Who won the MTV Best New Artist Award in 1995 for "Hold My Hand"?

Hootie & the Blowfish won the 1995 MTV award for Best New Artist in a Video with "Hold My Hand."

The award was presented at the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards, held on September 7 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The official category wording was "Best New Artist in a Video," although it is often shortened in trivia questions to "Best New Artist."

Hootie & the Blowfish competed against Jeff Buckley, Des'ree, Filter, and Portishead. Their winning video helped cement the band's breakthrough after the success of its 1994 debut album, "Cracked Rear View," one of the decade's biggest-selling albums.

"Hold My Hand" was the band's debut single and became a major U.S. hit. The group later won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1996, a separate honor that is sometimes confused with the MTV award. The MTV victory therefore belongs specifically to the video category and to the 1995 ceremony.