The BRIT Awards has added Song of the Year nominees Calvin Harris and Ellie Goulding to the line-up of performers.
Harris and Goulding will perform together for their debut joint BRITs performance at London’s O2 Arena on 3/2.
Their collaboration “Miracle” (Columbia) is in the running for Song of the Year, while Harris is also up for the public-voted Pop and Dance Act categories. The duo join Becky Hill & Chase & Status, Dua Lipa, Jungle, Kylie Minogue, RAYE and Rema on the bill.
Dua Lipa and Beyoncé are locked in battle to take the #1 slot at singles while IDLES and Paloma Faith are competing for this week's U.K. Official Albums #1.
Lipa’s “Training Season” (Warner Records) is leading the U.K.’s Official Singles midweeks. Should it hold onto its position by Friday, it will be her fifth U.K. #1 single. Beyoncé’s “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM” (Columbia/Parkwood), however, is just over 3k sales behind after rising seven places over the weekend.
Long-running #1, “Stick Season” (Republic) by Noah Kahan, has slipped down to #6.
Over on albums at today's midweek mark, IDLES are in the lead with their fifth set, TANGK (Partisan). Faith’s The Glorification of Sadness (RCA) is in second place. Liverpool band Crawlers are also new, at #3, with their debut, The Mess We Seem to Make (Polydor).
The third set from duo PET NEEDS, Intermittent Fast Living (Xtra Mile), starts at #7. Cast could score their first Top 10 in 25 years with their self-released Love is the Call at #8.
Back at singles, Ella Henderson and Rudimental’s “Alibi” (Major Toms/Asylum) continues its upward trajectory—it is expected to rise four to #11.
Kygo and Ava Max are also on the up, with the Shakira-sampling “Whatever” (RCA) on track to crack the Top 20 for the first time at #13. Calvin Harris and Rag'n'Bone Man have teamed up again for their new track, “Lovers in a Past Life” (Sony), which is set for a #17 debut.
Noah Kahan has topped
the U.K.’s Official Albums and Singles Chart with Stick Season (Republic) and the album's title track.
Stick Season is Kahan’s first Official Albums #1 after spending 10 weeks inside the Top 10. At the same time, “Stick Season” remains at #1 on singles for a seventh consecutive week.
Elsewhere on albums, Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign debut at #2 with Vultures 1 (YZY). The set is the most streamed of the week.
Declan McKenna’s third set, What Happened to the Beach? (Columbia), is #3. Zara Larsson’s Venus (Epic) is new at #15.
On the U.K.’s Official Singles Chart, Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things” (Warner) climbs two to a new peak at #3. The track is less than 600 chart units behind “Murder on the Dancefloor” (Polydor) by Sophie Ellis-Bextor at #2.
YG Marley breaks into the Top 5 for the first time with “Praise Jah in the Moonlight” (YG Marley Music) up four to #5. Beyoncé’s “TEXAS HOLD ‘EM” (Columbia) is this week’s highest new entry at #9.
There are three entries from VULTURES 1 in the Top 20: “Carnival” at #12, “Burn” at #17 and “Back to Me” at #18.
Jungle and Rema have joined the BRIT Awards performers bill. Both acts received their debut nominations this year.
Producer duo Jungle are up for Group of the Year. They play the ceremony following the release of their fourth set, Volcano (Caiola/AWAL), which hit #3 in the U.K. last year. The group will play the O2 Arena again for their biggest U.K. headline show to date on 9/12.
Afrowave star Rema is up for International Song of the Year for his smash “Calm Down” (Mavin), which hit #3 in the U.K. last year. He played a sold-out headline show at O2 Arena in November.
The two acts join Dua Lipa, Kylie Minogue and RAYE on the bill. The BRITs show takes place at London’s O2 Arena on 3/2.
Kylie Minogue will be honored with the BRITs Global Icon award at this year’s ceremony; she’ll also perform.
The award recognises a career that’s spanned five decades, over 80m record sales worldwide, 5b streams and nine U.K. #1 albums. Minogue’s latest set, Tension (BMG), hit #1 in 2023 and earned her a Grammy, her second, for hit single “Padam Padam.”
The Icon award is Minogue’s fourth BRIT and she follows previous winners Elton John, Robbie Williams, David Bowie and Taylor Swift. She’s also nominated in this year’s International Artist of the Year category alongside the likes of Swift, Miley Cyrus, Olivia Rodrigo and SZA.
Others set to perform at the ceremony on 3/2 at London’s O2 Arena include Dua Lipa and RAYE. More performers will be revealed soon.
Declan McKenna and Noah Kahan are battling it out for this week’s U.K. Official Albums #1. Over on singles, Kahan’s Stick Season (Republic) remains on top.
McKenna’s third set, What Happened to the Beach? (Columbia), is leading the charge at today’s midweek stage. However, with an expanded deluxe edition of Kahan’s Stick Season just 3k sales behind at #2, the race is not yet won.
Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign could debut at #3 with Vultures 1 (YZY). Dizzee Rascal’s Don’t Take It Personal (Big Dirtee Records) is also on track for a #10 debut, at #6.
Zara Larsson’s Venus (Epic) could be her second Top 10 at #7. Usher’s Coming Home (mega/gamma) is predicted to be his seventh Top 10 at #9 (although his Apple Music Super Bowl LVIII Halftime Show could boost it further within the coming days).
On the U.K.’s Official Singles midweeks, “Stick Season” is on track to make a seventh consecutive week at #1. The track is nearly 2:1 ahead of its nearest competition.
That competition is Teddy Swims, whose “Lose Control” (Warner) is set to rise one to #2. Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things” (Warner) is also on the rise, up one to #4.
“Alibi” (Major Toms/Asylum) by Ella Henderson and Rudimental is predicted to sail to #11 on Friday, while “Whatever” (RCA) by Kygo and Ava Max (which features a Shakira sample) is up 10 places to #18.
The Last Dinner Party have posted the biggest opening week for a debut album by a band since 2015 to top the Official Albums Chart. At singles, Noah Kahan registers a sixth consecutive week at #1.
The Last Dinner Party’s Prelude to Ecstasy (Island) hits #1 on 32,800 chart unit sales in its first week. It’s the biggest sales week for a debut #1 since Years & Years moved 55k units of Communion nine years ago.
Prelude to Ecstasy is also the best seller in U.K. independent record shops this week. With more than 14k vinyl copies sold—which puts them at #1 on the Record Store and vinyl charts—it’s the highest sales week for a vinyl LP since Oasis’ The Masterplan re-release in November.
Meanwhile, Liverpudlian singer-songwriter Jamie Webster earns his third Top 10 and highest-charting album to date with 10 For The People (Modern Sky), which heads straight in at #2. Paul McCartney and Wings’ Band on the Run (Capitol) returns to the Top 40 for the first time since 2010, landing at #16—its highest placing since June 1975—following a special 50th anniversary Underdubbed Mixes reissue.
The self-titled debut album from singer/songwriter Dylan John Thomas’ on Ignition lands at #21 followed by Kula Shaker’s fourth Top 40 album, Natural Magick (Strange Folk), at #22.
Taylor Swift’s appearance on the Grammy Awards along with her announcement of a new album pushed several of her EMI albums up the Official Albums Chart: 1989 (Taylor’s Version) is #5; Album of the Year winner Midnights is up to #6; Folklore hits #10; Lover rises to 13; and reputation snags #14.
At singles, Kahan’s “Stick Season” has the longest consecutive week run at #1 since Dave & Central Cee’s “Sprinter” last summer. It once again ends the week as the most-streamed song in the country with 8.3m streams.
The steady rose of Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things” (Warner) continues as it rises six slots to crack the Top 5. YG Marley’s self-released “Praise Jah in the Moonlight” is up 11 slots to #9. Justin Timberlake’s “Selfish” (RCA) is up eight slots to #29.
The Last Dinner Party’s “Nothing Matters” becomes their first Top 20 single, hitting #19.
British CMO PPL paid out £279.6m to 165k performers and recording rightsholders in 2023. The cash figure is up 14.3% year-on-year.
PPL grew its payout by £34.9m in 2023 to mark its highest annual total in the org’s 90-year history. The £279.6m comes from licensing recorded music in the U.K. and the collection of neighboring rights royalties on behalf of international rightsholders.
The continued recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic was a key factor in achieving the total, according to PPL. The company also says its broad and growing network of international agreements with other CMOs, which spans over 110, was a strong contributor.
The headline number includes a payment of £7.7m by VPL—PPL's sister company, which licenses music videos when they are played in public or broadcast on TV—an increase of £1.6m year-on-year.
“We understand these payments are critical for many and we pride ourselves on our ability to deliver them consistently and on time,” PPL CEO Peter Leathem said. “As neighboring rights continue to develop around the world, we see a huge opportunity ahead to grow our market share and maximize revenues for performers and recording rightsholders.”
