[2] Singing duo Jonnie and Brookie won the show's first season in May 2009.
[3][4] Season two of Next Big Thing began in late 2009 and was won by Jasmine Sagginario from Franklin, Tennessee.
[7][8][9] Season Five began on October 12, 2012,[10] and featured four solo singers and one singing duo competing for an appearance on the Disney Channel series Austin & Ally, the chance to have a single released through the Disney Music Group, and to open for the Next Big Thing finale concert in Los Angeles.
[11] The competitors for the fifth season were Chloe and Halle Bailey, Jack Skuller, Katherine Hughes, Elle Winter, and Damian Otchere.
Said featured artist was already signed to a record label and getting some airplay on Radio Disney as well as other stations, very much unlike NBT artists of the past, who were unsigned and had no media exposure.