Awards shows, by their very design, produce winners and losers and the 2026 BRITs were no different.
The ceremony, which was held at Manchester’s Co-op Live for the first time, featured more losers than normal as Olivia Dean swept her categories and will head back to her hometown London with four prizes: album of the year, artist of the year, song of the year and pop act. She was crowned the new queen of British pop, following triumphs from RAYE (2024) and Charli xcx (2025) at recent ceremonies.
The rest of the awards were spread fairly among a number of acts: Sam Fender nabbed two, Rosé became the first-ever K-pop winner at the BRITs and Rosalía made history by becoming the first Spanish-language artist to earn a win in the international artist field. See the full list of winners from this year’s ceremony here.
Honorary prizes to Noel Gallagher (songwriter of the year), PinkPantheress (producer of the year) and Mark Ronson (outstanding contribution to music) were reminders that award shows can have strong, memorable moments when artists are not pitted against each other, but celebrated for their own unique achievements and style. They provided a welcome change of pace.
Even if Billboard‘s predictions were largely on the money, the results do leave some questions and surprises. A handful of massive names went home empty-handed, something that’ll happen rarely in their illustrious careers. Similarly, some acts will feel particularly thrilled to come home with a trophy and maybe did not see the win coming.
These are the biggest snubs and surprises from the 2026 BRIT Awards.





