Grammys best new artist winners through the years: Full list ahead of 2025 awards

Olivia Munson, USA TODAY
Updated ·4-min read

Since 1959, the Grammy Awards have honored excellence and outstanding achievements in the music industry. Among the ceremony's accolades are the coveted "big four" categories – album of the year, song of the year, record of the year and best new artist.

The best new artist award made its first appearance at the 2nd annual Grammy Awards. From then on, it has catapulted hundreds of artists further into the mainstream.

Despite its name, artists nominated for the award don't necessarily have to be fresh to the music scene. A "new artist" is defined as one who establishes their public identity as a performer during the eligibility period, according to the Recording Academy. In short, a recording artist or group with a discography that spans years could still be nominated for best new artist if they've only recently become popular.

There have been two years the best new artist award was not given: 1967 and 1990, when Milli Vanilli was originally awarded, but was later revoked when it was discovered the duo didn't actually sing on their album.

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Let's take a look at every best new artist Grammy Award winner through the years, and see who made the cut for nominations ahead of this year's 67th annual ceremony on Feb. 2.

Best new artist 2025 Grammy nominees

These are the artists who are nominated for best new artist at the 2025 Grammy Awards:

Best new artist Grammy Award winners

Here are all the best new artist Grammy Award winners since the category was added at the 2nd annual ceremony in 1959:

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Grammy Awards best new artist winners from 1959 to 2024: Full list

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