Apple has just announced the winners of its third annual Apple Music Awards, with a new twist this year to provide better recognition of the contributions of artists around the globe.

Debuted two years ago, the Apple Music Awards were originally billed as “a celebration of the best and boldest musicians” of the year and “the enormous impact they have had on global culture.” In that first year, the Apple Music editorial team selected winners in five different categories: Global Artist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, Breakthrough Artist of the Year, Song of the Year, and Album of the Year.

This year, Apple has introduced a new category of awards for Regional Artist of the Year to recognize artists from five specific countries: Africa, France, Germany, Japan, and Russia. The company says that the new category will “recognize artists who made the greatest impact culturally and on the charts in their respective countries and regions.”

The new regional categories are clearly intended to make the awards less Western-centric, as mainstream music awards have traditionally gone to North American or Anglo-European artists. This year is really no exception when it comes to the global Apple Music Awards, but the five new Regional Artist of the year categories are at least helping to balance that out and giving us a much better look into the global music culture.

The past 12 months have proved to be a remarkable year for music, and we’re thrilled to honor the artists who are shaping culture and connecting with fans around the world on Apple Music. This year we’re also recognizing more regional artists, showing the world the impact of extraordinary talented musicians who are making waves globally.

Oliver Schusser, Vice President, Apple Music and Beats

As in past years, the winners were hand-picked by the Apple Music editorial team, through a process that weights in factors such as the contributions each artist made as well as how popular their music was among Apple Music subscribers.

Apple will kick off the Apple Music Awards celebration online beginning next Tuesday, December 7, 2021, with interviews, original content, and more streaming on Apple Music and in the Apple TV app. Read on for the eight winners of the 2021 Apple Music Awards.