None of the nominees in this year’s BRITs British Female Solo Artist list make it into the Album of the Year category, which is dominated by male acts. It’s the second year in a row that the pattern has occurred – following two consecutive female album wins in 2012 and 2013, thanks to Adele and Emeli Sandé respectively. With hopes of LPs from both former BRIT queens in 2015, it’s unlikely that we will see a third year in a row without female representation in the Blue Riband award.
Look at the bigger picture, however and it’s a solid year for British new girls. Both Ella Henderson (pictured) and FKA Twigs get double nods ahead of the BRITs 2015 including one each for British Female Solo Artist alongside Jessie Ware, Lily Allen and Paloma Faith. FKA Twigs is also up for British Breakthrough Act, while Henderson prevents the British Single category being an entirely male affair thanks to a nomination for Ghost – although she’s kept company by Jess Glynne, who makes two featured appearances via Clean Bandit’s Rather Be and Route 94’s
My Love.
Meanwhile, international female acts Sia, St. Vincent and First Aid Kit get their first ever BRITs nods, as does Charli XCX who is up for British Artist Video of the Year.
Elsewhere, only two of the acts behind the Top 10 best-selling artist albums of 2014 are not up for BRITs gongs this year. Pink Floyd’s The Endless River and Take That’s III finished at No.9 and No.10 on the end of year artist albums chart in 2014 but don’t feature in this year’s BRITs nominations. Meanwhile the Top 3 album sellers, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith and George Ezra are all up for British Album Of The Year, with Alt-J’s This Is All Yours and Royal Blood’s self-titled debut filling the rest of the category. The rest of last year’s top selling album acts are represented elsewhere at the 2015 BRITs: Paolo Nutini (Caustic Love, No.4) is nominated in the British Male Solo category with Olly Murs (Never Been Better, No.8). Coldplay (Ghost Stories, No.5) are in British Group along with One Direction (Four, No.7) while Paloma Faith (A Perfect Contradiction, No.6) is up for British Female Solo Artist.
“This year’s nominations reflect a vintage year for British talent,” said BRITs chairman Max Lousada. “The mix of new and established acts, the variety of genres represented and the level of global success many of these acts are enjoying shows UK music at its very best and sets the stage for a fantastic show in February.”
Universal leads this year’s BRITs nomination list with 34.9% of nods across all categories – but that share is significantly less than the major saw in 2014.
Last year Universal boasted 49.1% of all BRIT nominations, but its major label rivals have both made gains with Sony moving from 28.3% in 2014 to 31.7% in 2015, and Warner from 11.3% to 23.8% - although the major is behind nine of the 20 nominations in the ‘Big Four’ categories: Male Solo, Female Solo, Group and Album.
The independent share of BRIT nods has dipped this year, as the sector claims 9.5% of nominations compared to 11.3% in 2014. Of the six nominations that can be considered straight indie label this year, three come from the XL Beggars Group (FKA Twigs in British Female Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act, and Jack White in International Male Solo Artist) and two Alt-J nominations come from Infectious Music – now part of BMG Rights, itself owned by multinational corporation Bertelsmann. Secretly Canadian’s The War On Drugs accounts for the sixth indie nod in the International Group category.
