Raye dominates the Brits shortlists as this year's nominees are revealed

Raye leads the shortlists for this year’s Brit Awards with a record seven nominations – after leaving her label and taking a gamble as an independent artist.

The singer-songwriter is up for prizes including best new artist, artist of the year, and album of the year for her debut record, My 21st Century Blues, and also has two entries in the song of the year category.

It caps a stellar new beginning for the singer, who topped the charts at the start of 2023 and was also shortlisted for the prestigious Mercury Prize following a public dispute with her former label in 2021.

Raye described it as a “miracle” after it was announced she has broken the Brit Awards record for the most nominations received by a single artist in any one year. The record was previously six and was jointly held by Robbie Williams (1999), Craig David (2001) and Gorillaz (2002).

“A year-and-a-half ago as far as the industry was concerned, I was down and out,” she said. “The ultimate goal was to find my way somehow to the Brit Awards.”

In a message to her fans, she added: “Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Central Cee and J Hus follow Raye with four nominations each, while Blur, Calvin Harris, Dave, Little Simz, Olivia Dean, Young Fathers and four-time winner Dua Lipa – the first star to be revealed as one of the performers on the night this year – are all up for three awards.

Blur’s The Ballad Of Darren, J Hus’s Beautiful And Brutal Yard, Little Simz’s No Thank You and Young Fathers’ Heavy Heavy compete with Raye for the album of the year award, while Little Simz and J Hus also join her on the shortlist for artist of the year.

What is the gender balance this year?

This year the best artist category has been doubled to 10 slots following a public outcry when all five nominations went to male artists in 2023.

More than half (55%) of this year’s nominations feature women – either as a solo artist or as part of female groups – rising to 57% when women in mixed-gender groups are included.

Dua Lipa also makes the shortlist for best artist, along with Central Cee, Dave, Fred Again.., Arlo Parks, Jessie Ware and Olivia Dean – and in the best group category, Blur and Chase & Status are up against Headie One & K-Trap, Jungle and Young Fathers.

Many of these names appear again on the song of the year shortlist of 15 tracks – with Central Cee, like Raye, also making the list twice, and Lewis Capaldi‘s Wish You The Best, Ed Sheeran‘s Eyes Closed, and Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding’s Miracle among the hits recognised.

Up against Raye for best new artist are Mahalia, Olivia Dean, PinkPantheress and Yussef Dayes.

International stars up for awards

In the international categories, Burna Boy, Kylie Minogue, Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift are among the solo stars in the running, while Foo Fighters, Paramore and Gabriel are included in the bands shortlisted for international group of the year.

Billie Eilish‘s What Was I Made For?, Tyla’s Water, Cyrus’s Flowers, Noah Kahan’s Stick Season and SZA’s Kill Bill are among the tracks up for international song of the year.

The number of genre categories – which are voted for by the public – has been expanded this year, with fans now able to choose their favourite alternative/rock act, pop act, RnB act, dance act, and hip-hop/grime/rap act.

Becky Hill, Charli XCX, Romy, Barry Can’t Swim, Casisdead, Mahalia, Jorja Smith and Cleo Sol are among the additional artists up for awards in these categories.

This year also sees the first Brit nomination for The Rolling Stones in more than a decade – for best alternative/rock act, thanks to their chart-topping comeback in October – with the band having been nominated four times previously in 1977, 1995, 1996 and 2013.

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Indie-rock group The Last Dinner Party – Abigail Morris, Lizzie Mayland, Emily Roberts, Georgia Davies and Aurora Nishevci – have already been revealed as the winners of the rising star award, which recognises up-and-coming talent.

They follow in the footsteps of the likes of Adele, Florence & The Machine, Sam Smith, Sam Fender, Celeste and last year’s winners FLO, who all picked up the prize as they were getting started in their careers.

Meanwhile, the winners of the songwriter of the year and producer of the year awards will be revealed over the coming weeks, along with other show announcements, ahead of the ceremony at the O2 Arena in London on Saturday 2 March.

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