The BBC Sound of 2025 list, the broadcaster’s annual list of rising artists with “the best chance of mainstream success”, has highlighted a number of acts with a great deal of mainstream success already under their belts.
Arguably, the US pop star Chappell Roan has been the sound of 2024. She released her debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, in September 2023, and a subsequent non-album single, Good Luck, Babe!, was released in April 2024 and peaked at No 2 in the UK. Viral footage of her high-camp performances has made her one of the year’s defining stars, and she was recently nominated for six Grammys.
Australian band Confidence Man recently released their third album, 3AM (La La La), and have been a regular draw at festivals worldwide for some time. Leeds group English Teacher won this year’s Mercury prize; London jazz ensemble Ezra Collective won it last year.
The slow-burn nature of pop success – the year also belonged to Sabrina Carpenter and Charli xcx, both on their respective sixth albums – may have influenced the BBC to change the eligibility rules as the prize reaches its 23rd year, hence the presence of fairly well-known acts on the list. To qualify, artists can not have had more than two UK Top 10 albums or two UK Top 10 singles prior to 30 September 2024. Previously, artists who had been the lead act on a UK No 1 or No 2 album, or with more than two Top 10 singles to their name, were ineligible.
But the Top 40 may not be the most accurate barometer of popularity in the age of streaming. Croydon rapper Pozer’s debut single Kitchen Stove peaked at No 22 in March but has racked up more than 30m streams on Spotify. Irish rap trio Kneecap released their second album, Fine Art, this year, as well as an eponymous feature film that was selected as Ireland’s entry for the international category at the Academy awards.
Barry Can’t Swim, AKA Scottish producer Joshua Mainnie, was also nominated for this year’s Mercury prize, drew massive crowds at Glastonbury, and is due to headline one day of the London festival series All Points East in 2025. The US rapper Doechii won acclaim for her 2024 mixtape Alligator Bites Never Heal and appears on the latest album by Tyler, the Creator.
At the genuinely newer end of things sits British Jamaican songwriter Myles Smith, who released his debut single last year and whose ubiquitous, platinum-certified single Stargazing peaked at No 4. There are also UK pop-rock duo Good Neighbours, who released their debut single in January, and breakout US singer and guitarist Mk.gee, AKA Michael Todd Gordon, who has won plaudits from stars as disparate as Frank Ocean, Justin Bieber and Eric Clapton.
The nominees were chosen by a panel of more than 180 representatives from the music industry, and musicians including Elton John, the Blessed Madonna and former Sound of … nominees Dua Lipa and Jorja Smith, and the 2014 winner, Sam Smith.
