When Olivia Dean accepted the Grammy Award for best new artist at the 68th annual honors on Sunday night (Feb. 1), she wasn’t just cementing a huge moment in her own career. As an artist signed to Island Records in the U.S., she also helped her label make history: After Chappell Roan won best new artist at the 2025 ceremony, Island Records is now the first record label in at least 40 years to land back-to-back best new artist victories.
Island’s wins came as the label scored a pair of nominees in each of the past two years, with Sabrina Carpenter and Roan both nominated in 2025, and Lola Young joining Dean on the nominees list this year. Atlantic Records (Alex Warren, The Marías) also had two nominees this year, and Warner Records had two nominees in both 2025 (Benson Boone, Teddy Swims) and 2023 (Anitta, Omar Apollo), though none brought home the award. But Island’s feat extends back to the 1980s.
This being the music industry, none of this is exactly straightforward; labels and imprints are nearly always in flux, and corporate structures mean that some label collectives and groups could claim back-to-back winners in various years. (Island itself is part of the REPUBLIC Collective, which includes Republic Records, Mercury Records, Def Jam and others.) One recent example: Olivia Rodrigo, signed to Geffen, won best new artist in 2022, while Samara Joy, signed to Verve, won in 2023. Both are part of the Interscope Geffen A&M umbrella (which itself is now even broader, encompassing Capitol Music Group as well), though they are separate labels.
The last label to have done it, then, was Epic Records back in the mid-1980s — technically, the label did it three years in a row — and even that comes with a bit of an explanation. In 1984, Culture Club won best new artist, having put out their debut album Kissing to Be Clever on Virgin in the U.K. and Epic in the U.S. The following year, Cyndi Lauper took home the honor, having released She’s So Unusual on Portrait Records — a subsidiary of Epic, which at various points was folded into and a standalone under the Epic banner. In 1986, Sade won best new artist following the release of Diamond Life — an album that came out under the Portrait banner in the U.S. and Epic in the U.K. While slightly convoluted, Epic (and Portrait) were variously involved in each release over that three-year period.
Prior to Epic, it hadn’t been long since another label did it: Warner Bros. Records, which saw its artists Rickie Lee Jones and Christopher Cross win in 1980 and 1981, respectively, for their self-titled debut albums. Warner appears to have been the first to achieve the feat, meaning only three labels have accomplished it since the award was inaugurated in 1960.
