The 2025 GRAMMY nominations were released so we dug into the data behind it all in a special edition of New Industry Friday.

In it we cover…

• Best New Artist, but new to who?

• Are UMG playing a different game entirely?

• Interscope, Red Light and CAA top the charts. Who else ranked?

• Is there actually a gender… balance?

👋 there’s lots of charts and data so if you’d prefer you can read this online.

⚠️ Read this first

This analysis focuses on 26 key GRAMMY categories, including high-profile awards and mainstream genres. Using ROSTR’s unique data, we analyze each nominee’s management, label, and agency to spotlight industry players and trends. While not exhaustive, this selection offers a strong sample of GRAMMY patterns. For more info, click here.

Best New Artist: but new to who?

The Recording Academy bases eligibility for Best New Artist (BNA) on when an artist “achieved a breakthrough into the public consciousness.”

Still, this year the average amount of time between a nominee’s debut release and nomination was… 7.8 years. This year, 3 of the nominees released their debuts more than a decade ago.

(Left) Best New Artist 2025 nominees and approx. time since their debut release
(Right) Average across all of this year’s Best New Artist nominees

ⓘ We counted debut release as the artists first dedicated release (excluding collaborations or soundtracks)

It’s not just an anomaly – this trend has been building since the 2010s. In the 2000s, the average Best New Artist nominee had been active for just over 2 years. By the 2010s, that number rose to 4 years, and in the first half of this decade, nominees have typically been active for 6 years before receiving a nomination.

The average number of years since first release for Best New Artist nominees since 2000 (pink line) plotted against the linear trend (blue line)

💡 In the future, we might do a special looking into the data and the potential reasons behind this trend. In the meantime, if you have thoughts on why this is happening drop a comment on New Industry Friday, where you can read the full analysis ⬇️