The Recording Academy on Tuesday revealed the revisions in the Grammy rulebook for the 2027 awards — and perhaps the most significant change impacts one of the biggest categories: Best New Artist.
The update essentially redefines what it means to be “new.” Prior to today, artists were previously allowed to submit three times. Now, that eligibility window has increased to a maximum of four submissions, and will reinstate many formidable contenders for the 68th edition of music’s highest honor.
While this change may come as a surprise to casual fans, it’s the product of years of conversation surrounding the category and some very notable snubs. The idea of what constitutes Best New Artist has always been polarizing. For example, Tate McRae was ineligible after her breakthrough 2023 hits “Greedy” and “Exes”, having already been submitted three times in the past. The new allowance comes just days after the presumptive front-runner for the 2027 prize, Ella Langley, was reported to be ineligible because of the three-submission rule.
Langley has been riding high on the charts with her album Dandelion, which features the year’s biggest hit single to date, “Choosin’ Texas.” Langley had been previously submitted in each of the past three years, due in part to the virality of her 2024 track “You Look Like You Love Me” off her debut album Hungover and successful run through the country music award shows, namely the ACMs and CMAS last year. This year, however, Langley fully crossed over in to the mainstream and is expected to surge back to the top of the Gold Derby leaderboard as news of her eligibility spreads.
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Similarly, another country star who should benefit is Megan Moroney, who recently topped the Billboard 200 with her album Cloud 9. While Moroney is definitely not as safe of a bet as Langley, the former’s commercial appeal has grown exponentially in the past year, aided by the country radio success of singles “Beautiful Things” and “6 Months Later.” Moroney’s biggest struggle might actually be solidifying her image as a new artist, since country voters with long memories will recall it has been three years since her first Best New Artist nominations at the top country award shows. A similar perception likely cost fellow country star Lainey Wilson a nomination at the 2024 awards, despite her album Bell Bottom Country eventually winning Best Country Album.
In the R&B and pop realm, there’s another female rising star who has missed out on a nod in previous cycles but could crack the New Artist race due to a current hit: Ravyn Lenae. Lenae had been submitted for her two earlier records, Hypnos (2022) and Bird’s Eye (2024), and then again last year for her breakthrough hit, “Love Me Not”, which reached the Top 5 of the Hot 100. When she didn’t make the final field, it was considered a snub. She could follow the path of acts like Maneskin and Raye, who missed out on expected nods in this category, then got nominated the year after, likely as a make-up from voters. With the upcoming slate considered not as strong as last year’s, Lenae could find herself in the running.
There’s also folk-pop singer-songwriter Lizzy McAlpine, who achieved breakout success with her hit “Ceilings”, as well as viral success on TikTok with hits like “Spring Into Summer” and “Staying”. McAlpine was submitted from the 65th to 67th Grammy Awards but surprisingly failed to score a nomination. She has been featured on the Album of the Year nominated record Djesse Vol. 4 by Jacob Collier and collaborated with other Grammy Best New Artist nominees Finneas and Noah Kahan.
On the rock side, British rocker Sam Fender could also be back in the conversation, with the success of his crossover American hit “Rein Me In,” featuring last year’s winner, Olivia Dean. The song has been steadily charting in the Hot 100’s lower half. Fender has been a darling in the U.K. for a while now, especially due to the critical acclaim of his debut album, Hypersonic Missiles. That and his subsequent records, Seventeen Going Under and People Watching, were all passed over in previous cycles, but now he has been granted one more shot.
There are a couple of contenders who might be on their third or fourth submission, since information isn’t publicly available. Rock band Geese was submitted for the 64th and 65th Grammys, and it wouldn’t be shocking if they had submitted previously since they have been active since 2016, so this new rule change could offer them an eligibility extension. The band’s Getting Killed is easily one of the most acclaimed albums of the season, being an early front-runner for the alternative and rock categories.
Likewise, alternative-pop singer-songwriter Dominic Fike has been buzzy for a while, but achieved a commercial breakthrough this year with his singles “White Keys” and “Babydoll,” the latter of which reached the Top 20 of Billboard‘s Hot 100. Another pop star who could be back in the conversation again is Conan Gray. Gray isn’t really a new artist, but his album Wishbone could be classified as a breakthrough, being his first Top 3 album with his highest sales week ever, while also nabbing him a spot to perform on the main stage at the MTV Video Music Awards. As such, Gray could follow in the tradition of other recent not-so-new artists, like Sabrina Carpenter, Khruangbin, and Kaytranada, who wound up nominated following an impossible-to-ignore commercial breakthrough.
