About Radio 1's Sound Of
The Sound Of list started in 2003 with the aim to showcase the most exciting rising stars in music. In 2026, the aim is the same - to continue predicting some of the biggest and most exciting global superstars including previous winners The Last Dinner Party, Flo, PinkPantheress, Adele, Sam Smith, Ellie Goulding, HAIM, and Celeste. 2025's winner is Chappell Roan.
This year, UK and international tastemakers were selected to vote for the most exciting new artists they are tipping for success in 2026.
The pundits represent a huge spectrum of music from across the world and when choosing the pundits, we are looking for the most genuine and passionate music fans to help showcase the best new music to a wider audience. None of the pundits are paid to take part.
The panel are asked to nominate acts who they believe have the best chance of mainstream success in 2026 - there is no predetermined list. We want BBC Radio 1’s Sound Of to be based on music quality, audience appreciation and innovation, disregarding hype or record deals.
Artists from any musical genre and country are eligible, whether or not they’re signed if they fit the criteria. Artists are not eligible if:
- They have not been the lead artist on three or more Top 10 singles in the UK Official Singles Chart (features do not count) by Monday 6th October 2025
- They have not been the lead solo artist on one UK #1 album by Monday 6th October 2025
- They must not have had a sustained public profile for the last 2 years - such that they would not reasonably be considered to be an emerging artist
- The artists can be signed or unsigned from any musical genre and country
Pundits are also not allowed to vote for their family or close friends, or any artists who they have a commercial relationship with.
The panel are asked to pick their favourite new artists they are tipping for success in the following year and because our pundits have a level of influence over the music that gets heard by the general public, it can be seen as a good barometer of future success.
The winner often has quite broad mainstream appeal but it’s not just about predicting the artists that will be famous in 2026 - the longlist often includes a mixture of mainstream and alternative acts. In recent years, Sound Of alumni have included huge commercial success stories such as Stormzy, Billie Eilish, Olivia Dean and Sam Smith as well as supporting more alternative acts including Ezra Collective, Nia Archives, Banks and FKA twigs.
The pundits vote by email, choosing their three favourite new acts in order of preference.
There’s only one panel of voters and two rounds of voting. Pundits are asked to vote on 3 artists in order of preference, their first choice gets 3 points, second choice gets 2 points and third choice gets 1 point. After the first round of voting the responses are counted and verified to reveal a list of twenty artists who received the most points overall. In the second round pundits are asked to vote on their top 5 from the list of 20 artists. These votes are counted and verified to reveal the final Longlist and top 5/winner within. Only the shortlist of the Top 5 artists (announced in January 2026) is listed in order by points scored, the artists placed 6-10 are listed alphabetically.
The vote remains impartial and unbiased, the BBC has ultimate editorial control over the process and will exclude artists or individual votes at its discretion if it believes there has been a breach of these criteria, there is a clear conflict of interest or there is a deliberate attempt to manipulate the result, the vote remains impartial and unbiased.
From when the voting closes until when the winner is revealed we work closely with the artists (and managers and labels) to get promotional content including interviews and live performances which are used across BBC Radio 1 and BBC platforms including online, on socials and on air.
BBC Radio 1's Sound Of is a platform used to spotlight artists and help them to reach new audiences and fans. This list along with other similar new music lists such as the BRITs Rising Star award, are generally thought to be used by the UK music and media industries to give a broad steer when it comes to promotion priorities and live bookings, but this obviously isn’t guaranteed. There’s no prize for the winner, and the artists on the list aren’t contractually guaranteed any future promotion from the BBC as part of their involvement.
