SiriusXM Reveals 'Future Five' for 2022 and Welcomes The 'Class of 2021' in Music

NEW YORK, Dec. 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, SiriusXM's music programming team announced its 'Future Five' artists for 2022 and the 'Class of 2021.'

The 'Future Five' for 2022 consists of five new artists that SiriusXM has supported and predicts will break through in 2022 across the Pop, R&B, Country, Hip-Hop and Rock genres. Year-after-year, SiriusXM's 'Future Five' picks have proven to be on point and spotlights artists that SiriusXM is first to champion. Past 'Future Five' selections include Doja Cat, Gabby Barrett, Roddy Ricch, Lil Uzi Vert, Carly Pearce and more.

"We remain committed to being the premier destination for music discovery, and regardless of what is happening in our world, our listeners know they can depend on SiriusXM to filter through millions of new songs to present the ones that we believe matter most," said Steve Blatter, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Music Programming, SiriusXM.  "Our latest  'Future Five' and 'Class of 2021' artists are selected by a programming team that never waivers in presenting and introducing our listeners to the very best new music and artists across all genres, through world-premieres, exclusive live performances, interviews and more. This year, as we have launched an unprecedented number and variety of new channels and shows, our listeners have even more opportunities to hear new music than ever before."

This year, SiriusXM's 'Future Five' for 2022 (listed in alphabetical order) are:

• 42 Dugg (Hip-Hop)
• Mae Muller (Pop)
• MARZZ (R&B)
• Morgan Wade (Country)
• Wage War (Rock)

42 Dugg: In May of this year, Shade45 was the first radio outlet to play the single "Maybach'' (featuring Future). Followed by support from Hip-Hop Nation, the song resides in both channels' top 10 most played songs. The song is currently Top 10 on the Urban chart, and Hip-Hop Nation furthered support by adding "4 Da Gang" (featuring Roddy Ricch) in June, which has helped the song reach 137 million streams to date.

Mae Muller: In October, Hits 1 provided a platform for two of Muller's U.S. firsts. Hits 1 was the first radio outlet to play one of Muller's songs, showcasing her collaboration with NEIKED and Polo G, "Better Days," and first to conduct Muller's first-ever U.S. interview. Soon after, Muller was named a "Hits 1 to Watch" artist. Upon the release of her debut EP, no one else, not even you, the North-London singer-songwriter sold out a headlining tour and played at some of the UK's biggest and most prestigious festivals.

MARZZ: Within a month of the May release of her single, "Countless Times," The Heat identified the song as a "Future Fire'' track. In doing so, the channel became the first broadcast outlet to commit airplay of the song. The Heat has gone on to lead the nation in radio support of MARZZ by a significant margin and "Countless Times" is currently in the Top 10 of The Heat's countdown show "The Hotness." 

Morgan Wade: The Highway began playing Wade's single "Wilder Days" in May when the artist was named as a prestigious "Highway Find" artist. Wade was subsequently signed to Sony Music and "Wilder Days" has since garnered 20 million streams. In 2022, Wade will join country superstar Luke Combs on tour.

Wage War: In August, Octane world-premiered the band's single "Circle the Drain" from their fourth album, Manic, and was the first broadcast outlet to add the song, ultimately naming the band an "Octane Accelerator."  This month, the song hit No. 1 on the channel's weekly countdown show, "Big Uns." Octane's airplay support this year also includes coverage of their performance at October's Welcome to Rockville Festival and remains nearly triple the amount of terrestrial airplay for "Circle the Drain" to date.

The 'Class of 2021' is composed of artists that SiriusXM was first to commit airplay and playlist support to and subsequently went on to have a major break-through year. SiriusXM's commitment to these artists extends across multiple channels and genres. This year's 'Class of 2021' are (listed in alphabetical order):

*Denotes artist as a SiriusXM "Future Five" for 2021

• Fousheé*
• girl in red
• Glass Animals
• Jax
• Morray
• Royal & The Serpent*
• Shane Codd
• Tai Verdes
• Vedo
• Walker Hayes
• Zero 9:36*

Fousheé: The Heat became the first broadcast outlet to play "Deep End" in late 2020 and Fousheé was also selected as one of the SiriusXM 'Future Five for 2021.' After continued support into 2021 from The Heat and Alt Nation, Fousheé has gone on to accumulate over 125 million streams. 

girl in red: SiriusXMU's history of support of Norwegian artist, girl in red, began in 2019 with airplay and an XMU Live Session. In early March 2021, two months prior to her highly- anticipated debut album, if i could make it go quiet, XMU and Alt Nation added "Serotonin." With support on this track from both channels, the song reached No. 2 on the Alternative chart in September.  XMU became the first broadcast outlet to commit airplay on "I'll Call You Mine" and "Midnight Love," in May. In early October, Alt Nation also added "I'll Call you Mine," landing both channels as the leaders in airplay of the song at the Alternative format. This year, girl in red performed her second XMU Live Session and served as a guest host on Alt Nation.

Glass Animals: Alt Nation has championed this U.K. band on-air since their 2014 debut album, Zaba, and has supported them more than any other broadcast outlet since. Alt Nation has added six songs from their most recent album, 2020's Dreamland, and was the first broadcast outlet to commit airplay to "Heat Waves," which landed at No. 2 on Alt Nation's 2020 year-end countdown. Since then, the song has become a massive success at multiple formats in 2021. "Heat Waves" reached No. 1 on the Alternative chart in late March, garnered 1 billion streams to date, and is currently in the Top 10 at Top 40. In 2021, Alt Nation continued airplay support of the band's songs, "Space Ghost to Coast," and "I Don't Wanna Talk (I Just Wanna Dance)," both of which reached No.1 on Alt Nation's weekly countdown show "Alt 18." Glass Animals have also guest-hosted on the channel and performed as a part of SiriusXM and Pandora's Small Stage Series.

Jax: In May, Hits 1 named this New Jersey singer-songwriter a "Hits 1 to Watch" artist and became the first broadcast outlet to play her song "90s Kid," which has since accumulated over 30 million streams.  In August, The Pulse became the first outlet to add her follow-up single, "Like My Father" into rotation. In response, Jax recorded a video of herself reacting to hearing her song on radio for the first time and posted it on all of her social platforms. The video immediately went viral and has garnered 19 million streams to date.

Morray: Hip-Hop Nation was the first broadcast outlet to add the North Carolina rapper's song, "Bad Situations'' as the channel's "First Alert" in September, followed by additional support from Shade 45. To date, these two channels continue to be Morray's leading national radio support. Recently, Morray received two GRAMMY^® nominations for his work alongside J. Cole and 21 Savage in the "Best Rap Performance" category and in the "Best Rap Song" category, all before his own debut album drops.

Royal & The Serpent: The LA-based singer-songwriter closed out 2020 being named one of SiriusXM's 'Future Five for 2021' and participated in the debut volume of "SiriusXM's Next Wave Concert Series." Alt Nation was the first outlet in America to support her Top 5 breakthrough song "Overwhelmed" which has received over 100 million streams to date.

Shane Codd: In early December 2020, Diplo's Revolution became the first broadcast outlet to add "Get Outta My Head." Support from bpm in January 2021 followed, earning the song the No. 1 spot on the channel's top 20 for 10 weeks. Early support from both channels ultimately helped the song reach No. 1 on the Dance chart earlier this year. With Diplo's Revolution again as the first broadcast outlet to add Codd's second single, "Always on My Mind," followed by continued support from bpm, SiriusXM led overall radio support as the song reached No. 1 on the Dance chart in September.

Tai Verdes: Beginning in January, Alt Nation was the first and only broadcast outlet to commit airplay to Verdes' song "Drugs," and also introduced listeners to his song  "A-O-K" in early May on the channel's new music show "Advanced Placement." Within that week, the song was named "Hitbound" on Hits 1 and also added to Venus. "A-O-K" is on track to garner over 150 million streams by year's end. To celebrate Verdes as a part of SiriusXM's 'Class of 2021,' Hits 1 will air an exclusive three-song performance and interview with Tony Fly and Symon today at 6 p.m. ET and PT. 

Vedo: The Heat's support of the Benton, MI singer began when the channel was one of the first to broadcast his breakthrough single "You Got It" in late September of 2020.  Support continued into October of that year when the channel became the first broadcast outlet to add the song into rotation, followed by support from Heart & Soul the following month. The Heat remains the leader in on-air support, and by April of 2021, the song reached No. 10 on the Urban chart, No. 8 on the R&B chart, and has accumulated 262 million streams, while The Heat remains the leader in on-air support of the song      .

Walker Hayes: The Highway became the first broadcast outlet to add "Fancy Like" on June 8, 2021, before Hayes enlisted his daughter to create a TikTok dance video for his single, which went viral. Following on-air support from Hits 1 and The Pulse, "Fancy Like" has since been certified RIAA 2x Platinum and garnered a GRAMMY nomination for "Best Country Song." In October, The Highway once again became the first broadcast outlet to add a song from Hayes with "U Girl." Hits 1 added the song in November and leads in airplay among all broadcast outlets thus far.

Zero 9:36: Selected as one of SiriusXM's 'Future Five for 2021,' Zero 9:36 has proven to be a force in Hard Rock this year. Since his single "Adrenaline" world-premiered on Octane as an "Accelerator," in October of 2020, the song reached No.1 on the channel's weekly countdown, "Big Uns," in February of 2021 and ultimately reached No. 1 on the Active Rock chart in mid-August. "Adrenaline" remains the most-played song at the format in 2021. Octane continued support this year with Zero 9:36 headlining the second volume of Octane's Next Wave Concert Series and world-premiering the artist's only release of the year, "I'm Not," on December 2. 

With a rapidly expanding offering of new streaming channels available on the SXM App, the launch of new collaborator and artist branded channels, and shows dedicated to supporting new and trending music, new artists have had the opportunity to reach SiriusXM listeners like never before. 

In 2021, SiriusXM added 84 new streaming channels devoted to lifestyle themes, moods, eras and more. Additional new channels and shows furthering music discovery and having a pulse on current music culture include: TikTok Radio, SoundCloud Radio, 'The Lookout by SoundCloud' (Hip-Hop Nation), 'Point of Origin with Sameer Ghadia' (Alt Nation) and more, on both satellite and the SXM App.

SiriusXM is available to subscribers in their car, on their phone and connected devices at home with the SXM App. Streaming access is included for most subscribers. Go to www.siriusxm.com/ways-to-listen to learn more.

 About SiriusXM

Sirius XM Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) is the leading audio entertainment company in North America, and the premier programmer and platform for subscription and digital advertising-supported audio products. SiriusXM's platforms collectively reach approximately 150 million listeners, the largest digital audio audience across paid and free tiers in North America, and deliver music, sports, talk, news, comedy, entertainment and podcasts. Pandora, a subsidiary of SiriusXM, is the largest ad-supported audio entertainment streaming service in the U.S. SiriusXM's subsidiaries Stitcher, Simplecast and AdsWizz make it a leader in podcast hosting, production, distribution, analytics and monetization. The Company's advertising sales organization, which operates as SXM Media, leverages its scale, cross-platform sales organization and ad tech capabilities to deliver results for audio creators and advertisers. SiriusXM, through Sirius XM Canada Holdings, Inc., also offers satellite radio and audio entertainment in Canada. In addition to its audio entertainment businesses, SiriusXM offers connected vehicle services to automakers. For more about SiriusXM, please go to: www.siriusxm.com.

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The following factors, among others, could cause actual results and the timing of events to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in the forward-looking statements:  the COVID-19 pandemic is adversely impacting our business; we face substantial competition and that competition is likely to increase over time; our efforts to attract and retain subscribers and listeners, or convert listeners into subscribers, which may not be successful, and may adversely affect our business; we engage in extensive marketing efforts and the continued effectiveness of those efforts is an important part of our business; we rely on third parties for the operation of our business, and the failure of third parties to perform could adversely affect our business; we may not realize the benefits of acquisitions and other strategic investments and initiatives; a substantial number of our Sirius XM subscribers periodically cancel their subscriptions and we cannot predict how successful we will be at retaining customers; our ability to profitably attract and retain subscribers to our Sirius XM service as our marketing efforts reach more price-sensitive consumers is uncertain; our business depends in large part on the auto industry; failure of our satellite would significantly damage our business; our Sirius XM service may experience harmful interference from wireless operations; our Pandora ad-supported business has suffered a substantial and consistent loss of monthly active users, which may adversely affect our Pandora business; our failure to convince advertisers of the benefits of our Pandora ad-supported service could harm our business; if we are unable to maintain revenue growth from our advertising products, particularly in mobile advertising, our results of operations will be adversely affected; changes in mobile operating systems and browsers may hinder our ability to sell advertising and market our services; if we fail to accurately predict and play music, comedy or other content that our Pandora listeners enjoy, we may fail to retain existing and attract new listeners; privacy and data security laws and regulations may hinder our ability to market our services, sell advertising and impose legal liabilities; consumer protection laws and our failure to comply with them could damage our business; failure to comply with FCC requirements could damage our business; if we fail to protect the security of personal information about our customers, we could be subject to costly government enforcement actions and private litigation and our reputation could suffer; interruption or failure of our information technology and communications systems could impair the delivery of our service and harm our business; the market for music rights is changing and is subject to significant uncertainties; our Pandora services depend upon maintaining complex licenses with copyright owners, and these licenses contain onerous terms; the rates we must pay for "mechanical rights" to use musical works on our Pandora service have increased substantially and these new rates may adversely affect our business; our use of pre-1972 sound recordings on our Pandora service could result in additional costs; failure to protect our intellectual property or actions by third parties to enforce their intellectual property rights could substantially harm our business and operating results; some of our services and technologies may use "open source" software, which may restrict how we use or distribute our services or require that we release the source code subject to those licenses; rapid technological and industry changes and new entrants could adversely impact our services; we have a significant amount of indebtedness, and our debt contains certain covenants that restrict our operations; we are a "controlled company" within the meaning of the NASDAQ listing rules and, as a result, qualify for, and rely on, exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements; while we currently pay a quarterly cash dividend to holders of our common stock, we may change our dividend policy at any time; and our principal stockholder has significant influence, including over actions requiring stockholder approval, and its interests may differ from the interests of other holders of our common stock; if we are unable to attract and retain qualified personnel, our business could be harmed; our facilities could be damaged by natural catastrophes or terrorist activities; the unfavorable outcome of pending or future litigation could have an adverse impact on our operations and financial condition; we may be exposed to liabilities that other entertainment service providers would not customarily be subject to; and our business and prospects depend on the strength of our brands. Additional factors that could cause our results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, which is filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and available at the SEC's Internet site (http://www.sec.gov). The information set forth herein speaks only as of the date hereof, and we disclaim any intention or obligation to update any forward looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this communication.

Source: SiriusXM

Media contacts:

Angela Burke
[email protected]

Carolina Dubon
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SOURCE Sirius XM Holdings Inc.

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