Aotearoa Music Award for Breakthrough Artist of the Year

Breakthrough Artist of the Year is an Aotearoa Music Award that honours New Zealand music artists for outstanding recordings. Artists who have previously been nominated for a New Zealand Music Award (excluding Critics' Choice Prize and technical awards) or has had a previous album reach the top 20 of the Official New Zealand Music Chart are ineligible. ^[1] The award was first awarded in 1973 as Best New Artist.

Recipients

Best New Artist (1973-1976)

Year	Winner	Ref.
1973	Shona Laing	[2]
1974	Bunny Walters	[3]
1975	Space Waltz	[4]
1976	Dr Tree	[5]
1977	No awards held	—

Most Promising (1978-2000)

Year	Award	Winner	Finalists	Ref.
1978	Most Promising Male Artist	Dennis O’Brien	—	[6]
	Most Promising Female Artist	Kim Hart
	Most Promising Group	Citizen Band
1979	Most Promising Male Artist	Jon Stevens		[7]
	Most Promising Female Artist	Tina Cross
	Most Promising Group	Street Talk
1980	Most Promising Male Artist	Jon Stevens		[8]
	Most Promising Female Artist	No award presented
	Most Promising Group	The Crocodiles
1981	Most Promising Male Artist	Dave McArtney	Paul Schreider David Hollis Richard Eriwata	[9]
	Most Promising Female Artist	Anne Dumont	Celine Toner Jenny Morris
	Most Promising Group	Dave McArtney	Blam Blam Blam Pop Mechanix
1982	Most Promising Male Vocalist	Dave Dobbyn (DD Smash)	—	[10]
	Most Promising Female Vocalist	Jodi Vaughn
	Most Promising Group	Dance Exponents
1983	Most Promising Male Vocalist	Andrew McLennan (Coconut Rough)	Dick Driver (Hip Singles) Gary Smith (The Body Electric)	[11]
	Most Promising Female Vocalist	Sonya Waters	Rhonda Jones Bronwyn Jones (Precious)
	Most Promising Group	Coconut Rough	Hip Singles The Body Electric
1984	Most Promising Male Vocalist	Martin Phillipps (The Chills)	Ross McKenzie (The Idles) Wayne Gillespie	[12]
	Most Promising Female Vocalist	Meryl Yvonne	Janice Lampen Sharon Dubont
	Most Promising Group	The Chills	Jive Bombers You're a Movie
1985	Most Promising Male Vocalist	Mark Loveys (Satellite Spies)	Paul Eversden (Katango) James Gaylyn (Rise)	[13]
	Most Promising Female Vocalist	Debbie Harwood	Dianne Swann (Everything That Flies) Betty-Anne Monga (IQU)
	Most Promising Group	Satellite Spies - "Destiny In Motion"	Everything That Flies - "Bleeding Hearts" Katango - "Dial L for Love"
1986	Most Promising Male Vocalist	Tex Pistol	Simon Alexandra Lyonel Grant	[14]
	Most Promising Female Vocalist	Tania Rowles	Ainsley Day Liz Diamond
	Most Promising Group	Ardijah	Chrome Safari Wentworth Brewster & Co
1987	Most Promising Male Vocalist	Al Hunter	Wayne Elliot (Knightshade) David Parker (Rhythm Cage)	[15]
	Most Promising Female Vocalist	Moana	Darlene Adair Kara Pewhairangi
	Most Promising Group	Monga and Harwood	Rhythm Cage Knightshade
1988	Most Promising Male Vocalist	Peter Marshall	Rikki Morris Thom Nepia	[16]
	Most Promising Female Vocalist	Mara Finau	Tracey Birnie Helen Mulholland
	Most Promising Group	Holidaymakers	Straitjacket Fits The Tunnellers
1989	Most Promising Male Vocalist	Paul Ubana Jones	Greg Johnson Darren Watson	[17]
	Most Promising Female Artist	Janet Roddick	Belinda Bradley Julie Collier
	Most Promising Group	The Front Lawn	Double J and Twice the T Upper Hutt Posse
1990	Most Promising Male Vocalist	Guy Wishart	Alan Galloway John Kempt	[18]
	Most Promising Female Vocalist	Merenia	Ngaire Caroline Easther
	Most Promising Group	Strawpeople	Merenia & Where's Billy D-Faction
1991	No awards held			—
1992	Most Promising Male Vocalist	David Parker (Parker Project)	Jon Toogood (Shihad) James Gaylyn	[19]
	Most Promising Female Vocalist	Teremoana Rapley (Moana and the Moahunters)	Christina Fuemana (House Party) Lorina Harding
	Most Promising Group	Shihad	The Exponents These Wilding Ways
1993	Most Promising Male Vocalist	Ted Brown	Jay Rei Kevin Greaves	[20]
	Most Promising Female Vocalist	Jan Hellriegel	Jules Issa Maree Sheehan
	Most Promising Group	Head Like a Hole	Dead Flowers Kantuta
1994	Most Promising Male Vocalist	Matty J (Matty J and the Soul Syndicate)	Michael Gregg and Brendan Gregg (Holy Toledos) Jason Ioasa (Grace)	[21]
	Most Promising Female Vocalist	Emma Paki	Jan Preston Rima Te Wiata
	Most Promising Group	Urban Disturbance	Holy Toledos The 3Ds
1995	Most Promising Male Vocalist	Brent Milligan (Pumpkinhead)	Peter Daube (Bilge Festival) Evan Woodruffe (Melon Twister)	[22]
	Most Promising Female Vocalist	Sulata Foai	Chloe Reeves Helen Goudge (Melon Twister)
	Most Promising Group	Sisters Underground	3 the Hard Way Purest Form
1996	Most Promising Male Vocalist	Pauly Fuemana (OMC)	Jeremy Eade (Garageland) Otis Frizzell (Joint Force)	[23]
	Most Promising Female Vocalist	Bic Runga	Celia Mancini (King Loser) Jordan Reyne
	Most Promising Group	OMC	Garageland Joint Force
1997	Most Promising Male Vocalist	Daniel Haimona (Dam Native)	Andrew Tilby (Breathe) Ed Cake (Bressa Creeting Cake)	[24]
	Most Promising Female Vocalist	Lole Usoalii	Andrea Cook Maryanne Antonuvich (D-Faction)
	Most Promising Group	Dam Native	Bike Bressa Creeting Cake Cinematic
1998	Most Promising Male Vocalist	Darcy Clay	Dave Yetton (The Stereo Bus) James Reid (The Feelers)	[25]
	Most Promising Female Vocalist	Alesha Siosiua (Moizna)	Maisey Rika (St Joseph's Māori Girls' College) Jordan Reyne
	Most Promising Group	Moizna	The Feelers The Stereo Bus
1999	Most Promising Male Vocalist	Andrew Tilby (Breathe)	King Kapisi Nathan King (Zed)	[26]
	Most Promising Female Vocalist	Boh Runga (Stellar)	Liz Faalogo (NV) Sina Saipaia
	Most Promising Group	Stellar	Breathe (Zed)
2000	Most Promising Male Vocalist	Aaron Tokona (Weta)	Sama Feo (AKA Brown) Conan Wilcox (Salmonella Dub)	[27]
	Most Promising Female Vocalist	Vanessa Kelly (Deep Obsession)	Maybelle Galuvao (Ma-V-Elle) Lavina Williams (The Invasion Band/Ma-V-Elle)
	Most Promising Group	Weta	Breathe AKA Brown

Best New Act (2001-2002)

Year	Winner	Album	Other finalists	Ref.
2001	Betchadupa	—	Splitter Dan Sperber and Luke Casey	[28]
2002	Goodshirt	Good	K'Lee - "Broken Wings" Pluto - Redlight Syndrome	[29]

Breakthrough Artist of the Year (2003-current)

Year	Winner	Album	Other finalists	Ref.
2003	The Datsuns	The Datsuns	Goldenhorse - Riverhead Blindspott - Blindspott	[30]
2004	Brooke Fraser	What to Do with Daylight	Minuit - The 88 Adeaze - Always and for Real	[31]
2005	The Checks	"What You Heard"	Dei Hamo – First Edition Tha Feelstyle – Break It to Pieces	[32]
2006	Bleeders	As Sweet as Sin	Aaradhna - I Love You Frontline - Borrowed Time	[33]
2007	Hollie Smith	Long Player	Liam Finn - Second Chance Atlas - "Crawl"	[34]
2008	Flight of the Conchords	Flight of the Conchords	Cut Off Your Hands - Blue On Blue Tiki Taane - Past, Present, Future	[35]
2009	Ladyhawke	Ladyhawke	Midnight Youth Smashproof	[36]
2010	Gin Wigmore	Holy Smoke	Artisan Guns – Autumn Dane Rumble – The Experiment	[37]
2011	The Naked and Famous	Passive Me, Aggressive You	Six60 – "Rise Up 2.0" Avalanche City – Our New Life Above The Ground	[38]
2012	Kimbra	Vows	Annah Mac – Little Stranger Home Brew – Home Brew	[39]
2013	Lorde	The Love Club EP	Jamie McDell - Six Strings and a Sailboat Willy Moon - Here's Willy Moon	[40]
2014	Broods	Broods	Sol3 Mio Doprah	[41]
2015	Marlon Williams	Marlon Williams	Devilskin Ginny Blackmore	[42]
2016	Kings	"Don't Worry Bout It"	Leisure – "All Over You" Nomad – "Oh My My" SACHI – Lunch with Bianca (EP)	[43]
2017	Aldous Harding	Party	Fazerdaze Nadia Reid Teeks	[44]
2018	Drax Project		JessB L.A.B. Robinson
2019	Benee	Fire on Marzz	Baynk Church & AP The Beths
2020	Jawsh 685		Chaii Melodownz Paige
2021	Harper Finn	"Dance Away These Days"	Foley Muroki Niko Walters
2022	Georgia Lines	Human	Coterie Jordan Rakei There's a Tuesday
2023	No awards held
2024	COTERIE		9lives Hori Shaw MOHI SXMPRA	[45]
2025	Hori Shaw		DARTZ A.R.T

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