005), Leontyne Price (1961, 1989), and John Prine (1972, 2020).
Process From 1995 to 2021, members of the National 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.Behind Grammy's Closed Door The rest of the members then vote on a winner from the final nominees. 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. Starting in 2022, the number of nominees in the category increased to 10. 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 allowed Baby Keem and Arooj Aftab to be nominated as they were the artists who received the most votes besides the other eight nominees. As of the 2024 ceremony, the number of nominees has been reduced to eight.
Rules changes 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 the Recording 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 entire album and has subsequently not won a Grammy. 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". 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 the 59th Annual Grammy Awards. The category was then expanded to include eight nominees in 2019.Recording Academy Announces 61st GRAMMY Awards Update 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.Grammy.com, 10 June 2020 As of the 69th Annual Grammy Awards, an artist is allowed to submit up to a maximum of four times overall for the category, instead of three.
Recipients Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, for records released in the previous year.
1960s Year Performing Artist1960 Edd ByrnesMark MurphyJohnny RestivoMavis Rivers1961 The Brothers Four Miriam Makeba Leontyne Price Joanie Sommers1962 Ann-Margret Dick Gregory The Lettermen Timi Yuro1963 The Four Seasons Vaughn Meader The New Christy Minstrels Peter, Paul and Mary Allan Sherman1964 The Swingle Singers Vikki Carr John Gary The J's with Jamie Trini Lopez1965 The Beatles Petula Clark Astrud Gilberto Antonio Carlos Jobim Morgana King1966 The Byrds Herman's Hermits Horst Jankowski Marilyn Maye Sonny & Cher Glenn Yarbrough1967 No award1968 Lana Cantrell The 5th Dimension Harpers Bizarre Jefferson Airplane1969 Cream Gary Puckett & The Union Gap Jeannie C. Riley O. C. Smith
1970s Year Performing Artist1970 Crosby, Stills & Nash Chicago Led Zeppelin Oliver The Neon Philharmonic1971 The Carpenters Elton John Melba Moore Anne Murray The Partridge Family1972 Chase Emerson, Lake & Palmer Hamilton, Joe Frank & ReynoldsBill Withers1973 America Harry Chapin Eagles Loggins and Messina John Prine1974 Eumir Deodato Maureen McGovern Marie Osmond Barry White1975 Bad Company Johnny Bristol David Essex Graham Central Station Phoebe Snow1976 Morris Albert Amazing Rhythm Aces Brecker Brothers KC and the Sunshine Band1977 Starland Vocal Band Boston The Brothers Johnson Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band Wild Cherry1978 Stephen Bishop Shaun Cassidy Foreigner Andy Gibb1979 A Taste of Honey The Cars Elvis Costello Chris Rea Toto
1980s