Sam Smith tops MTV’s 2014 best artist list

This year’s breakthrough new singer, Sam Smith, went from an artist to watch to MTV’s best artist of 2014 and beat out megastars like Beyonce and Taylor Swift.

The 22-year-old Smith performed his soulful song, Stay With Me, at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards from his debut album, In the Lonely Hour.

But Smith could not beat Iggy Azalea’s catchy hit song Fancy, which topped the list for MTV’s best songs of 2014 and whose video was nominated for four awards at the VMAs. MTV’s best movie of 2014 was The Lego Movie, a kid flick featuring the voices of Chris Pratt, Will Arnett and Elizabeth Banks.