The 68th Grammy Awards are taking place on Feb. 1, 2026. (Image Courtesy of Stan)
On Feb. 1, the biggest night in music will take place, the 68th Grammy Awards, recognizing the best musicians of the last year across every genre. ‘Best New Artist’ is considered a part of the big four and is one of the most coveted awards of the night. This year, there are eight nominees for ‘Best New Artist’, ranging from influencers who used social media to jump start their careers like Addison Rae, Alex Warren and Sombr, to long-time songwriter and beloved Victorious character, Leon Thomas. The nominee list also includes two British artists, Olivia Dean and Lola Young, and two groups, The Marías and power girl group Katseye, which round out the category.
Despite the award’s popularity, the ‘Best New Artist’ category has also caused the most confusion in recent years because what is ‘new’? At the 2025 Grammys an uproar sparked after Sabrina Carpenter’s nomination in this category, because she was also nominated for other awards for her sixth full-length album, Short N’ Sweet. Six albums isn’t new. But according to the Grammy Awards’ Rule Book, there is no number of albums, downloads or streams that qualifies or disqualifies an artist from this category. This category simply recognizes artists who have broken out into the public eye from their cult followings and made a ‘notable impact (on the) music landscape’. However, the rules do specify that the artist needs to not have, essentially, gone viral in a previous year, though how this is determined feels subjective.
Before the winner was announced last year, fans of other nominees, myself included, were worried that their favorites would not stand a chance against Carpenter, who already felt like a full-blown pop star. Many pop music fans breathed a sigh of relief when Chappell Roan’s name was called, especially when she used her time on stage to call out music executives taking advantage of new artists.
In 5 of the 6 previous years, there has been one standout candidate for the award (and in some years, a second artist in a close second). When Chappell Roan won, she was nominated for five other categories and had the song of the summer. Victoria Monet, the 2024 recipient, received nine other nominations, leading to three additional wins. Olivia Rodrigo, the 2022 Best New Artist, received six additional nominations, leading to two more wins during the 66th Grammy Awards. However, this year, the cards don’t feel as stacked towards one artist over the rest.
This year, a standout artist in terms of additional Grammy nominations is Leon Thomas, with five other nominations for ‘Mutt’ and his album under the same name. Besides Katseye and Lola Young, who each have one additional nomination, this is every nominee’s only nomination. But Thomas’s lead in nominations doesn’t translate to streaming numbers.
Thomas has the fewest monthly Spotify listeners, at only 13 million, and the lowest streaming top song, ‘Mutt’. There are two other artists whose popularity matches their hype, so to speak. The Marías have both the fourth most listened to top song, ‘No One Noticed’, and the fourth most monthly listeners on Spotify. The third artist is Sombr, who ranks second out of the eight nominees in both categories with 55.1 million monthly listeners and 1.4 billion streams on ‘Back to Friends’. Addison Rae and Katseye have opposite ranks in these categories; Addison Rae ranks seventh in monthly listeners but fifth in streaming numbers for ‘Diet Pepsi’, whereas Katseye currently has more monthly listeners, ranking them fifth out of the eight nominees in this category.
The three remaining artists are in unique situations. Lola Young’s ‘Messy’ smashed the charts, peaking at no. 14, a remarkable achievement for a new British artist. However, her monthly listeners do not measure up, partially due to her taking a hiatus from her music to improve her health, which started in September and is said to end this year. Young ranks below Katseye with only 29 million. Olivia Dean, the other British nominee, with the song ‘Man I Need’, only has six million streams, ranking her third from the bottom in that category. However, Dean has the most monthly listeners, at a whopping 59.1 million. That puts a nearly 46 million listener gap between Dean and Thomas.
Based on numbers alone, the race seems to be narrowing between Sombr, Warren and Dean. But when I look at these nominees and ask myself, ‘who has had the biggest year?’ I have one clear answer. This award is Olivia Dean’s.
‘Man I Need’, ‘Nice to Each Other’ and ‘So Easy (To Fall In Love)’ have been everywhere in the last few months, and her bubbly personality and incredible style have made her the next pop star to capture the eye of teenage girls globally. She is a breath of fresh air in pop music because not only does she write incredibly relatable and vulnerable lyrics (if you don’t believe me, just go listen to ‘Let Alone the One You Love’), she also carves her own path in an unforgettable way. Dean is already using her platform to advocate for change in the music industry.
When tickets for her highly anticipated tour went on sale in November, tickets were sold out almost immediately, partially due to scalpers and resellers. While today, this is the common ticket-buying experience – get lucky or pay a million dollars – Dean pushed back. She and her team worked with Ticketmaster and AXS to prevent resellers from hiking prices of her concert tickets and even got partial refunds for fans who paid over face value. As someone who has seen 11 concerts in the last two and a half years, buying tickets and fighting resellers is my biggest pet peeve. Seeing someone take action to change the ticket culture made me proud to be an Olivia Dean fan.
While I would love to see an Olivia Dean win, this award is not make or break for fans of these artists, regardless of if they win. During last year’s show, every nominee for best new artist got the chance to perform; some, like Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter, had their own sets, whereas others, like Raye and Shaboozey, only got a single song. I think that this was a great way of promoting these new artists and it introduced me to one of my favorite new artists, Raye. After watching her performance of ‘Oscar Winning Tears’, who wasn’t just a little bit intrigued? The performers at the 68th Grammy Awards have not yet been announced, but until then, I will be crossing my fingers that we can see Olivia Dean shine on that stage.
Contact CU Independent Assistant Arts Editor Addisson Pribble at Addisson.Pribble@colorado.edu
