Drake and Arcade Fire are two Canadian acts among the list of nominees for this year’s BRIT Awards in London.
Drake is nominated in the International Male Solo Artist category, alongside Beck, Childish Gambino, DJ Khaled and Kendrick Lamar.
The Toronto-born rapper released his commercial mixtape More Life last March, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart and broke the record for most streams in a single day. As of September 2017, the mixtape has sold almost 2 million units in the U.S. alone.
Arcade Fire is nominated in the International Group category, along with The Foo Fighters, HAIM, The Killers and LCD Soundsystem.
The Montréal rock band released their latest album Everything Now back in July, which also debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. NME reviewer Barry Nicolson gave the album five out of five stars and opined that "The Canadian art-rockers are bigger, bolder and more fearful of the future than ever.”
Leading the BRIT Awards nominations this year is pop artist Dua Lipa, with five overall including British Female Solo Artist, Breakthrough Act, Single, Artist Video and Album of the Year. Lipa’s hit “New Rules” went to No. 1 on the U.K. Singles chart and its video has garnered over 893 million views on YouTube.
Ed Sheeran is the runner-up with four nominations, including British Male Solo Artist, Artist Video and Single for “Shape Of You”, and the coveted Album award for ÷, which was the top-selling album of 2017 in the U.K.
Three of the five former One Direction bandmates were also nominated: ZAYN, Harry Styles and Liam Payne.
So far, fans can expect performances from The Foo Fighters, Sheeran, Lipa, Stormzy, Rag’N’Bone Man and Sam Smith – whose November release The Thrill Of It All will be eligible for the 2019 awards.
The BRIT Awards will be broadcasted live from the O2 Arena in London on Feb. 21.
See the full 2018 list of nominees below:
British Male Solo Artist
Ed Sheeran
Liam Gallagher
Loyle Carner
Rag’n’Bone Man
Stormzy
British Female Solo Artist
Dua Lipa
Jessie Ware
Kate Tempest
Laura Marling
Paloma Faith
British Group
Gorillaz
London Grammar
Royal Blood
Wolf Alice
The xx
British Breakthrough Act
Dave
Dua Lipa
J Hus
Loyle Carner
Sampha
British Single
Calvin Harris – "Feels" feat. Pharrell Williams, Katy Perry and Big Sean
Clean Bandit – "Symphony" feat. Zara Larsson
Dua Lipa – "New Rules"
Ed Sheeran – "Shape of You"
J Hus – "Did U See"
Jax Jones - "U Don’t Know Me" feat. Raye
Jonas Blue – "Mama" feat. William Singe
Liam Payne – "Strip That Down" feat. Quavo
Little Mix – "Touch"
Rag’n’Bone Man – "Human"
British Album
Dua Lipa – Dua Lipa
Ed Sheeran – ÷
J Hus – Common Sense
Rag’n’Bone Man – Human
Stormzy – Gangs Signs & Prayer
British Artist Video
Anne-Marie – "Ciao Adios"
Calvin Harris – "Feels" feat. Pharrell Williams, Katy Perry and Big Sean
Clean Bandit – "Symphony" feat. Zara Larsson
Dua Lipa – "New Rules"
Ed Sheeran – "Shape of You"
Harry Styles – "Sign of the Times"
Jonas Blue – "Mama" feat. William Singe
Liam Payne – "Strip That Down" feat. Quavo
Little Mix – "Touch"
Zayn and Taylor Swift – "I Don’t Want to Live Forever"
International Male Solo Artist
Beck
Childish Gambino
DJ Khaled
Drake
Kendrick Lamar
International Female Solo Artist
Alicia Keys
Björk
Lorde
Pink
Taylor Swift
International Group
Arcade Fire
Foo Fighters
Haim
The Killers
LCD Soundsystem