Grammy Award for Best New Artist: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 01:48, 17 June 2024

Grammy Award for Best New Artist
Victoria Monét is the most recent recipient
Country	United States
Presented by	National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences
First awarded	1960
Currently held by	Victoria Monét (2024)
Website	grammy.com

The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since the 2nd Annual Grammy Awards in 1960,^[1] but was not presented in 1967. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, for records released in the previous year. The official guidelines are as follows: "For a new artist who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording which establishes the public identity of that artist." Note that this is not necessarily the first album released by an artist; for example, Shelby Lynne won the award in 2001 after having already released six albums over 13 years.^[2]

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.^[3]^[4] This viewpoint was expressed by former Starland Vocal Band member Taffy Danoff in a 2002 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."^[5]

The category is also notable for being the only category in which a Grammy Award was vacated; this occurred in 1990 after it was revealed that winners Milli Vanilli did not contribute their own vocals on their album Girl You Know It's True.^[6] The award was not then given to another artist.^[7]

Further information

Of the 62 acts who have won the award since its inception, 31 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 2024, 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.

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.^[8]^[9]^[10] She was followed by Carrie Underwood in 2007^[10]^[11] and Zac Brown Band in 2010.^[12] 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.^[13] In 2018, Alessia Cara became the first Canadian artist to ever win the award, and the only woman to win a major category that year. In 2020, Rosalía became the first all Spanish-language artist to be nominated. 2021 marked the first time that multiple female rappers were nominated in the same year, when Chika, Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion were all nominated, with the latter winning the award.

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.)

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.

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.^[15]^[16] The rest of the members then vote on a winner from the final nominees.^[17] 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.^[18] Starting in 2022, the number of nominees in the category increased to 10.^[19] 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 that received the most votes besides the other eight nominees.^[20] As of the 2024 ceremony, the number of nominees has been reduced to eight.^[21]

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.^[22]^[23] 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".^[24] To be eligible in the category of Best New Artist, the artist, duo, or group:

These new rules were put in effect with the 59th Annual Grammy Awards. The category was then expanded to include eight nominees in 2019.^[25] 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.^[26]

Recipients

1960s

Year^[I]	Recipient	Nominees	Ref
1960	Bobby Darin	Edd Byrnes Mark Murphy Johnny Restivo Mavis Rivers	^[27]
1961	Bob Newhart	The Brothers Four Miriam Makeba Leontyne Price Joanie Sommers	^[28]
1962	Peter Nero	Ann-Margret Dick Gregory The Lettermen Timi Yuro	^[29]
1963	Robert Goulet	The Four Seasons Vaughn Meader The New Christy Minstrels Peter, Paul and Mary Allan Sherman	^[30]
1964	The Swingle Singers	Vikki Carr John Gary The J's with Jamie Trini Lopez	^[31]
1965	The Beatles	Petula Clark Astrud Gilberto Antonio Carlos Jobim Morgana King	^[32]
1966	Tom Jones	The Byrds Herman's Hermits Horst Jankowski Marilyn Maye Sonny & Cher Glenn Yarbrough	^[33]
1967	No award	^[II]
1968	Bobbie Gentry	Lana Cantrell The 5th Dimension Harpers Bizarre Jefferson Airplane	^[34]
1969	José Feliciano	Cream Gary Puckett & The Union Gap Jeannie C. Riley O. C. Smith	^[35]

1970s

Year^[I]	Recipient	Nominees	Ref.
1970	Crosby, Stills & Nash	Chicago Led Zeppelin Oliver The Neon Philharmonic	^[36]
1971	The Carpenters	Elton John Melba Moore Anne Murray The Partridge Family	^[37]
1972	Carly Simon	Chase Emerson, Lake & Palmer Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds Bill Withers	^[38]
1973	America	Harry Chapin Eagles Loggins and Messina John Prine	^[39]
1974	Bette Midler	Eumir Deodato Maureen McGovern Marie Osmond Barry White	^[40]
1975	Marvin Hamlisch	Bad Company Johnny Bristol David Essex Graham Central Station Phoebe Snow	^[41]
1976	Natalie Cole	Morris Albert Amazing Rhythm Aces Brecker Brothers KC and the Sunshine Band	^[42]
1977	Starland Vocal Band	Boston The Brothers Johnson Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band Wild Cherry	^[43]
1978	Debby Boone	Stephen Bishop Shaun Cassidy Foreigner Andy Gibb	^[44]
1979	A Taste of Honey	The Cars Elvis Costello Chris Rea Toto	^[45]

1980s

Year^[I]	Recipient	Nominees	Ref.
1980	Rickie Lee Jones	The Blues Brothers Dire Straits The Knack Robin Williams	^[46]
1981	Christopher Cross	Irene Cara Robbie Dupree Amy Holland The Pretenders	^[47]
1982	Sheena Easton	Adam and the Ants The Go-Go's James Ingram Luther Vandross	^[48]
1983	Men at Work	Asia Jennifer Holliday The Human League Stray Cats	^[49]
1984	Culture Club	Big Country Eurythmics Men Without Hats Musical Youth	^[14]
1985	Cyndi Lauper	Sheila E. Frankie Goes to Hollywood Corey Hart The Judds	^[50]
1986	Sade	A-ha Freddie Jackson Katrina and the Waves Julian Lennon	^[51]
1987	Bruce Hornsby & The Range	Glass Tiger Nu Shooz Simply Red Timbuk3	^[52]
1988	Jody Watley	Breakfast Club Cutting Crew Terence Trent D'Arby Swing Out Sister	^[53]
1989	Tracy Chapman	Rick Astley Toni Childs Take 6 Vanessa L. Williams	^[54]

1990s

Year^[I]	Recipient	Nominees	Ref.
1990	~~Milli Vanilli~~ None^[6]^[III]	Neneh Cherry Indigo Girls Tone Lōc Soul II Soul	^[57]
1991	Mariah Carey	The Black Crowes The Kentucky Headhunters Lisa Stansfield Wilson Phillips	^[58]
1992	Marc Cohn	Boyz II Men C+C Music Factory Color Me Badd Seal	^[59]
1993	Arrested Development	Billy Ray Cyrus Sophie B. Hawkins Kris Kross Jon Secada	^[60]
1994	Toni Braxton	Belly Blind Melon Digable Planets SWV	^[61]
1995	Sheryl Crow	Ace of Base Counting Crows Crash Test Dummies Green Day	^[62]
1996	Hootie & the Blowfish	Brandy Alanis Morissette Joan Osborne Shania Twain	^[63]
1997	LeAnn Rimes	Garbage Jewel No Doubt The Tony Rich Project	^[64]
1998	Paula Cole	Fiona Apple Erykah Badu Hanson Puff Daddy	^[65]
1999	Lauryn Hill	Backstreet Boys Andrea Bocelli Dixie Chicks Natalie Imbruglia	^[66]

2000s

Year^[I]	Recipient	Nominees	Ref.
2000	Christina Aguilera	Macy Gray Kid Rock Britney Spears Susan Tedeschi	^[67]
2001	Shelby Lynne	Brad Paisley Papa Roach Jill Scott Sisqó	^[68]
2002	Alicia Keys	India Arie Nelly Furtado David Gray Linkin Park	^[69]
2003	Norah Jones	Ashanti Michelle Branch Avril Lavigne John Mayer	^[70]
2004	Evanescence	50 Cent Fountains of Wayne Heather Headley Sean Paul	^[71]
2005	Maroon 5	Los Lonely Boys Joss Stone Kanye West Gretchen Wilson	^[72]
2006	John Legend	Ciara Fall Out Boy Keane Sugarland	^[73]
2007	Carrie Underwood	James Blunt Chris Brown Imogen Heap Corinne Bailey Rae	^[74]
2008	Amy Winehouse	Feist Ledisi Paramore Taylor Swift	^[75]
2009	Adele	Duffy Jonas Brothers Lady Antebellum Jazmine Sullivan	^[76]

2010s

Year^[I]	Recipient	Nominees	Ref.
2010	Zac Brown Band	Keri Hilson MGMT Silversun Pickups The Ting Tings	^[77]
2011	Esperanza Spalding	Justin Bieber Drake Florence and the Machine Mumford & Sons	^[78]
2012	Bon Iver	The Band Perry J. Cole Nicki Minaj Skrillex	^[79]
2013	Fun	Alabama Shakes Hunter Hayes The Lumineers Frank Ocean	^[80]
2014	Macklemore & Ryan Lewis	James Blake Kendrick Lamar Kacey Musgraves Ed Sheeran	^[80]
2015	Sam Smith	Iggy Azalea Bastille Brandy Clark Haim	^[81]
2016	Meghan Trainor	Courtney Barnett James Bay Sam Hunt Tori Kelly	^[80]
2017	Chance the Rapper	Kelsea Ballerini The Chainsmokers Maren Morris Anderson .Paak	^[82]
2018	Alessia Cara	Khalid Lil Uzi Vert Julia Michaels SZA	^[83]
2019	Dua Lipa	Chloe x Halle Luke Combs Greta Van Fleet H.E.R. Margo Price Bebe Rexha Jorja Smith	^[84]

2020s

Year^[I]	Recipient	Nominees	Ref.
2020	Billie Eilish	Black Pumas Maggie Rogers Lil Nas X Lizzo Rosalía Tank and the Bangas Yola	^[85]
2021	Megan Thee Stallion	Ingrid Andress Phoebe Bridgers Chika Noah Cyrus D Smoke Doja Cat Kaytranada	^[86]
2022	Olivia Rodrigo	Arooj Aftab Jimmie Allen Baby Keem Finneas Glass Animals Japanese Breakfast The Kid Laroi Arlo Parks Saweetie	^[87]
2023	Samara Joy	Anitta Omar Apollo Domi & JD Beck Latto Måneskin Muni Long Tobe Nwigwe Molly Tuttle Wet Leg	^[88]
2024	Victoria Monét	Gracie Abrams Fred Again Ice Spice Jelly Roll Coco Jones Noah Kahan The War and Treaty	^[89]

Notes

^{^[I]} Each year is linked to the article about the Grammy Awards held that year.
^{^[II]} The Grammy Award for Best New Artist wasn't presented during the 9th Grammy Awards.^[90]^[91]
^{^[III]} Milli Vanilli were originally presented with the award on February 21, 1990, but were later stripped of it after admitting that they were not the actual singers on their album.^[6] The category was left vacant for the year.

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