Harry Styles and Wet Leg lead the way as Brit Awards nominations revealed

Ex-boybander Harry Styles and Isle of Wight indie rock band Wet Leg lead this year’s Brit Awards race, with four nods each.

Pop megastar Styles played a large part in boosting music industry sales last year, with his smash hit As It Was, spending 10 consecutive weeks at number one on the Official Singles Chart and becoming the only track to surpass 180 million streams during 2022, according to analysis of Official Charts data by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

Styles was also behind 2022’s top album with his Grammy and Mercury shortlisted Harry’s House.

Isle of Wight duo Wet Leg – Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers – have had massive critical and commercial success since signing with their record label in 2021, with their debut single Chaise Longue going viral.

They were shortlisted for last year’s Mercury Prize, nabbed five nominations at this year’s Grammys, and count Barack Obama and Iggy Pop as fans.

South London singer Cat Burns, whose song Go went viral on TikTok last year and was the fourth most streamed single of the year, received three nominations.

Stormzy, Fred Again and The 1975 also got three nods.

Central Cee, George Ezra, Arctic Monkeys, Nova Twins, Aitch, Dave, Eliza Rose, Beyonce, Lizzo, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith all received two nods each.

The nominations were announced online by presenters Vick Hope and Jack Saunders.

There are a host of first-time nominees in the mix, including four-piece K-Pop girl group Blackpink, Cat Buns, Eliza Rose, Nova Twins, Sam Ryder, Jack Harlow and Kojey Radical.

R&B girl group FLO – featuring Renee, Jorja and Stella – has already been announced as the winner of the highly coveted rising star award, following in the footsteps of the likes of Adele, Sam Smith and Celeste.

The Brits announced that they would be scrapping their male and female award categories in 2021, going gender-neutral in an attempt to make their music prize more inclusive.

Four public voted genre awards introduced last year – Alternative/Rock, Dance, Hip Hop/Grime/Rap and Pop/R&B – will also be continuing this year.

Mo Gilligan will be hosting the Brits, after making his debut last year, which he called “one of he most phenomenal moments of my life”.

The first acts who will perform on the night were also announced, with Wet Leg on the bill as well as a duet from Sam Smith and Kim Petras.

For the first time the ceremony will take place on a Saturday, in a bid to reach a wider audience.

The awards follows a stellar performance from British music in 2022, with last year’s UK recorded music consumption increasing for the eighth consecutive year.

The 2023 BRIT Awards takes place on Saturday 11 February at the O2 Arena and will be broadcast live on ITV and ITVX.

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