All eyes are on the prize for the most-coveted award in Canadian music, as the JUNO Awards announce its electrifying mix of established legends and rising stars up for nomination.
With just a little over a month until the big show, The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) has officially unveiled the nominees for the 54th Annual JUNO Awards. This year, the show is heading to the west coast, set to broadcast live on CBC on Mar. 30 in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The 2025 JUNO Awards will celebrate 208 nominees this time around, including 67 first-time nominees. CARAS President and CEO Allan Reid described the feeling of so many new nominees as “heartening.”
“That means that people are out creating music and it’s being recognized, and it’s actually having success,” he said in a press conference on Tuesday.
“The JUNOs are all about discovery. That’s a big part of what we do, putting these artists on a plateau to be seen and heard.”
From a pop singer’s record-breaking five nominations to the debut of the South Asian Music Recording of the Year category, this year’s contenders represent the incredible diversity and talent that define Canada’s music scene. Here’s who’s on the nominee list this year.
WHO’S THE MOST NOMINATED?
This year, Calgary’s Tate McRae co-leads the JUNO nominations with five nods in major categories like Album of the Year for Think Later and Artist of the Year. This follows her successful 2024 campaign, where she previously won the prestigious Artist of the Year Award and Single of the Year Award for her chart-topping hit “greedy.”
McRae shares the top spot with Hamilton-bred country artist Josh Ross, who also garnered five nominations, including “Complicated” for Single of the Year.
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Ross said he was “honoured” to be listed amongst some of the nation’s biggest pop stars.
“Being able to be in categories with other artists that are very international-based, and have a lot of success in so many different genres, I think for me, is the really cool part,” Ross said to reporters.
“I’m just honoured and I’m really, really excited.”
Ross will join award-winning Nashville superstar Jelly Roll on the Canadian leg of Beautifully Broken: Great Northern Tour later this year. Ahead of the tour, he says what he’s looking forward to most is making new fans.
“That’s my biggest goal, is that when people leave, they become a Josh Ross fan,” he said.
Pop icons Shawn Mendes and Scarborough’s own The Weeknd follow closely behind, each with four nominations. These nominations bring The Weeknd even closer to making history, as he needs just three more awards to match Anne Murray’s record of 25 JUNO wins.
First Nations hip-hop duo Snotty Nose Rez Kids are up for three nominations, including Rap Single of the Year for “BBE” and Rap Album of the Year with RED FUTURE.
The pair said during the process of creating their album, they went through tons of trial and error, and are proud to be reaping the benefits of their labour.
“It just goes to show what the possibility can be when you don’t quit and you just keep going and believing in yourself,” Darren “Young D” Metz said.
“We just had to wait for the right moment to kind of dive in and just complete this project. And I think by being patient and doing that, it gave us time to develop as artists and develop our sound… So the creation of RED FUTURE was so long in the making, and I think for us to be able to drop it now is like the right time, and now the rewards are coming,” Quinton “Yung Trybez” Nyce said.
Canadian music legends Sum 41 also made waves in this year’s nominations. The Ajax-based rock band received two nominations, and will be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, with a special performance presented by JUNOS Premier Sponsor, TD Bank Group.
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CELEBRATING DIVERSITY IN MUSIC
This year, the JUNO Awards will debut a new category honouring the contributions of South Asian superstars to the Canadian music industry. The inaugural South Asian Music Recording of the Year Award will feature notable nominees such as AP Dhillon, Chani Nattan, Inderpal Moga & Jazzy B, Karan Aujla, and Yanchan Produced & Sandeep Narayan.
Jonita Gandhi, another nominee in the category who’s just coming off of sharing the stage with Ed Sheeran at his Mathematics Tour in Chennai, India, says she feels seen.
“I feel so happy that there’s a whole category where we can showcase our music. I feel like it’s been a long time coming, but I just feel really happy that there are so many big strides being made to have South Asian representation on a global platform like the JUNOs,” Gandhi said.
Gandhi described the feeling of receiving a nomination as “empowering.” She recalls facing many years of anti-Asian racism, but says music was always there to come to her rescue in times of trouble.
“It would always represent me in the way I wanted to be represented. I would be the girl who got me fun because of how I looked, but then no one could deny that, ‘Oh, my God, she can sing,’ and I feel like that’s what made me special,” she explained.
“I’ve clung to music the way I have my whole life. It’s been a source of healing for me, and it’s been a way for me to kind of tunnel out all the negative stuff that comes with being a public figure or being an Indian in North America,” Gandhi added.
AP Dhillon also picked up a nomination for Breakthrough Artist or Group of the Year, joining fellow South Asian artists AR Paisley and Sukha.
Tickets for the 2025 JUNO Awards are now on sale and can be purchased through Ticketmaster.
