Best Solo Artist is an Aotearoa Music Award that honours solo artists for outstanding work. The award can either apply to solo performers or a singer who performs with a band. The award was originally divided by gender, with separate prizes going to male and female artists. The awards were first presented in 1978 at the relaunched New Zealand Music Awards. The awards were then called Top Male Vocalist and Top Female Vocalist. In 1985 they became Best Male Vocalist and Best Female Vocalist, then in 2004 they were renamed Best Male Solo Artist and Best Female Solo Artist. In 2017, following a revamp of the awards, the two awards were amalgamated into the one award called Best Solo Artist.