Features
Dave & Lewis Capaldi Lead 2020 BRIT Awards Nominations
Matt Jelonek/Wire Image – Lewis Capaldi at Falls Festival in Fremantle
The performance took place Jan. 5, 2020, in Fremantle, Australia.
London rapper Dave and Scottish superstar Lewis Capaldi lead the nominations for the 40th BRIT Awards ceremony with four mentions each.
Both artists are nominated in the same four categories: Male Solo Artist, Best New Artist, Song of the Year and the prestigious Mastercard Album of the Year award.
It’s a sign of the successful year both artists have had, which included numerous accolades and chart successes, but also live breakthroughs.
Capaldi, for instance, has been performing at TRNSMT, the biggest festival in his home country of Scotland, since its inception in 2017. This year, July 12, he’ll headline the 50,000 daily-capacity event for the first time.
He just completed a 13-date headline tour, which kicked off Nov. 21 at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, and closed Dec. 8 at the O2 Academy Glasgow, Scotland. All tickets had sold out in under a minute.
Prior to that, Capaldi had also sold-out most dates on his North American run in October 2019, according to Pollstar box office data. He, for example, sold all 1,200 seats at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC, Oct. 12, grossing $30,000. He also sold out 1,552 seats at First Avenue in Minneapolis, MN, grossing $35,696, and 2,229 seats at the Corona Theatre in Montreal, QC, Canada, grossing $48,082.
Gaelle Beri – Lewis Capaldi at TRNSMT 2019
The way it looks, Capaldi could have already headlined last year
Dave has amassed quite an impressive box office history on Pollstar, as well. In his home country UK, he for example sold out the 2,550-cap O2 Academy Glasgow, grossing $66,419 on April 12, 2019. Dave also performed two sold-out shows at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin, Ireland, grossing $93,397 with a total of 3,220 sold tickets across both nights, April 8-9.
In the U.S., where Dave was touring in November, he sold out 422 tickets for his Nov. 22 show at the Rickshaw Shop in San Francisco, CA, grossing $6,440, as well as 450 tickets for the Nov. 17 gig at Union Stage in Washington, DC, which grossed $7,450.
Dave is also gong to perform at Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in April.
Jeff Spicer/Getty Images – Dave live on stage during the Hyundai Mercury Prize ceremony 2019
The rapper from London won the Album of the Year Award at the Sept. 19, 2019, ceremony at the Eventim Apollo in London, England.
Both Lewis Capaldi and Dave face strong competition in both the Male Solo Artist and Album of the Year category from Stormzy, Harry Styles and Michael Kiwanuka.
Stormzy is also shortlisted for Song of the Year, which gives him three nominations in total, following his two BRIT Award wins in 2017, when he closed the ceremony with a powerful performance.
2018 Critics’ Choice nominee and one of last year’s breakthrough artists Mabel is also up for three awards: Best New Artist, Song of the Year and Female Solo Artist, where she faces competition from Freya Ridings, FKA Twigs, Charli XCX and Mahalia.
Carla Speight/Getty Images for Bauer Media – Mabel at Hits Radio Live Manchester 2019
The Nov. 17 show took place at Manchester Arena last year
Harry Styles and Michael Kiwanuka both count two BRIT Awards nominations. Styles already calls seven BRIT Awards his own, which he won as part of One Direction, and also won Best Artist Video in 2017. Kiwanuka is nominated in the same two categories as 2017; he was also shortlisted for Critics’ Choice in 2012.
Last November, Styles announced his next world tour, dubbed “Love On Tour,” which will take the artist and his new album Fine Line on the road between April and October this year.
His last solo tour in 2018 tour ranked No. 27 on Pollstar‘s Year End Top 100 Worldwide Tours chart with a gross of $59.6 million. The trek was highlighted by two-night sold-out stands at Madison Square Garden and The Forum, grossing $2.8 million and $2.7 million at the venues, respectively, according to Pollstar Boxoffice reports.
Handout/Helene Marie Pambrun via Getty Images – Harry Styles on his 2018 European Tour
This performance took place March 13, 2018, at AccorHotels Arena in Paris, France.
The Critics’ Choice award of previous years has been replaced by the Rising Star award, which this year went to Celeste. The American–born British singer-songwriter won the award against Joy Crookes and Beabadoobee, who were also nominated for the inaugural Rising Star award.
Celeste has been supporting fellow BRITS Awards nominee Michael Kiwanuka on tour in Europe last year. They for example sold out 1,934 tickets for their Nov. 24 show at Ancenne Belgique in Antwerp, Belgium, grossing $58,254, according to Pollstar Boxoffice data.
Sergione Infuso/Corbis via Getty Images – Celeste opens for Michael Kiwanuka
The performance took place at Fabrique Club, Dec. 7, 2019, in Milan, Italy.
Several artists are looking at their first BRIT Awards nomination ever, including Billie Eilish and Lizzo, who will compete for International Female Solo Artist alongside Ariana Grande, Lana Del Rey and Camilla Cabello. Burna Boy, Dermot Kennedy, and Tyler the Creator are also shortlisted for the first time in the category International Male Solo Artist alongside Post Malone and Bruce Springsteen. The Boss is looking at his eighth nomination in this category, which he also won in 1986.
Other first-time nominees are Bring Me The Horizon, Aitch, AJ Tracey, D-Block Europe and the aforementioned Freya Ridings.
Coldplay will once again battle for Group of the Year (previously British Group), a category in which they’ve been nominated seven times since 2006, winning four so far. 2020 will mark their 27th BRIT Awards nomination. Coldplay’s competition this year: Bastille, D-Block Europe, Foals and Bring Me The Horizon.
The BRIT Awards 2020 with Mastercard take place Tuesday, Feb. 18, at The O2 Arena in London, hosted by Jack Whitehall and broadcast exclusively on ITV.