Which Grammy Nominees Ranked Highest Based on Performance Data

Kristian Gorenc Z

Jan 13, 2026

Each awards season, the Grammy nominations prompt a familiar debate: which artists and songs truly defined the year in music? While critical acclaim and cultural impact dominate much of the conversation, audience behavior leaves its own trace across streaming platforms, radio playlists, and video services. Those signals, taken together, offer a clearer picture of which nominees sustained attention over time and which gained momentum as the eligibility period drew to a close.

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This article takes a closer look at two of the Grammy Awards’ most closely watched categories — Best New Artist and Song of the Year—by comparing how nominees performed across major music platforms during the eligibility year. Rather than speculating on voting outcomes, the analysis focuses on measurable indicators of reach, growth, and consistency to show which contenders stood out in practice.

Scope of the analysis and data sources

Eight nominees were examined in each category. All artists and songs were evaluated using the same metrics to ensure comparability. The analysis draws on verified performance data from Spotify, YouTube, radio airplay, and Spotify playlists—platforms that collectively capture streaming demand, video consumption, editorial support, and broadcast exposure.

Two timeframes were used. A twelve-month window reflects overall scale and presence during the eligibility period, while a thirty-day window at the end of that period highlights late-year momentum. Daily performance patterns were reviewed to understand trend direction, but aggregated figures formed the basis for comparison. Metrics were normalized within each nominee group so that no single platform disproportionately influenced the results.

Best New Artist: performance signals across platforms

The Best New Artist category brings together performers whose profiles expanded most visibly over the past year. The eight nominees included in this analysis are:

• KATSEYE
• Olivia Dean
• Alex Warren
• sombr
• The Marías
• Addison Rae
• Lola Young
• Leon Thomas

Across the group, performance varied sharply depending on platform. Some artists built their following primarily through video, accumulating hundreds of millions—or even billions—of YouTube views, while others showed steadier gains through streaming and playlist exposure. Radio airplay added another layer, revealing which acts translated listener interest into broader industry support.

Among the nominees, Olivia Dean emerged as the most balanced performer across metrics. Over the twelve-month period, she posted the strongest growth in monthly Spotify listeners within the group, pointing to sustained audience expansion rather than a short-lived spike tied to a single release. Her music also reached the largest audience through Spotify playlists, benefiting from consistent placement in both editorial and algorithmic selections.

Radio data reinforced this trajectory. While several nominees accumulated higher total spin counts earlier in the year, Olivia Dean’s airplay increased steadily toward the end of the eligibility window, suggesting growing adoption by programmers as the year progressed.

Other nominees showed more concentrated strengths. KATSEYE led the group in total YouTube views, reflecting a large and highly engaged video audience. Alex Warren ranked among the strongest in total Spotify streams over the year, while Addison Rae and The Marías maintained notable visibility through playlist reach. These profiles, however, were less evenly distributed across platforms than the top-ranked performer.

Taken together, the data points to Olivia Dean as the strongest overall performer in the Best New Artist field, combining steady audience growth, leading playlist exposure, and increasing radio support during the eligibility period.

Song of the Year: scale, momentum, and staying power

Song of the Year shifts the focus from artist profiles to individual releases. The eight nominated tracks examined in this analysis are:

• Golden
• APT.
• DtMF
• WILDFLOWER
• Abracadabra
• luther (with sza)
• Manchild
• Anxiety

Across the twelve-month window, the nominated songs displayed wide variation in scale. Some tracks surpassed a billion Spotify streams during the year, while others remained closer to the hundred-million range. YouTube view counts showed an even broader spread, and radio airplay concentrated around a smaller group of songs that received sustained rotation.

Golden stood out most clearly when recent activity was taken into account. During the final thirty days of the eligibility period, the track generated approximately 148 million Spotify streams, nearly 149 million YouTube views, and more than 35,000 radio airplay spins—leading the nominee group across all three measures. This pattern indicates that the song retained listener attention and programming support deep into the award cycle.

Over the full year, Golden also ranked first in total radio airplay, with roughly 280,000 spins, and led all nominees in Spotify playlist reach. By contrast, APT. recorded the highest total Spotify streaming volume across the year, exceeding one billion streams, but its peak activity occurred earlier in the eligibility period, with comparatively lower momentum at the end.

Other nominees showed distinct but narrower strengths. Abracadabra ranked near the top in radio airplay, reflecting strong broadcaster support, while DtMF posted solid streaming totals without matching the leading tracks’ video reach. These differences highlight how overall rankings shift depending on whether long-term scale or late-year momentum is emphasized.

Viewed across all measured indicators, Golden ranks highest among the Song of the Year nominees, combining sustained yearlong reach with dominant late-period momentum.

Interpreting the results

Performance data offers one lens through which to view the Grammy nominations. Streaming, video consumption, playlists, and radio airplay each capture different dimensions of audience engagement and industry support, and no single metric tells the whole story. Considered together, however, they help clarify which nominees maintained attention across platforms and which gained traction as the year unfolded.

Conclusion

Across both categories, the performance data highlights clear front-runners. In the Best New Artist field, Olivia Dean shows the strongest overall mix of audience growth, playlist reach, and increasing radio presence during the eligibility period. In the Song of the Year category, Golden separates itself through sustained performance across streaming, video, playlists, and radio, while also maintaining strong momentum in the final weeks of the year.

Taken together, the results offer a grounded view of how this year’s nominees resonated with listeners and programmers over time. While awards outcomes are shaped by many factors beyond measurable performance, the data adds context to the broader Grammy conversation by showing which artists and songs consistently held attention throughout the year.