Brit Awards facts for kids

Quick facts for kids The BRIT Awards
The O2 Arena in London on the evening of Brit Awards 2016
Presented by	British Phonographic Industry (BPI)
Country	United Kingdom
First awarded	18 October 1977; 47 years ago (1977-10-18) (as The British Record Industry Britannia Awards)
Television coverage
Network	Thames Television (1977) BBC One (1985–1992) ITV (1993–present)

The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored by Britannia Music Club), but subsequently became a backronym for British Record Industry Trusts Show. The awards were first held in 1977 and originated as an annual event in 1982 under the auspices of the British record industry's trade association, the BPI. In 1989, they were renamed The BRIT Awards. Mastercard has been the long-term sponsor of the event. In addition, an equivalent awards ceremony for classical music, called the Classic BRIT Awards, was held annually between 2000 and 2013, before being revived in 2018 but has not been held since.

The highest profile music awards ceremony in the UK, the BRIT Awards have featured some of the most notable events in British popular culture, such as the final public appearance of Freddie Mercury, the Jarvis Cocker protest against Michael Jackson, the height of a high-profile feud between Oasis and fellow Britpop band Blur, the Union Jack dress worn by Geri Halliwell of the Spice Girls, and a Chumbawamba member throwing a bucket of iced water over then-Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott. These moments took place in the 1990s when the ceremony had a reputation for being "a little shambolic, unpredictable and, at times, anarchic" with a criticism it has lost its edge since then and "evolved into a more polished, sanitised affair".

The BRIT Awards were broadcast live until 1989, when Samantha Fox and Mick Fleetwood hosted a widely criticised show in which little went as rehearsed. From 1990 to 2006, the event was recorded and broadcast the following night. From 2007, The BRIT Awards reverted to a live broadcast on British television, on 14 February on ITV. That year, comedian Russell Brand was the host and three awards were dropped from the ceremony: British Rock Act, British Urban Act and British Pop Act. For the last time, on 16 February 2010, Earls Court in London was the venue for The BRITs. The BRIT Awards were held at the O₂ Arena in London for the first time in 2011.

BRIT Award statuette (silhouette)

The BRIT Award statuette given to the winners features Britannia, the female personification of Britain. Since 2011, the statuette has been regularly redesigned by well known British artists, architects, and designers including Vivienne Westwood, Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Peter Blake, Zaha Hadid, Anish Kapoor, David Adjaye, Yinka Ilori and Es Devlin, Pam Hogg, Olaolu Slawn and Rachel Jones.

Robbie Williams holds the record for the most BRIT Awards, 13 as a solo artist and another five as part of Take That. Girl group Little Mix made history at the Brit Awards 2021, when they became the first female group to receive the award at the ceremony after 43 years since it was first introduced. In 2024, English singer-songwriter Raye, broke the record for the most nominations received by a single artist in a year with seven in total.

Ceremonies

Most recent Brit Award winners

← 2024 1 March 2025 2026 →

Award British Artist of the Year British Group Best New Artist Winner Charli XCX Ezra Collective the Last Dinner Party   Award British Album of the Year British Single of the Year Rising Star Winner Brat by Charli XCX Guess by Charli XCX ft. Billie Eilish Myles Smith

Exterior of The O₂ Arena in London (host venue since 2011) for the 2020 Brit Awards

The first awards ceremony was in 1977, as "The BRITish Record Industry BRITannia Awards", to mark the Queen's Silver Jubilee and was televised by Thames Television. There has been an annual ceremony since 1982.

Broadcast

The 1988 BPI Awards was the first of the ceremonies to be broadcast on live television. The BBC had previously broadcast the ceremony from 1985, with the shows from 1982 to 1984 not broadcast on television. The BBC continued to broadcast the renamed BRIT Awards, live in 1989 and pre-recorded from 1990 to 1992. ITV have broadcast the awards since 1993, pre-recorded until 2006 and live from 2007 onwards. BBC Radio 1 has provided backstage radio coverage since 2008.

Launch show

For many years, ITV have aired a launch show in January titled The BRITs Are Coming, which reveals some of the artists who have been nominated at the upcoming ceremony. Previous hosts include Jonathan Ross and Kate Thornton in 2001.

The show returned after a long hiatus in 2013 and was hosted by Nick Grimshaw at the Savoy Hotel in London, who returned as host in 2014, followed by Reggie Yates and Laura Whitmore in 2015 and 2016 respectively. Emma Willis hosted The BRITs Are Coming in 2017 and again in 2018 when it was broadcast live for the first time. Clara Amfo hosted the 2019 launch show and Alice Levine hosted in 2020. Grimshaw hosted the March 2021 edition of The Brits Are Coming with singer Griff. The December 2021 launch show was hosted by Amfo and Maya Jama.

The 2023 edition took place on 11 February 2023 and was held, for the first time, on a weekend. The nominees for 2023 were announced via the BRITs social platforms on 12 January 2023 by Jack Saunders and Vick Hope. The nominees were also revealed by Tom Daley, Yung Filly, Jill Scott, and brothers Joe and George Baggs from Gogglebox across their own social media channels. The launch show returned in January 2024 and was renamed Bring on The BRITs; it was hosted by Yinka Bokinni and live streamed, as part of a new partnership between The BRITs and Meta, via the BRITs account on social platforms Instagram and Facebook. The same format was used in 2025, with that year's launch show hosted by Siân Welby.

List of ceremonies

BPI Awards

BRITs

Notes

Categories

Current

Defunct

Special

Voting procedure

According to The BRIT Awards website, the list of eligible artists, albums, and singles is compiled by the Official Charts Company and submitted to the voting academy, which consists of over 1,000 members of the music industry, including the previous year's nominees and winners. The voters use a secure online website to vote, and the voting is scrutinized by Electoral Reform Services. The concept of fan voting was abolished after the 2019 Brit Awards, but brought back in 2022.

Performances

Coldplay are the act with most performances ever, with five opening presentations and eight overall, followed by Take That and band member Robbie Williams, who performed seven times each. Adele has performed at five ceremonies, the most amongst female artists.

Most successful acts

Coldplay (pictured performing in Manchester, 2023) have nine Brit Awards, including four for British Group.

There have been numerous acts, both groups and individuals, that have won multiple awards. The table below shows those that have won four or more awards.

Pink performing at the 2019 Brit Awards where she received the Icon award. She also received the award for International Female Solo Artist in 2003

Viewing figures

See also

In Spanish: Premios Brit para niños

• Classic BRIT Awards