Radio 1's Sound of 2025: Which artist is predicted to dominate the charts?

Radio 1 has revealed its Sound of 2025, announcing Chappell Roan as the artist H-O-T-T-O-G-O and dominate the charts this year.

The yearly award recognises the rising stars in music and was voted for by 180 industry experts including the legendary Elton John and Dua Lipa.

2024 was a big year for Roan, topping the UK albums chart with the Grammy-nominated record, The Rise And Fall Of A Midwestern Princess. Her single Good Luck, Babe! has had well over one million sales and has been streamed more than a billion times.

Jack Saunders, who hosts Radio 1's New Music show, said: "No one deserves this accolade more than Chappell Roan. She was the most exciting artist of the last 12 months and is now set to be the artist of the next 12 months."

Who is Chappell Roan?

Chappell Roan ended 2024 with 6 Grammy nominations

The BBC's music correspondent, Mark Savage says: "Her win caps a wild 12 months," explaining that she's moved from being relatively unknown to the top of the charts.

And the 26-year-old has had a long path to success.

Her IRL name is Kayleigh Amstutz, as a child she was brought up in the city of Willard, Missouri.

On stage she is known for her bright and bold outfits and makeup, her Chappell Roan persona, she says, is a "larger-than-life, drag queen version of myself".

"She signed her first record deal in 2017, based on the strength of a song she had uploaded to YouTube" but "she failed to make much of an impact, and was dropped by her label during the pandemic," says Savage.

However Roan had already written the song that would earn her huge success, called Pink Pony Club.

"Your favourite artist's favourite artist"

She released her first album, The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess, in September 2023.

It only sold a few thousand copies in its first week of release.

"But word began to spread," says Savage "And when she played California's Coachella [music] Festival last April, the crowd that turned up for her mid-afternoon set was huge.

"More importantly, the show was broadcast on YouTube - going viral after Roan leaned into the TV cameras and declared: 'I'm your favourite artist's favourite artist.'"

The performance has been watched more than a million times.

Since then, Roan has been nominated for six Grammy awards, including album of the year, and won best new artist at the Billboard Music Awards in December.

The singer has taken time off at the start of 2025 to work on new music, but will headline the Reading & Leeds festival this summer.

With a big year ahead, what else is there for us to say except "Good Luck, Babe!"