Adele, Dave, Ed Sheeran and Little Simz lead the nominations for the 2022 BRIT Awards with four each.
The contenders for next year’s ceremony were revealed during ITV’s The BRITs Are Coming show, which was also livestreamed on YouTube. It featured performances from Anne-Marie, Joel Corry, Mabel, Mimi Webb and Glass Animals.
The awards ceremony returns to the O2 Arena on February 8, 2022. It will be screened live on ITV and livestreamed globally via YouTube.
As revealed by Music Week, there has been a shake-up in the categories with the removal of gender-based awards, which are replaced with Artist Of The Year and International Artist Of The Year, and the addition of four genre categories for UK acts.
With the biggest-selling album of the year to date, Adele is up for four awards, including Artist Of The Year and Mastercard Album (30). She will be competing in both categories with Dave, Ed Sheeran and first-time BRITs nominee Little Simz, who are each up for four awards.
Polydor leads the pack for the 2022 BRITs with 15 nominations in total, including nods for Sam Fender (Artist Of The Year, Mastercard Album and Rock/Alternative). There’s also recognition for Becky Hill, Glass Animals, current Music Week cover star Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish and ABBA, who are up for International Group - their first time in the category.
Atlantic has 13 nominations, equal with RCA, as the Sony Music label group also draws on nominations for Ministry Of Sound acts such as Doja Cat and Riton, as well as Insanity’s Tom Grennan and Joy Crookes. Columbia has nine, followed by EMI (six), Parlophone (six), Warner Records (five) and AWAL (four).
According to the BRITs calculations, labels earn a nomination for one of their artists credited on a track even if it was released by another company. Distribution and label services partnerships are also recognised in Music Week’s final tally.
ADA has three nods with Central Cee and could claim another for its partnership with BMG on KSI. The UK rap star has two nods in the Song Of The Year category (Holiday and Don’t Play) - the only UK artist to achieve a double nomination in that category.
KSI said: "I’m honoured to share the Don’t Play nomination with my friends, the very talented Anne-Marie and Digital Farm Animals. Holiday means so much to me and it was a big step in my progression on this incredible journey as an artist, as my first solo single, singing. I was so nervous about how it would be received and am just too gassed that it ended up becoming my biggest song yet. I am grateful to my entire team and share these nominations with them and all the amazing creatives involved, as well as BMG and Atlantic and everyone else who played any role supporting me and my music. Most of all to the fans! I love you guys and wouldn’t be here without you. These nominations are ours! We come a long way together and it’s only the beginning.”
Across the majors, Universal Music has 32 nominations, followed by Warner Music with 26 and Sony Music with 22. Indies and self-releasing acts (including those in partnership with majors) have 22 nods across the categories, including four for AWAL and two each for BMG, Dirty Hit and Perfect Havoc. Raye, who has two nominations, left Polydor in the summer and is now listed as a Platoon artist.
Following Little Mix’s victory as the first female act ever to win Group Of The Year in 2021, they are in the running again along with two bands fronted by women, Wolf Alice and London Grammar (D-Block Europe and Coldplay are also nominated). Women dominate the International Artist category with four out of the five nominations (Billie Eilish, Doja Cat, Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift).
To be seen and acclaimed in the dance sphere, as a woman is a huge achievement for me, especially having been overlooked in the past
Becky Hill
There are 18 female acts - solo and all-female groups - nominated for the BRITs in 2022, the highest number in over a decade. While that figure reached 22 in 2010, it was partly down to two one-off categories for the 30th edition of the show that year.
In addition to Little Simz, first-time nominees for 2022 include Self Esteem, Becky Hill, Glass Animals, Riton, Central Cee, Ghetts, Maneskin and Olivia Rodrigo.
Becky Hill said: “I’ve been working my entire career to be a BRIT nominee. 2022 marks my 10th year of being in the industry and to say being nominated for two BRIT awards is an honour and career milestone is an understatement. To be seen and acclaimed in the dance sphere, as a woman is a huge achievement for me, especially having been overlooked in the past when featuring on records released by male producers/DJs that I had written and vocalled. I have worked incessantly to become an artist who is not only respected by the industry but by the public too and this nomination has grounded me in the knowledge that I can make it! I’m so proud to be apart of next years awards, I already feel like I’ve won by just being nominated.”
International Song Of The Year is a new category for 2022 and nominees include Billie Eilish, Doja Cat, Drake, Lil Nas X, Olivia Rodrigo and Maneskin.
Maneskin said: “We are overjoyed with the news that we have received our first BRIT nominations today. It has been such a phenomenal year for us, but one that we’ve been working toward from the moment we started playing together on the streets of Rome as teenagers. We want to say ‘Grazie Mille’ to our creative peers in the BRITs Voting Academy. And we gratefully thank and share this moment with our families and the people of Italy that have supported us from the start, and the legion of new fans that we have connected with across the world.”
Holly Humberstone has already been crowned winner of the Rising Star award and she is the first confirmed performer at the BRITs ceremony.
2022 BRITs chair and Polydor co-president Tom March said: “I am delighted to see such a brilliant spread of artists across the categories this year. It is great to see so many of the artists that have defined this past year have been recognised, all exemplifying enormous talent and creativity. It is a true testament to the power and vibrancy of British and international music right now. We look forward to what the public vote for as winners in the four new genre award categories, introduced to create even more opportunities for artists to be recognised, when the voting opens in January. I thank our Voting Academy for providing such inspirational nominees for the 2022 BRITs.”
The eligibility for the main awards voted on by the BRITs Voting Academy was up until December 9, 2021. Some artists who released albums in early 2021, such as Arlo Parks and Celeste, have already been recognised as nominees or winners in this year’s ceremony, as they became eligible when it was held later than usual in May 2021 due to the pandemic.
Producer Of The Year and Songwriter Of The Year recipients will be announced next month.
BRIT Awards 2022 nominations
Artist Of The Year
Adele (Columbia)
Dave (Dave Neighbourhood/Universal)
Ed Sheeran (Asylum/Atlantic)
Little Simz (Age 101/AWAL)
Sam Fender (Polydor)
Group
Coldplay (Parlophone)
D-Block Europe (Virgin Music)
Little Mix (RCA)
London Grammar (Ministry Of Sound)
Wolf Alice (Dirty Hit)
Song Of The Year With Mastercard
A1 & J1 - Latest Trends (EMI)
Adele - Easy On Me (Columbia)
Anne-Marie/KSI/Digital Farm Animals - Don’t Play (Asylum/Atlantic/BMG)
Becky Hill & David Guetta - Remember (Polydor/Parlophone)
Central Cee - Obsessed With You (Central Cee/ADA/Parlophone)
Dave feat. Stormzy - Clash (Dave Neighbourhood)
Ed Sheeran - Bad Habits (Asylum/Atlantic)
Elton John & Dua Lipa - Cold Heart (EMI/Warner Records)
Glass Animals - Heat Waves (Polydor)
Joel Carry/Raye/David Guetta - Bed (Asylum/Atlantic/Platoon/Parlophone)
KSI - Holiday (BMG)
Nathan Evans, 220 Kid & Billen Ted - Wellerman (Polydor)
Riton/Nightcrawlers/Mufasa - Friday (Ministry Of Sound)
Tion Wayne & Russ Millions - Body (Atlantic)
Tom Grennan - Little Bit Of Love (Insanity)
Best New Artist
Central Cee (Central Cee/ADA)
Griff (Warner Records)
Joy Crookes (Insanity/Speakerbox)
Little Simz (Age101/AWAL)
Self Esteem (Fiction)
Mastercard Album Of The Year
Adele - 30 (Columbia)
Dave - We’re All Alone In This Together (Dave Neighbourhood/Universal)
Ed Sheeran - = (Asylum/Atlantic)
Little Simz - Sometimes I Might Be Introvert (Age 101/AWAL)
Sam Fender - Seventeen Going Under (Polydor)
GENRE CATEGORIES
Rock/Alternative
Coldplay (Parlophone)
Glass Animals (Polydor)
Sam Fender (Polydor)
Tom Grennan (Insanity)
Wolf Alice (Dirty Hit)
Hip-hop/Grime/Rap
AJ Tracey (AJ Tracey/Revenge)
Central Cee (Central Cee/ADA)
Dave (Dave Neighbourhood)
Ghetts (Warner Records)
Little Simz (Age101/AWAL)
Dance
Becky Hill (Polydor)
Calvin Harris (Columbia)
Fred Again (Atlantic)
Joel Corry (Atlantic/Perfect Havoc)
Raye (Platoon)
Pop/R&B
Adele (Columbia)
Dua Lipa (Warner Records)
Ed Sheeran (Asylum/Atlantic)
Griff (Warner Records)
Joy Crookes (Insanity/Speakerbox)
International Artist
Billie Eilish (Polydor/Interscope)
Doja Cat (Ministry Of Sound)
Lil Nas X (RCA)
Olivia Rodrigo (Polydor/Geffen)
Taylor Swift (EMI)
International Group
ABBA (Polydor)
BTS (BigHit/Universal)
Maneskin (Columbia)
Silk Sonic/Bruno Mars/Anderson Paak (Atlantic)
The War On Drugs (Atlantic)
International Song Of The Year
ATB/Topic/A7S - Your Love (9pm) (Positiva/EMI)
Billie Eilish - Happier Than Ever (Polydor/Interscope)
Ckay - Love Nwantiti (Ah Ah Ah) (Parlophone)
Doja Cat feat. SZA - Kiss Me More (Ministry Of Sound)
Drake feat. Lil Baby - Girls Want Girls (Island/OVO/Republic)
Galantis/David Guetta/Little Mix - Heartbreak Anthem (Atlantic/RCA)
Jonasu - Black Magic (3 Beat/Universal)
The Kid Laroi & Justin Bieber - Stay (RCA/EMI)
Lil Nas X - Montero (Call Me By Your Name) (RCA)
Lil Tjay and 6lack - Calling My Phone (Columbia/Polydor/Interscope)
Maneskin - I Wanna Be Your Slave (Columbia)
Olivia Rodrigo - Good 4 U (Polydor/Geffen)
Polo G - Rapstar (Columbia)
Tiesto - The Business (Atlantic)
The Weeknd - Save Your Tears (Island/Republic/XO)
Rising Star
Holly Humberstone (winner) Polydor
Bree Runway (EMI)
Lola Young (Island)
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