MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist

for Best New Artist The MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist has been given out since the first annual MTV Video Music Awards in 1984. Until 2006, the award was named Best New Artist in a Video. In 2007 its name was changed to Best New Artist, as the category underwent a format change to recognize the artist's body of work for the full year rather than a specific video. For the 2008 ceremony, the award retained its 2007 name but returned to the format of awarding a specific video rather than the artist's full body of work. This is the only award where voting closes during the ceremony.

The category was later renamed Artist to Watch through 2013 to 2015 while still keeping the format of an award going to a particular video. In 2020, the Best New Artist award merged with the Push Artist of the Year award (2018-2019) to create the Push Best New Artist award. In 2021, MTV returned the category to its original name (Best New Artist), thus separating it from the MTV Push initiative, which again received its own category (Push Performance of the Year).

Winners and nominees

†Marks winners of the Grammy Award for Best New Artist

*Marks nominees of the Grammy Award for Best New Artist

1980s

Year	Winner(s)	Nominees	Ref.
Eurythmics – "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)"*	{{smalldiv
'Til Tuesday – "Voices Carry"	{{smalldiv
A-ha – "Take On Me"*	{{smalldiv
Crowded House – "Don't Dream It's Over"	{{smalldiv
Guns N' Roses – "Welcome to the Jungle"	{{smalldiv
Living Colour – "Cult of Personality"	{{smalldiv

1990s

Year	Winner(s)	Nominees	Ref.
Michael Penn – "No Myth"	{{smalldiv
Jesus Jones – "Right Here, Right Now"	{{smalldiv
Nirvana – "Smells Like Teen Spirit"	{{smalldiv
Stone Temple Pilots – "Plush"	{{smalldiv
Counting Crows – "Mr. Jones"*	{{smalldiv
Hootie & the Blowfish – "Hold My Hand"†	{{smalldiv
Alanis Morissette – "Ironic"*	{{smalldiv
Fiona Apple – "Sleep to Dream"*	{{smalldiv
Natalie Imbruglia – "Torn"*	{{smalldiv
Eminem – "My Name Is"	{{smalldiv

2000s

Year	Winner(s)	Nominees	Ref.
Macy Gray – "I Try"*	{{smalldiv
Alicia Keys – "Fallin'" †	{{smalldiv
Avril Lavigne – "Complicated"*	{{smalldiv
50 Cent – "In da Club"*	{{smalldiv
Maroon 5 – "This Love"†	{{smalldiv
The Killers – "Mr. Brightside"	{{smalldiv
Avenged Sevenfold – "Bat Country"	{{smalldiv
Gym Class Heroes	{{smalldiv
Tokio Hotel – "Ready, Set, Go!"	{{smalldiv
Lady Gaga – "Poker Face"	{{smalldiv

2010s

Year	Winner(s)	Nominees	Ref.
Justin Bieber (featuring Ludacris) – "Baby"*	{{smalldiv
Tyler, the Creator – "Yonkers"	{{smalldiv
One Direction – "What Makes You Beautiful"	{{smalldiv
Austin Mahone – "What About Love"	{{smalldiv
Fifth Harmony – "Miss Movin' On"	{{smalldiv
Fetty Wap — "Trap Queen"	{{smalldiv
DNCE	{{smalldiv
Khalid*	{{smalldiv
Cardi B	{{smalldiv
Billie Eilish†	{{smalldiv

2020s

Year	Winner(s)	Shortlist	Nominees	PUSH Longlist	Ref.	2024	2025
Doja Cat*	{{smalldiv		{{smalldiv		{{smalldiv
Olivia Rodrigo†	{{smalldiv		{{smalldiv
Dove Cameron	{{smalldiv		{{smalldiv
Ice Spice*	{{smalldiv		{{smalldiv
Chappell Roan†	{{smalldiv		{{smalldiv
Alex Warren*	{{smalldiv		{{smalldiv