Alongside the late David Bowie, who will be honored with a special tribute on the night, there’s no doubt this year’s BRIT Awards will be Adele’s show, but that doesn’t stop us from making a few stabs at guessing who else might go home winners. XL aside, it’s likely to be a fairly level playing field, though there’s no harm in friendly rivalry, and we’ll be keeping tabs on whether David Joseph's marketshare leader UMG will trump Jason Iley's five-strong win with Sony in 2015.

The Bowie special was announced today by BRITs Chairman and Warner Music U.K. CEO Max Lousada, who told the BBC a fitting tribute to the "extraordinary life and work" of "one of our greatest icons” will be a part of the annual show at London’s O2 Arena on 2/24.

Adele, who will perform at the ceremony, is already a three-time BRIT winner, and she could double that figure this year. British Album of the Year for 25 should be a dead cert, as well as the Global Success Award. Taking home British Female Solo Artist for the second time would make sense, but Polydor’s Ellie Goulding is another strong contender, whose “Love Me Like You Do" could battle it out with “Hello” for British Single, where SYCO's One Direction might also appear.

Republic’s James Bay, who’s with Ted Cockle’s UMG imprint Virgin EMI in Blighty (he was inked directly by the U.S. company), was the biggest breakthrough male solo artist of last year so should be rightfully named British Male Solo Artist, and also receive a nomination for British Breakthrough Act—though Jess Glynne, signed through Lousada's Warner, is potential competition in that category.

Iley’s Sony U.K. is likely to get a nod or two in the British Group category, where One Direction and Little Mix deserve a mention, as Parlophone’s Coldplay. Columbia’s Mark Ronson, meanwhile, is the favourite to take home the title of Producer of the Year.

In the international categories, will Def Jam’s Justin Bieber, Epic's Meghan Trainor and Capitol's 5 Seconds of Summer make the shortlist? We’ll find out when the nominations are revealed on Thursday—watch this space.