Olivia Dean sweeps the board at 2026 Brit awards, winning four including artist, song and album of the year | Brit awards

Olivia Dean was the big winner at the 2026 Brit awards, taking home awards for artist of the year, pop group, song of the year for her Sam Fender duet Rein Me In and album of the year for The Art of Loving.

Dean has leapt to the forefront of British pop in less than a year thanks to her second album, The Art of Loving. It is extremely relatable, with songs that get to the heart of the joys and disappointments of ordinary modern dating; Its sophisticated and cosmopolitan songcraft, which expertly combines styles such as bossa nova, trip-hop, neo-soul and jazz, has given it an unusually broad and cross-generational appeal.

The 26-year-old artist also won one of the “big four” Grammy awards for best new artist this year, underlining his significant commercial success in both the US and UK.

Accepting the album of the year award, Dean said, “This album is just about love and loving each other in a world that feels loveless right now.” he said.

Dean won in every single Brit award category he was nominated for, and actually triumphed over himself in the song of the year category; He was also nominated for his solo song Man I Need, which has remained outside the UK Top 10 since its release in August. The song category was voted on by the public via WhatsApp, as was the international song of the year award won by Rosé and Bruno Mars for APT.

A shattered love song, Rein Me In was originally Fender’s solo track from the album People Watching, later released as a single with a new verse by Dean: their version now tops the UK singles chart. While Dean beat him out for album of the year, Fender also won the alternative/rock category; It was his third win in this category, after victories in 2022 and 2025 (he also won the critics’ choice award in 2019).

Fender and Dean were the multiple winners of the ceremony, which was held in Manchester for the first time at the city’s Co-op Live arena.

Returning host Jack Whitehall continued his usual up-tempo tunes by mocking various celebrities; He called out US singer Alex Warren for “what do you get if you order Ed Sheeran at Temu”, said Robbie Williams was “making more of a comeback than a hairline”, described Shaun Ryder and Bez as “aging like petrol station flowers” and bluntly told Manchester mayor Andy Burnham that “the only parties allowed these days are Brits”.

Whitehall even joked at another awards ceremony, promising to direct the switch to “the man who did the Baftas” to silence any swearing on British broadcast television; This was a reference to the N-word controversy that dominated British film’s biggest night last week. A Whitehall joke about Peter Mandelson being on the guest list – “no, sorry, that was another list” – was duly edited out by ITV.

Dean’s main rival was Lola Young, who also received five nominations but settled for one win as breakthrough artist. This breakthrough has occurred on and off over several years: Young was nominated for a critics’ choice award in 2021 and is currently on her third album. Her song Messy, released in May 2024, slowly progressed and reached No. 1 in the UK eight months later; This means most of the song’s success has come during this year’s British eligibility period.

Dean’s dominance also meant there would be no awards for Lily Allen, who could expect to win at least one of her three nominations next year, given that her album West End Girl has been critically acclaimed and one of the most talked-about pop culture phenomena of 2025.

Wolf Alice won group of the year for the second time; they had previously triumphed in 2022 thanks to their ambitious and majestic album The Clearing, powered by frontwoman Ellie Rowsell’s impassioned vocals. He dedicated part of the award to “the bars, clubs and folk venues across the country where we literally learned to play”, acknowledging the challenges facing the industry. He also called for better support for artists, saying that entering the music industry “should feel like a viable career decision, not like a golden ticket”.

Dave won the hip-hop/grime/rap bracket and was the clear favorite after the phenomenal success of his album The Boy Who Played the Harp and the globally popular UK No.1 single Raindance.

Another British rapper, Skepta, shared the dance show award with producers Fred Again and PlaqueBoyMax, thanks to their dubstep-focused collaboration Victory Lap; this was Fred Again’s first victory in this category after three previous nominations.

After losing to Raye in 2024, Sault, the spotlight collective led by producer Inflo, won the R&B showcase.

Relative underdogs won each of the other two international categories. Inventive Catalan pop singer Rosalía, whose album Lux is a bold blend of neo-classical and avant-garde-electronic styles, won the international artist award against commercial juggernauts like Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny and Sabrina Carpenter.

The one who defeated arena-filling names like Haim and Tame Impala in the international band category was Geese, a young indie rock band from New York, who blew the mind with their wise lyrics and creative arrangements beyond their years with their album Getting Killed.

The band’s Max Bassin said “free Palestine, fuck ICE” in a brief acceptance speech, while Scottish singer-songwriter Jacob Alon, who won the critics’ choice award, held his keffiyeh scarf aloft during the onstage appearance of Sharon Osbourne, who has previously criticized pro-Palestinian campaigners.

K-pop was well represented: Rosé’s APT win made her the first K-pop honoree in the British awards’ history, and the ceremony also featured the first K-pop performance, with the flesh-and-blood vocalists of animated group Huntr/x from the KPop Demon Hunters movie performing their song Golden in a pre-recorded segment.

Ahead of the ceremony, several award winners were named, including a heartening, history-making first: Pop singer PinkPantheress became the first female winner of the producer of the year award, thanks to the vibrant UK garage-influenced backing tracks she created for her album Fancy That. It’s another impressive milestone for the 24-year-old from Kent, whose star continues to climb: the remix of her song Stateside featuring Zara Larsson is now the second most streamed song in the world on Spotify.

Noel Gallagher has been named songwriter of the year following a major cultural event such as the Oasis reunion. He thanked his brother Liam and his other bandmates, saying: “They brought these songs to life. I’d just be a singer-songwriter and no one cares about singer-songwriters.”

Mark Ronson was presented with the outstanding contribution award, which recognizes a diverse career that has taken him from making hip-hop with the likes of Ghostface Killah, to producing Amy Winehouse’s classic Back to Black, to global success with Uptown Funk, to launching the label as duo Silk City, to directing the hit soundtrack for the Barbie movie. Introduced by Skepta as “music’s nicest man” and a “defender of originality”, Ronson paid tribute to Winehouse and said of his collaborators: “The music I make with Amy is the reason everyone knows who I am, so I always value her voice, her talent and our bond.” He performed a medley of his hits, featuring guest appearances from Ghostface Killah and Dua Lipa.

Ozzy Osbourne, who died in July 2025, was given a lifetime achievement award, accepted by his wife Sharon. He hailed him as “a genuine, talented, unpredictable, wild man, a true artist…he was the humblest egomaniac you’ll ever meet.” The show wrapped up with a tribute performance of Robbie Williams’ No More Tears, backed by a band that included Metallica’s Robert Trujillo and longtime Ozzy guitarist Zakk Wylde.

What seemed like a controversial moment turned out to be anything but. US pop singer Sombr was tackled onstage by a man who was escorted away by security, but the man was wearing a shirt that read “Sombr is a homewrecker”; an open show to promote the singer’s new single, Homewrecker.