11 Surprising Musicians Who Lost Best New Artist At The Grammys

And while receiving such a notable Grammy so early on in your career is a huge honor, it definitely doesn’t measure an artist’s success in the future. Many musicians who have lost out on the coveted award have gone on to have massive careers -- and looking back, it’s actually surprising that they didn’t receive that early accolade from the Recording Academy. Stars like Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar didn’t take home Best New Artist but have gone on to achieve incredible success.

Find out which major musicians lost at the Grammys…

1. Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift may be a massive superstar, but back in 2008 when she was nominated for Best New Artist, she actually lost the award to Amy Winehouse. That clearly didn’t stop the upward trajectory of her career, and since then, she’s taken home 13 Grammys of her own, including Album of the Year on a record-breaking four occasions.

“I would love to tell you that this is the best moment of my life, but I feel this happy when I finish a song or when I crack the code to a bridge…or when I'm rehearsing with my dancers or my band, or getting ready to go to Tokyo to play a show,” Taylor said during her acceptance speech in 2024. “For me, the award is the work. All I wanna do is keep being able to do this. I love it so much. It makes me so happy.”

2. Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran may have been up for Best New Artist in 2014 but the award ultimately went to Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. Despite the loss, just two years later he was redeemed when he won his first two Grammys for Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance. Since then, he’s been nominated on numerous occasions and has taken home four wins in total.

3. John Mayer

Back in 2003, John Mayer lost out on Best New Artist to Norah Jones. While he didn’t take home the win that year, he has since been nominated on 18 other occasions and has won seven times, including Best Pop Vocal Album for Continuum and Song of the Year for “Daughters.”

4. Justin Bieber

In 2011, Justin Bieber was up for his first Grammy in the Best New Artist category. Unfortunately for Justin, who was just 16 at the time, he lost out to jazz musician Esperanza Spalding. The Recording Academy faced major backlash from his fans after the snub but Justin was gracious about the loss.

“Yeah. I’m not going to lie. People were expecting me to say something else, but I’m disappointed,” he said on Chelsea Lately at the time. “I’m really excited for [Esperanza]. She worked hard.”

Although he lost out, Justin has since been nominated over 20 times, taking home the award for Best Dance Recording for “Where Are Ü Now” in 2015 and Best Country Duo/Group Performance for “10,000 Hours,” a collaboration with Dan + Shay, in 2021.

5. Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar may now have 17 Grammy wins under his belt but back in 2014, he wasn’t awarded Best New Artist by the Recording Academy. Instead, the win went to Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. In fact, Kendrick didn’t win any of the seven awards he was nominated for that year. Despite the loss, he still said it was an honor.

“Being acknowledged for your work is always a great accomplishment, whether it’s people in my city, kids in the street, all the way up to the Grammys,” Kendrick told The New York Times.

Kendrick has since been nominated a whopping 50 times.

6. Britney Spears

Back in 2000, Britney Spears was just a pop star on the rise when she was nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammys. At the time, she didn’t win and the award instead went to her former Mickey Mouse Club co-star Christina Aguilera. Britney has since been nominated on quite a few occasions and even took home the Grammy for Best Dance Recording for her song “Toxic” in 2005.

7. Drake

Drake was nominated for Best New Artist in 2011, the same year as Justin Bieber, but they both lost to Esperanza Spalding. Since then, Drake has been nominated over 50 times and has taken home awards on five occasions. Although he now has some Grammys on his shelf, Drake doesn’t have many kind things to say about the award ceremony. While defending The Weeknd’s lack of nominations in 2011, Drake wrote that he felt that the Grammys no longer mattered.

“I think we should stop allowing ourselves to be shocked every year by the disconnect between impactful music and these awards and just accept that what once was the highest form of recognition may no longer matter to the artists that exist now and the ones that come after,” Drake wrote. “It’s like a relative you keep expecting to fix up but they just can’t change their ways.”

8. Jonas Brothers

When the Jonas Brothers were nominated for Best New Artist in 2009, they were the favorite band of millions of teenagers around the world. Unfortunately for them, they had some tough competition and lost out on the award to Adele. They’ve since been nominated on one other occasion but have yet to take any Grammy awards home.

9. Kanye West

In 2005, Kanye West was a rapper on the rise and received quite a few nods from the Recording Academy. Although he didn’t win the Grammy for Best New Artist, which was instead given to Maroon 5, Kanye did take home several other awards. He won Best Rap Album for The College Dropout as well as Best Rap Song for “Jesus Walks.”

Kanye has now been nominated an incredible 76 times and has won on 24 occasions. While he’s received so much acclaim from the Recording Academy, he was banned from performing at the show in 2022 due to “concerning online behavior.”

10. Nicki Minaj

Nicki Minaj may be one of the most successful female rappers of all time but in 2012, she lost out on the award for Best New Artist to Bon Iver. While she’s racked up 11 more nominations since then, including Best Rap Album and Best Rap Song, she’s unfortunately never taken a Grammy home. In 2021, Nicki called out the Recording Academy for continually snubbing her.

“Never forget the Grammys didn’t give me my best new artist award when I had 7 songs simultaneously charting on Billboard & bigger first week than any female rapper in the last decade—went on to inspire a generation,” she wrote on X. “They gave it to the white man Bon Iver. #PinkFriday.”

Then in 2023, she called out the organization once again when they nominated her song “Super Freaky Girl” in a pop category despite being submitted under the rap category. In an extended post on social media, she explained that she felt the song was moved to give her less of a chance of winning.

“If you can’t tell by now that there is a concerted effort to give newer artists things that they really don’t deserve, over people who have been deserving for many years, then you’re not paying attention,” she said. “And soon female rap will really not have any black women. If you pay attention, you’ll see, you’ll understand.”

11. Shania Twain

In 1996, Shania Twain was a star on the rise when she was nominated for Best New Artist. Unfortunately, she lost out to Hootie & the Blowfish -- but she still went home with an award. Shania was nominated for several awards that night, including Best Country Song and Best Female Country Vocal Performance for “Any Man Of Mine.” But it was the award for Best Country Album that won Shania her first Grammy.

She has since been nominated over a dozen times and has taken home a total of five Grammys.