2021 Grammys: Ranker’s Top 5 Picks for ‘Best New Artist’

Music’s biggest night is here again — the 63rd annual Grammy Awards are set for March 14. The world’s biggest pop, rap, and rock stars are competing for awards like best album, best record, and best song of the year, but perhaps the most talked about category is the award for best new artist. Each year, the Recording Academy’s nominees for the biggest emerging talent in music give us a strong, diverse picture of all the potential directions the industry could be headed.

This year, the category is almost certain to go to one of the many female nominees who dominated the airwaves throughout 2020, though it’s anybody’s guess which one will actually take the award home. That’s why we left the question to anyone and everyone! Our Who Will Win the 2021 Grammy for Best New Artist? list features all eight nominees for this year’s award. Given that this year’s ceremony takes place during Women’s History Month, it’s appropriate that our voters’ Top 5 choices are all women. Take a look at their choices below, and keep reading to find out how the results could help us predict who will be the winner on March 14.

#1: Megan Thee Stallion

This should come as no surprise to anyone who spent any time near a radio over the last 12 months. Houston-based rapper Megan Thee Stallion topped the Billboard Hot 100 with “Savage Remix” in May of 2020, thanks in part to R&B icon Beyoncé’s vocal contribution. Megan was also featured on Cardi B’s highly controversial rap hit “WAP,” which debuted on the charts at No. 1 just a week after its release. Though 2020 brought plenty of top-tier talent into the public eye, no one’s star rose quite as high that year as Megan’s.

#2: Doja Cat

Rapper and singer Doja Cat’s rise to fame hasn’t been without its fair share of scandal. Another breakout star of 2020, she owes much of her success to virality on platforms like SoundCloud and TikTok. But the internet has also led to trouble for Doja Cat. During the same year that her song “Say So” topped the charts, she was also criticized for her participation in allegedly alt-right group chats. Love her or hate her, Doja Cat is clearly a pop star for our times.

#3: Phoebe Bridgers

Bridgers has been an indie darling since the release of her debut album “Stranger in the Alps” in 2017, but it wasn’t until last year that she started to become a household name. Bridgers released a new album and two EPs in 2020, making her one of the year’s most prolific rock artists. More recently, she’s received attention for her online skirmishes with David Crosby after the rock legend criticized her performance on SNL in February.

#5: Noah Cyrus

Noah Cyrus stepped out from behind her older sister Miley’s shadow this year. Her EP The End of Everything won critical acclaim for its examination of mental health crises and blending of country with modern pop.

So who will actually receive this prestigious award? Megan Thee Stallion likely had the most mainstream success of any of the nominees this year, but the Recording Academy has a habit of making controversial choices in this category (their decision to name Macklemore best new artist in 2014 over Kendrick Lamar comes to mind). Much like the Oscars, the Grammys have a middlebrow streak that tends to reward contenders who are somewhere between international superstars and underground hidden gems.

With all that in mind, we’d say there’s a pretty good chance Phoebe Bridgers will be the one who takes the award home — she’s popular enough that most music fans are familiar with her work, but obscure enough that her victory will come as a surprise. And we also anticipate that, much like in 2014, the surprise won’t be a pleasant one for many music fans.

These stories are crafted using Ranker Insights, which takes over one billion votes cast on Ranker.com and converts them into actionable psychographics about pop culture fans across the world. To learn more about how our Ranker Insights can be customized to serve your business needs, visit insights.ranker.com, or email us at insights@ranker.com.

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