Dua Lipa has become the most-nominated artist at the Brit awards for a second year in a row, underlining her status as one of the UK’s biggest pop stars this decade.
After being nominated for five awards in 2018 and winning two, for British female and British breakthrough artist, the British-Kosovan singer is nominated four times in 2019 – though admittedly just for two hit songs. IDGAF, taken from her self-titled debut album last year but still eligible for this year’s awards, was nominated for British single and British video, with One Kiss, her summer smash hit with Scottish producer Calvin Harris, also nominated in the same categories.
Her tally of four nominations is matched by 27-year-old pop singer Anne-Marie, who as well as getting song and video nominations for her hit 2002 – co-written by Ed Sheeran – is also nominated in the more prestigious categories of British female and British album.
Like Lipa, whose breakthrough came after a few years of fitful popularity, Essex-born Anne-Marie began guesting on dance tracks back in 2013, but she has steadily developed into a chart-dominating solo star. She sang the 2016 Christmas No 1, Rockabye, produced by Clean Bandit (the pop group who are nominated twice this year for their song Solo) and earned her first Brit nomination in 2017, for British breakthrough. Other major collaborative hits followed, including Friends with US EDM producer Marshmello, and she was nominated for her second Brit in 2018 for her song Ciao Adios. Her album Speak Your Mind became 2018’s biggest-selling debut in the UK (though only the 26th highest seller overall).
George Ezra, whose album Staying at Tamara’s was the second-biggest selling of 2018 after The Greatest Showman soundtrack, has three nominations, for British album, British male, and British single for Shotgun, which spent 12 weeks in the Top Three over the summer. As the only artist with one of the ten biggest-selling albums of the year in the male and album categories, his sheer success and cross-generational appeal means he will be a strong favourite to win both.
Also with three nominations is versatile neo-soul singer Jorja Smith, who won the Critics’ Choice award in 2018, as voted for by a panel of industry experts – this year’s winner has already been announced as Tyneside singer-songwriter Sam Fender. Smith’s debut album Lost & Found is nominated for the British album award, and she also picks up nominations for British female and British breakthrough.
The other nominees for British female are Florence + the Machine (another best album nominee), Lily Allen and Jess Glynne. The latter singer, who in 2018 became the British woman with the most chart-topping singles ever in the UK, picked up another nomination for her No 1 single I’ll Be There. She also appears on the twice-nominated These Days by dance group Rudimental, but the nebulous rules defining lead and featured artists mean that she does not share their nomination.
Guitar-pop group the 1975 scored two prominent nominations, for British group and British album, though Arctic Monkeys were snubbed in the latter category and only scored one nomination.
A strong year for north American music, particularly rap, meant that only two of the 15 international category nominees were not from the US or Canada: First Aid Kit and Christine and the Queens. Rap superstars including Drake, Eminem, Travis Scott and Cardi B were all nominated – as was Jay-Z with wife Beyoncé in the group category – but there was also room for cosmic jazz saxophonist Kamasi Washington.
In a lineup dominated by major label talent like Lipa, Glynne, Ezra and Anne-Marie, there were some other interesting curveballs, including the 14-strong hip-hop boyband Brockhampton, nominated for best international group despite none of their songs ever reaching the UK Top 100.
Impassioned Bristol punk group Idles were nominated for British breakthrough alongside the poppier Mabel, Ella Mai, Tom Walker and Jorja Smith, while Cornish electronic experimentalist Aphex Twin was nominated alongside Ezra, Sam Smith, Craig David and Giggs for best British male, his fourth ever nomination.
Perhaps disappointed to miss out in that category will be Calvin Harris, who topped the singles chart twice in 2018 and was rated by Forbes as the highest-earning DJ in the world for the sixth year running, though he does have two nominations for One Kiss with Lipa. Some of the year’s other biggest selling album artists, including Take That, Rod Stewart, Post Malone and Michael Bublé, all failed to secure a single nomination.
The nominations are all drawn from votes by the Brits Academy, made up of industry and media figures – except for the best British singles, which are the 10 biggest selling of 2018, and the videos, which are the most viewed of 2018 on YouTube and Vevo. The singles shortlist is then voted on by the Academy along with the rest of the awards, apart from the video award, which is voted for by the public.
Full list of nominations
British male
Sam Smith
Craig David
Aphex Twin
Giggs
George Ezra
British female
Florence + the Machine
Jorja Smith
Anne-Marie
Lily Allen
Jess Glynne
British single
Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa – One Kiss
George Ezra – Shotgun
Rudimental – These Days (feat. Jess Glynne, Macklemore & Dan Caplen)
Dua Lipa – IDGAF
Annie-Marie – 2002
Clean Bandit – Solo (feat. Demi Lovato)
Sigala & Paloma Faith – Lullaby
Ramz – Barking
Jess Glynne – I’ll Be There
Tom Walker – Leave a Light On
British breakthrough
Mabel
Idles
Ella Mai
Tom Walker
Jorja Smith
British group
Arctic Monkeys
Gorillaz
The 1975
Little Mix
Years & Years
British video
Anne-Marie – 2002
Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa – One Kiss
Clean Bandit – Solo (feat. Demi Lovato)
Dua Lipa – IDGAF
Jax Jones – Breathe (feat. Ina Wroldsen)
Jonas Blue – Rise (feat. Jack & Jack)
Liam Payne & Rita Ora – For You (Fifty Shades Freed)
Little Mix – Woman Like Me (feat. Nicki Minaj)
Rita Ora – Let You Love Me
Rudimental – These Days (feat. Jess Glynne, Macklemore & Dan Caplen)
International group
The Carters
First Aid Kit
Brockhampton
Chic & Nile Rodgers
Twenty-One Pilots
International male
Drake
Eminem
Kamasi Washington
Shawn Mendes
Travis Scott
International female
Cardi B
Camila Cabello
Christine and the Queens
Ariana Grande
Janelle Monáe
British album
Jorja Smith – Lost & Found
The 1975 – A Brief History of Online Relationships
Florence + the Machine – High as Hope
Anne-Marie – Speak Your Mind
George Ezra – Staying at Tamara’s
• This article was amended to show that Sam Fender is from Tyneside, not Teeside.
