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==