The Best New Artists Of 2020, Ranked
Ranked By
11.6K votes
450 voters
1 reranks
Voting Rules
Only new artists and bands who are about to break out, or brand new pop artists who have just exploded.
- 1Alternative rock, Pop punkDominic Richard Harrison (born 5 August 1997), known professionally as Yungblud, is an English singer, songwriter and musician. His debut album, 21st Century Liability, was released on 6 July 2018.
- 2Indie pop, Bedroom popMarie Ulven Ringheim (born 16 February 1999), known professionally as Girl in Red (often stylized in all lowercase as girl in red), is a Norwegian indie pop singer-songwriter. Her single "I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend" has gained over 40 million streams on Spotify, and was listed at No. 9 on The New York Times list of "The 68 Best Songs of 2018". Since 2018, Ringheim has released two extended plays from her bedroom studio and has amassed over 3 million monthly streamers on Spotify.
- 3R&BPink Sweats (stylized Pink Sweat$), is an American singer and songwriter from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is managed by Thrice Cooked Media. He released his first EP Volume 1 on November 2, 2018, after the single "Honesty" started to gain buzz, reaching #23 on Spotify's Global Viral Chart and #10 on Spotify's US Viral Chart, and tallied over 2 million streams in under 8 weeks.
- 4Pop, R&B, FunkOmar Apolonio Velasco (born May 20, 1997), known professionally as Omar Apollo, is an Mexican-American singer and songwriter. Apollo sings in both English and Spanish. Apollo started his career by creating and uploading his songs to the DIY streaming platform SoundCloud. In 2021, Apollo released the single "Go Away", including a live performance on The Tonight Show. He later followed up with the single "Bad Life", featuring Kali Uchis. Apollo was also nominated for two Latin Grammy awards - Record of the Year and Best Alternative Song, both for "Te olvidaste", his collaboration with Spanish artist C. Tangana. In February 2022, Apollo released the single "Invincible" featuring Daniel Caesar and announced his debut album "IVORY" set to release in April 2022.
- 5CountryGabby Barrett (born March 5, 2000) is an American country music singer. She finished third on the sixteenth season of American Idol. Her debut single "I Hope" was the first top ten Hot Country Songs debut by an unaccompanied woman since October 2017. It has since become a top ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and has been certified 3x Platinum by the RIAA. Her debut album Goldmine was released on June 19, 2020.
- 6Joshua Karpeh (born January 30, 1993), known professionally as Cautious Clay, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Since 2017, he has released three EPs
- 7Pop, Indie-popFinneas Baird O'Connell, also known as FINNEAS, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, musician, and actor. He has released several singles and has written music for other artists, including his younger sister, singer Billie Eilish. He has been nominated for four 2020 Grammy Awards alongside Eilish, including Song of the Year and Album of the Year. Additionally, he is nominated by himself as Producer of the Year, Non-Classical.
- 8Indie pop, Dream popConan Lee Gray (born Gurei Konan) is an American recording artist and social media personality. He is best known for his debut EP, "Sunset Season," which was released under Republic Records in 2018 and has gained over 160 million streams online. Since 2018, Gray has sold out two North American tours and one European tour, supported Panic! at the Disco for on their Pray for the Wicked Tour, and has gained over 250 million streams collectively.
- 9Indie popStella Bennett (born 2000), known professionally as Benee (/ˈbɛniː/, stylised BENEE, formerly spelt Bene) is a New Zealand musician from Grey Lynn in Auckland. She is best known for her 2018 single "Soaked", which reached number 14 on the New Zealand singles chart and was certified platinum.
- 10Pop, Alternative pop, EDMJamie Lou Stenzel (born 15 May 2002), known by her stage name as Au/Ra, is an Antiguan-German singer-songwriter. Stenzel released her first single 'Concrete Jungle' in 2016, which quickly gained 15 million streams worldwide. She rose to prominence in 2018 with the CamelPhat version of her single "Panic Room" and was featured on Norwegian DJ Alan Walker's number-one single "Darkside" in the same year. The original version has 20 million streams worldwide. Au/Ra was born in Ibiza, where she grew up until 2007, but since then she is raised in St. John's, Antigua by a musical family—her father being renowned German producer Torsten Stenzel.
- 11Reggae, DancehallMikayla Simpson, better known as Koffee, is a Jamaican reggae singer, songwriter, rapper, DJ, and guitarist from Spanish Town, Jamaica. She released her debut single, "Toast," in 2018, and in 2019, signed with Columbia Records. Her 2019 release "Rapture" received a Grammy nomination.
- 12Pop, Indie pop, Pop rockMikaela Mullaney Straus (born December 19, 1998), known by their stage name King Princess, is an American pop singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from Brooklyn, New York. She is signed to Mark Ronson's label Zelig Records, an imprint of Columbia Records. In February 2018, King Princess released her debut single "1950", from the Make My Bed EP. The song was a commercial success, charting in multiple territories, and was later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Her second single, "Talia", was certified gold in Australia by the Australian Recording Industry Association. King Princess released their debut studio album Cheap Queen on October 25, 2019, to widespread critical acclaim.
- 13
Inhaler
Alternative rock, Indie rockInhaler are an Irish rock band originating from Dublin. The band consists of vocalist/guitarist Elijah Hewson, bassist Robert Keating, guitarist Josh Jenkinson and drummer Ryan McMahon. The band was tipped for success in 2020 when it ranked at number 5 in BBC's Sound of... music poll. Inhaler has released five singles, "I Want You", "It Won’t Always Be Like This", "My Honest Face", "Ice Cream Sundae", and most recently, “We Have To Move On”. - 14
Celeste
Pop, R&B, JazzCeleste Epiphany Waite (born 5 May 1994), known professionally as Celeste, is an American–born British singer-songwriter from Saltdean, England. Her music blends British soul and jazz-tinged blues over subtle R&B melodies. - 15CountryOrville Peck is a Canadian country musician. Peck, who released his debut album Pony in 2019, has been widely remarked upon for his tendency to wear a fringed “Lone Ranger” mask.
- 16
AWA
PopAwa Matilda Isakine Santesson-Sey (born July 6, 1997 in Stockholm), known professionally as AWA, is a Swedish singer based in London. Her father is Senegalese, her mother Swedish. In 2019 Awa was signed to Columbia Records. She has released three songs on the label, with a five-track EP expected in 2020. - 17Indie rock, Space rock, Alternative rockBeatrice Kristi Laus (born June 3, 2000), also known as Bea Kristi or professionally as beabadoobee, is a Filipino-British indie singer-songwriter. From 2018 to 2019, she released five extended plays under the independent label Dirty Hit: Lice (2018), Patched Up (2018), Loveworm (2019), Space Cadet (2019) and Our Extended Play (2021). Her debut studio album, Fake It Flowers, was released in October 2020 and received critical acclaim. Beabadoobee served as a supporting act for labelmates the 1975 during several legs of their Music for Cars Tour, as well as American singer Clairo during her Immunity Tour. She was nominated for the Rising Star Award at the 2020 Brit Awards, and was presented with the Radar Award at the 2020 NME Awards. Beabadoobee was also predicted as a breakthrough act for 2020 in an annual BBC poll of music critics, Sound of 2020.
- 18Pop, Indie popLeo Reilly, known professionally as LoveLeo, is an American singer from the greater Los Angeles area. He roes to popularity after his Godmode-backed debut single, "BOYFREN," went viral in late 2019.
- 19PopSigrid Solbakk Raabe (born 5 September 1996), known professionally as Sigrid, is a Norwegian singer and songwriter. In 2017, she rose to fame with the release of her debut EP Don't Kill My Vibe, and she later won the BBC Music Sound of 2018 award. Her single "Strangers" reached number 10 on the UK Singles Chart. On 8 March 2019, Sigrid released her debut studio album, Sucker Punch.
- 20CountryTenille Arts (born April 19, 1994) is a Canadian country music singer from Weyburn, Saskatchewan. She independently released an extended play and studio album before signing a record deal with indie label Reviver Records in 2018. Her first album for the label, Love, Heartbreak, & Everything in Between, was released in January 2020. Arts was nominated for the Discovery Artist Award by the Canadian Country Music Association in 2016 and has received multiple awards from the subsidiary Saskatchewan Country Music Association.
- 21PopOlivia Devine (born 21 June 1997), known professionally as L Devine, is an English singer and songwriter who is signed to Warner Bros. Records and BMG Publishing.
- 22Post-punkThe Murder Capital is an Irish post-punk band based in Dublin.The band began performing together in 2015, and signed with Human Season Records in 2018 before releasing their first singles in 2019. On 16 August 2019, The Murder Capital released their debut studio album, When I Have Fears, which was produced by Flood.
- 23
Hardy
CountryMichael Wilson Hardy (born September 13, 1990), known professionally as Hardy, is an American country music singer and songwriter. He has written songs for Florida Georgia Line, Chris Lane, Blake Shelton, Dallas Smith, and Morgan Wallen, and has released his own music through Big Loud Records. - 24PopMadison Elle Beer (born March 5, 1999) is an American singer and actress. She gained media attention after pop star Justin Bieber tweeted a link to a video of her singing. "Dead" was released as the lead single off the EP on May 19, 2017. The song was first teased on Beer's Instagram on May 12, 2017. The music video was released on August 3, 2017. Beer then released "Say It To My Face" her second single off the EP on November 3, 2017. The music video was released on November 15, 2017. Beer has worked with the likes of RAYE and Madison Love on some of her tracks on the EP.
- 25Pop, Indie pop, EDMToni Watson, known professionally as Tones and I, is an Australian indie pop singer-songwriter and musician. Her second single, "Dance Monkey", was released in May 2019 and reached number one in over 30 countries. In November of that year, she broke the record for the most weeks at number one on the ARIA Singles Chart by any artist with 16 weeks. By mid-January 2020 "Dance Monkey" had spent 24 weeks at number one, beating Bing Crosby's all-time Australian record - "White Christmas" which spent 22 weeks (5 months, namely June to October) at No.1 in 1943. "Dance Monkey" was accredited 8× platinum by ARIA for shipments of 560,000 equivalent units. She was the most awarded artist at the ARIA Music Awards of 2019, winning four from eight nominations. Tones and I released her debut extended play, The Kids Are Coming, on 30 August 2019. Three of her tracks were listed on the Triple J Hottest 100, 2019: "Dance Monkey" (No. 4), "Never Seen the Rain" (No. 15) and "Johnny Run Away" (No. 26).
- 26Hard rock, Blues rockDirty Honey are an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 2017. The band consists of singer Marc LaBelle, guitarist John Notto, bassist Justin Smolian, and drummer Corey Coverstone. Their self-titled extended play was self-released in March 2019. The single "When I'm Gone" topped the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart, making them the first unsigned band to ever do so. Dirty Honey were also named an iHeartRadio On The Verge Artist.
- 27
D Smoke
Hip Hop - 28R&B, PopNormani Kordei Hamilton (born May 31, 1996), recording mononymously as Normani, is an American singer, songwriter and dancer. She is a former member of the girl group Fifth Harmony. In 2017, she was a contestant in season 24 of Dancing with the Stars. Her first single as a soloist, the 2018 duet "Love Lies" with Khalid, recorded for the film Love, Simon, reached number 9 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Normani later featured on songs from Jessie Reyez and Quavo. She also collaborated with Calvin Harris on the two-single EP Normani x Calvin Harris, and released the single "Waves" featuring 6lack in November 2018. Her song with Sam Smith, "Dancing with a Stranger" was released in January 2019. Normani's debut solo album is set to be released in early 2019 by RCA/Keep Cool Records.
- 29PopAmanda Ava Koci, known professionally as Ava Max, is an American singer and songwriter. She is best known for her single "Sweet but Psycho", which topped the charts in seventeen countries. Max was also featured on David Guetta's album 7, on the track "Let It Be Me".
- 30Electropop, Pop, R&BAri Staprans Leff (born August 8, 1994), known professionally as Lauv, is an American singer and musician, best known for his breakout hit "I Like Me Better"; included on his compilation album I Met You When I Was 18 (The Playlist), which was released in 2018. His debut album, How I'm Feeling, was released on March 6, 2020, and debuted at number 16 on the US Billboard 200. Lauv has also written songs for other artists such as "Boys" by Charli XCX and "No Promises" by Cheat Codes and Demi Lovato.
