Brat to Brit Awards: Charli XCX leads nominations with five
Charli XCX leads this year’s Brit Awards with five nominations, including a nod for album of the year with Brat.
She is also nominated for artist of the year, best pop and dance act and song of the year with Guess, featuring Billie Eilish, which went to number one in August.
Her sixth studio album was released in June and grew into a cultural movement – Brat was crowned Collins Dictionary 2024 word of the year and it even reached US politics with presidential candidate Kamala Harris giving her social media a brat rebrand.
Seven-time Brit winner Dua Lipa has received four nominations including pop act which she won last year.
Making an epic comeback this year is rock band The Cure who have received their first nomination in three decades.
Their album Songs of a Lost World, which is the band’s first new music in 16 years, is up for album of the year.
They are also nominated for group of the year and best alterative/rock act which is voted for by the public.
The Beatles are another oldie but goldie band nominated. They are nominated for song of the year with Now And Then, making it their first nomination since 1977.
Billed as their “final song”, Now and Then was started by John Lennon in 1978, but only completed in 2022 by Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Ringo Star.
Released in November 2023, the song meets the eligibility criteria as it has spent at least eight weeks in the top 15 ranked British songs based on sales.
Ezra Collective, make their Brits debut with four nominations. The group become the first jazz act to win the Mercury Prize in 2023 with their album Where I’m Meant To Be.
Similarly, The Last Dinner Party – last year’s rising star winners – have four nominations.
Both groups are nominated for album of the year, group of the year and best new artist.
Joining them in the best new artist category is Indie band English Teacher who won the 2024 Mercury Prize for their debut album, This Could Be Texas.
Myles Smith is also nominated in the category and his feel-good foot-stomper Stargazing, which became the biggest-selling British single of 2024, is up for song of the year.
At the award ceremony in March he’ll receive the Brit Awards’ rising star prize – following in the footsteps of Sam Fender, Adele and Rag ‘N’ Bone Man.
There are 70 nominees across 13 categories.
Nominations in the three biggest categories are:
Artist of the year
Group of the year
Album of the Year
British artists up for multiple awards this year include Beabadoobee, Central Cee, Chase & Status, Fred Again, JADE, Nia Archives, Michael Kiwanuka, Rachel Chinouriri and Sam Fender.
Coldplay, who headlined Glastonbury last year, have received nominations for group of the year and song of the year with feelslikeimfallinginlove. However, the British band’s 10th album – Moon Music – was not nominated for album of the year.
The international artist of the year category is once again a tough battle with the majority of nominees being female American pop singers. Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan and Billie Eilish are among the nominees.
Roan has just won BBC Radio 1’s Sound of 2025 – the station’s annual poll to identify music’s biggest rising stars.
Five genre categories in the Brit nominations are voted for by the public via WhatsApp – alternative/rock; dance; pop ; R&B and hip hop/grime/rap.
Among the nominees in those categories are Raye, who made history at the Brit Awards last year winning six of the seven prizes she was nominated for, and girl group Flo, who were named winners of the rising star award in 2022.
The winners will be announced during a live show, presented by Jack Whitehall, on 1 March at The O2 arena.
