It was Olivia Dean’s night at the 2026 Brit Awards, as she took home the two top prizes for Artist and Album of the Year at a ceremony marked by frequent bouts of censorship and awkward moments.
Dean, who won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist at the ceremony in January, has proved to be one of the UK’s biggest breakthroughs in years, winning over fans and critics with her soulful pop sound. She was one of a number of stars who attended the annual music awards show, which was held outside London for the first time in the award show’s history, instead taking place at the Co-Op Live arena in Manchester.
Accepting her award for Artist of the Year, Dean said: “I want to say thank you to my whole team, everybody down there, I love you, my band... it takes a lot of people to be a good artist, and it's not lost on me that I'm very lucky to have good people around me. So thank you.”
The awards show was hosted once again by comedian Jack Whitehall, who kicked off proceedings with a sketch that showed him obsessively on the look-out for pop star Harry Styles, in hope that he would return with new music. Whitehall, 37, was seen out jogging and mistaking an older woman for the former One Direction star, visiting his waxwork at Madame Tussauds, and eventually hearing the news that Styles would be singing live at the ceremony.
One of the anticipated moments of the evening was Styles’s performance, which opened the show with a live rendition of his No 1 single “Aperture”. Backed by a troupe of dancers, he leant into the track’s dance and electronic influences with a dizzying light display, receiving a standing ovation from the live audience. “Aperture” serves as the lead single from the 32-year-old’s fourth studio album, Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally. It is scheduled for release next week on Friday 6 March, the same day Styles returns to the Co-Op Live for a headline show.
Whitehall seemed intent on ruffling a few feathers by cracking jokes about the stars in attendance, referring to singer-songwriter Alex Warren as “Ed Sheeran if you ordered him on Temu” and producer Mark Ronson as “Nick Grimshaw if he learnt to use GarageBand”. He also took a swipe at the controversy at the previous week’s Baftas, in which Tourette’s campaigner John Davidson involuntarily shouted a racial slur while Sinners stars Michael B Jordan and Delroy Lindo presented an award.
However, it was Whitehall’s gags about Manchester, the ceremony’s host city, that drew particular ire from viewers at home, with some going so far to accuse him of classism. He made jokes about drug use in the city as well as making digs at people from Preston, Lancashire, while also mocking a man in the audience for his suit, which he suggested was not Prada but rather “100 per cent polyester”. He also suggested that Manchester’s idea of black tie was the brand Stone Island, known for its casualwear.
Fans watching from home were left confused by the frequent bouts of censoring, including for Whitehall’s joke about Peter Mandelson in the wake of his arrest on suspicion of misconduct in a public office. Geese frontman Cameron Winter was also censored as he shouted “Free Palestine” while collecting the New York rock band’s award for Best International Group.
A number of famous faces turned up to present awards, including Robbie Williams who was on hand to present the first award of the night, Song of the Year, which was voted for by the public – this went to Dean and Sam Fender for their collaboration, “Rein Me In”. Rock band Wolf Alice took Group of the Year, following the release of their 2025 album The Clearing, ahead of a live performance of single “The Sofa”. Jeff Goldblum presented the prize for Album of the Year, while Primal Scream frontman Bobby Gillespie introduced Noel Gallagher as the recipient for Songwriter of the Year.
Producer Mark Ronson, who was honoured with a gong for Producer of the Year, also delivered a special mashup of some of his biggest hits, from his debut single “Ooh Wee” with rapper Ghostface Killah to “Back to Black” by Amy Winehouse, to his and Winehouse’s rendition of “Valerie” by The Zutons and “Uptown Funk”, his No 1 hit with Bruno Mars. For his track “Dance the Night Away” from the Barbie soundtrack, Dua Lipa descended from a giant mirror ball before switching to her song “Electricity”, overseen by Ronson’s “super-producer group” with Diplo, Silk City.
There were plenty of spectacular live performances, from Olivia Dean’s rendition of her hit single “Man I Need” to a dazzling, big band-backed medley from RAYE, who dominated the awards in 2024. Spanish artist Rosalía gave a jaw-dropping performance of her song “Berghain”, an operatic opus she sings in German while backed by a choir and orchestra. Bjork, who features on the track as a guest artist, also made a surprise appearance. Rosalía later gave a moving acceptance speech for the International Solo Artist award, in which she urged listeners to “accept otherness”, and to embrace other languages and cultures.
Dean echoed this sentiment as she was announced as the winner of Album of the Year for The Art of Loving, telling the audience at the Co-Op Live arena: “Making this album has changed my life, I feel so proud to have made it, and to work with everybody that I did on it...
“Thank you so much for believing in me when I didn't really believe in myself sometimes... this album is just about love and loving each other in a world that feels lovelessness right now, so I don't know, thank you.”
