This year’s BRITs quietly favour artists who took years, not moments, to break through.
The 2026 Brit Award nominations feel less like a celebration of overnight success, but a nod to the artists who took the long way around.
Olivia Dean and Lola Young stand out with 5 nominations each. The alumni of the BRIT School share career arcs marked by gradual, focused ascents that cannot be found in just one viral moment or clip.
Dean and Young’s careers have only reached their current peak after decades of honing their craft and garnering loyal fanbases before their breakout into international markets and critical acclaim.
Sam Fender is close behind with 4 nominations, one of those being in collaboration with Olivia Dean. Showing that he remains a reliable crossover act.
Mainstays like Lily Allen, Wolf Alice and Dave are notable for their sustained relevance.
Pulp, too, is back in the conversation with their first nomination since 1996, when Jarvis Cocker mounted the stage during Michael Jackson’s performance of Earth Song.
Their nomination, for Best Group, is not nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake, but acknowledgement for the band’s retooling the old with the new.
Not everyone will be happy. Big names, like Justin Bieber and Brit darling Florence Welch are absent from the nominations.
Ed Sheeran, a behemoth of the Brits, only received one nomination in the Song of the year category, denoting a perhaps more selective approach to the nominations this year.
Fans of Bad Bunny, Geese, Turnstile and Sleep token will however, be happy as the artists receive their debut Brits nominations.
With the ceremony set to take place in Manchester for the first time, the 2026 Brits look less focused on spectacle and more on recalibrating who British pop music is actually for right now.
Whether that translates to night remains to be seen.
