Yahoo Lifestyle SiriusXM Reveals 2025 ‘Future Five’: Lola Young, Ken Carson, More
SiriusXM has unveiled its “Future Five” for 2025, five artists who it has supported and predicts to break through this year. The class of 2025 is Balu Brigada, Hudson Westbrook, Ken Carson, Leon Thomas and “Messy” singer Lola Young.
The announcement notes that the satellite radio network “continues to use human insight,” as opposed to data, to support such decisions, with its programming team curating a list that reflects today’s most promising artists. Past “Future Five” selections include Carly Pearce, Coco Jones, Doja Cat, Gabby Barrett, Lil Uzi Vert, Roddy Ricch and more.
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“We have seen so many standout musicians breakthrough over the past year and SiriusXM remains dedicated to discovering and developing these artists,” Steve Blatter, Senior Vice President/General Manager, Music Programming, SiriusXM. “We are thrilled to reveal our 2025 Future Five list that consists of artists across all genres that we believe will truly resonate with SiriusXM listeners and make a lasting impact.”
The networks’ descriptions of the artists follows below.
Balu Brigada- Alternative (Atlantic)
The alt-pop duo from New Zealand has been making its mark on SiriusXM’s Alt Nation since August when the channel identified “So Cold” as “Critical Cut” and became the first outlet to expose the track to North America. Since then Alt Nation has gone on to lead the way nationally in airplay. In November, Balu Brigada delivered an exclusive Alt Nation session performance and “So Cold” ended 2024 in the top 20 on the channel’s “Alt36 of 2024” countdown as it continues to climb the alternative radio charts into 2025.
Hudson Westbrook- Country (River House/Warner Nashville)
SiriusXM’s The Highway has provided Hudson’s first significant airplay with “Pray Your Name,” and his breakout hit “House Again” hit top 15 on the channel. Most recently, Hudson was named The Highway’s first “Highway Find” of 2025, a program that is committed to spotlighting outstanding new talent in the country genre.
Ken Carson – Hip Hop (Interscope):
In November, SiriusXM became the industry leader in exposing Ken’s music when the Sound 42 channel became the first to commit support to “Fighting My Demons”. Since then, Hip-Hop Nation has stepped out in their support of his music by naming his latest release “Delusional” a “First Alert” track while also featuring it on “The Lookout by Soundcloud” the channel’s exclusive partnership program with the Soundcloud platform.
Leon Thomas- R&B (Motown/ICLG)
SiriusXM’s The Heat has led the nation in support of Thomas’ track “Mutt” with significant additional platform support coming from the Sound 42 and Heart & Soul channels. In total, the track has received more than 1,500 plays. SiriusXM continues to step out in support of the artist with Sound 42 leading the nation in support of his song “Vibes Don’t Lie” and The Heat starting 2025 by committing airplay to his track “Yes It Is”.
Lola Young- Pop (Island)
The UK singer-songwriter began receiving industry leading support from SiriusXM in 2024 when SiriusXM Hits 1, TikTok Radio and Alt Nation all committed support to her breakout track “Messy.” Since its release, “Messy” was identified as “Hit Bound” for SiriusXM Hits 1 and an “Impact Track” for Alt Nation, where it has since gone on to top the channel’s weekly Alt18 Countdown multiple times while collecting well over 1,000 platform plays to date. SiriusXM’s support carries into 2025 as they welcome Lola into their NYC studios to deliver an exclusive session performance.
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