The BRIT Awards, the UK’s foremost celebration of our music industry, have announced their shortlist for this year’s edition. The event, which has run from 1977, will be held in Manchester’s Co-Op Live arena on Saturday the 28th of February.
View this post on Instagram
This year marks the first time that the ceremony has been held outside London in its 48-year history. The BRITs, organised by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), is the biggest event in the British music calendar, a party rife with live performances, drama, and most importantly the coveted awards.
The categories on offer range from best acts within various genres, best song, best album, and the pinnacle – Artist of the Year. In addition, while the spotlight is mainly on British talent, they offer accolades for international acts. Last year’s ceremony saw performances from Sam Fender, Teddy Swims and Sabrina Carpenter. Charli XCX took a clean sweep of the top three awards, claiming British Album, Single and Artist of the Year titles with her summer-sensation album ‘BRAT’.
For this year’s batch of nominees, there are a few familiar faces, mixed with an overwhelming number of new ones. For the sound of 2025, two names are synonymous with it – Olivia Dean and Lola Young. The pair are both nominated for best artist and single honours among others, with Dean having an album nomination for ‘The Art Of Loving’, and an extra song nomination for her contribution to Sam Fender’s hit ‘Rein Me In’, while Young is competing for the best breakthrough and rock/alternative brackets. Both artists attended the BRIT school, an institution for the creative arts with no attendance fees.
Sam Fender himself is up for four categories, with high odds on for best album following his achievement of the Mercury Prize for 2025 album ‘People Watching’. Another of last year’s triumphs was the dramatic return of Lily Allen, whose empowered release ‘West End Girl’ has earned her three nominations.
The statement from the BRITs also highlighted a few of the curveballs in this years awards, namely the two tracks that kicked off cultural obsessions from film, now receiving recognition in the Best Song categories. ‘Defying Gravity’ performed by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, was the standout song from the Hollywood adaptation of The Wizard Of Oz stage-show ‘Wicked’, which released in 2024. Running for the International Song Of The Year is ‘Golden’, taken from the Netflix animation ‘KPop Demon Hunters’, which was a pop-culture phenomenon for all of last year.
Other notable cameos in the list include Turnstile and Geese picking up debut nominations under international group, Chappell Roan’s ‘Pink Pony Club’ aiming for best international song six years after its original release, and Jarvis Cocker’s band Pulp receiving their first nomination since 1996. This year’s roster is also the most progressive one since the BRITs began. Their announcement claims “Nearly 70% (69.2%) of the nominations feature women and non-binary people combined as solo artists or in mixed gender groups. This is the highest representation of women and non-binary people yet.”
The ceremony can be viewed on British TV on the 28th of February, with ITV broadcasting it, and with comedian Jack Whitehall taking hosting duties. So far the list of live performances is a mystery, aside from nominee Olivia Dean who has been confirmed to play. Fans at home can cast their vote on Song of the Year and International Song of the Year via Whatsapp from the 30th of January, closing on the 13th of February. The full list of awards and nominees can be found on the BRIT Awards’ website.
