With recorded music consumption in the UK at its highest level in over a decade, and streaming numbers at an all-time high since figures were first recorded in 2012*, the nominations for The BRIT Awards 2020 with Mastercard are a reflection of the UK’s most popular and biggest-selling artists of the past twelve months, along with the most exciting, creative, diverse and relevant artists making music both in this country and overseas.
The 2020 BRITs campaign launched in December with the announcement of Celeste as recipient of the inaugural Rising Star award. She was shortlisted along with Joy Crookes and Beabadoobee for the prestigious award – which has this year evolved from the Critics’ Choice award in line with a number of other exciting changes in place for the 2020 show.
Marking a new exciting era for British music, today, the full 2020 nominations are announced with London rapper Dave and Scottish superstar Lewis Capaldi leading the tallies for what will be the 40th BRIT Awards show, with four nominations each in Male Solo Artist, Best New Artist, Song of the Year and the prestigious Mastercard Album of the Year, following what has been an incredible year for each artist with numerous accolades and chart successes under their belt.
They will face strong competition in both Male Solo Artist and Album of the Year from Stormzy, Harry Styles and Michael Kiwanuka. Stormzy is also shortlisted for Song of the Year to give him three nominations in total, following his two BRIT Award wins in 2017, alongside tracks by Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber, Sam Smith & Normani, Mark Ronson ft Miley Cyrus, Calvin Harris & Rag ‘N’ Bone Man, Tom Walker, Dave ft Burna Boy, Mabel, Lewis Capaldi and AJ Tracey.
Styles, the recipient of seven BRIT Awards as part of One Direction, won Best Artist Video in 2017, and Kiwanuka is nominated in the same two categories as 2017; he was also shortlisted for Critics’ Choice in 2012.
2018 Critics’ Choice nominee and one of last year’s biggest breakthrough artists Mabel is also up for three awards – Best New Artist, Song of the Year and Female Solo Artist, where she faces competition from BRIT School graduate Freya Ridings, FKA Twigs, Charli XCX and Mahalia.
2020 sees several acclaimed British and international artists secure their first ever BRIT nomination. Billie Eilish and Lizzo will compete for International Female Solo Artist alongside Ariana Grande, Lana Del Rey and Camilla Cabello, whilst Burna Boy, Dermot Kennedy, Tyler the Creator are shortlisted for International Male Solo Artist alongside Bruce Springsteen – his eighth nomination in this category, which he also won in 1986 – and Post Malone.
Bring Me The Horizon, Aitch, AJ Tracey, D-Block Europe and Freya Ridings all receive debut BRIT nominations this year.
Coldplay will once again battle for Group of the Year, having been nominated for this award (previously British Group) seven times – and won four – since 2006 (2020 will mark their 27th BRIT Awards nomination), alongside Bastille – who have been nominated twice for this award previously – plus D-Block Europe, Foals and Bring Me The Horizon.
This year’s shortlists also include many previous BRITs Critics’ Choice winners and nominees: Lewis Capaldi (nominated 2019), Sam Fender (winner 2019), Mahalia (nominated 2019), Mabel (nominated 2018), Sam Smith (winner 2014) and Michael Kiwanuka (nominated 2012).
The shortlists were announced this evening exclusively on ITV by Alice Levine at ‘The BRITs Are Coming’, an hour-long TV special featuring a line up of incredible performances from 2020 BRIT nominees Mabel, Aitch, Freya Ridings, Dermot Kennedy along with Liam Payne who performed his new track ‘Live Forever’ joined by special guests Cheat Codes.
The BRIT Awards 2020 with Mastercard take place Tuesday 18th February at The O2 Arena in London, broadcast exclusively on ITV and hosted by Jack Whitehall.
Amazon Music is the digital music partner for The BRIT Awards 2020 and will host the Official BRIT Awards 2020 playlist – available to listen to on all four of Amazon Music’s streaming tiers. Further BRITs playlists will also be available on Amazon Music, including a playlist celebrating the best of The BRIT Awards over the past 40 years.
*according to the latest BPI report issued 1st Jan which revealed that the equivalent of 154 million albums were streamed, purchased on physical formats or downloaded in the U.K. last year, up 7.5% on 2018. It is the fifth consecutive year that consumption of recorded music has grown in the U.K. and the highest level since 2006. Total music streams for the year numbered 114 billion, a 3,000% rise on 2012, the first year that annual streaming figures were recorded.
