9 Snubs And Surprises From This Year’s Brit Award Nominations

The full list of nominees for the 2025 Brit Awards has been announced, though it’s perhaps no surprise to learn that Charli It’s four o’clock, and it’s fair to say there are a few curves along the way too.

Whether it’s an unexpected inclusion or a shocking omission, this year’s shortlist has given us a lot to talk about.

Here are nine of the biggest surprises and criticisms from this year’s list…

International Artist of the Year

Yes, the Brit Awards are all about home-grown talent, but we have to admit that the most glaring omission from this year’s list of nominees originally comes from across the pond.

Of course, the international artist category will be particularly stacked in 2025, given how many great American artists dominated last year, but we’re still surprised to see Brits not donating any I love Ariana Grande behind her chart-topping song, Eternal Sunshine.

Then again, the news broke on the same day that it was revealed that she’d been nominated for her first Oscar, so we’re sure it’s not something she cares too much about…

It’s been a huge year for Ezra Collective, who were one of the most popular bands at the 2025 Brits with a whopping four nominations.

For those who don’t know, Ezra Collective is a British five-piece band known for bringing a unique contemporary spin to jazz.

But given how well-established the group already is – even winning the Mercury Prize in 2023 – we imagine a few people might have something to say about their arrival on the Best New Artist shortlist.

We must state that this is a very good surprise, but a surprise nonetheless.

When she was overlooked at last year’s Mercury Prize, we were pretty disappointed, so imagine our delight when she received not only a Best New Artist nod, but also a mention in the Artist of the Year category, joining more recognizable names like Dua Lipa, Charli XCX and Fred ​​Once again… the Fender Medal.

British group of the year

We’ll be honest, there was a lot of hype around the Blossoms’ chart-topping release Gary at the end of last year, and we were quietly convinced they would end up shortlisted for Album of the Year, if not just the British group’s .

Instead, the indie five-piece failed to secure a single nomination for Gary, who is named after an eight-foot-tall fiberglass gorilla stolen from a garden center in Lancashire a year before the album’s release.

After entering the charts at number one, Gary was one of the best-selling albums of last year when it comes to physical sales, so Blossoms’ absence from the Brits chart this year is something of an oddity.

Laura Marling has been a darling of Britons in the past, famously beating off stiff competition from Cheryl, Ellie Goulding and Paloma Faith in the Best British Female category that expired more than a decade ago.

Her latest album, Patters In Repeat, was once again critically acclaimed and praised for Laura’s distinctive songwriting and storytelling, so we were baffled she didn’t receive a single nomination in 2025.

Four years after releasing her single “Go” (and two years after starting a new life and climbing her way to the top of the charts), Cat Burns released her debut album Early 20s over the summer.

The Early Twenties was largely praised for Kat’s frank and confessional songwriting, even earning her a Mercury Prize nomination. However, it seems that wasn’t enough to translate into a Brit nomination – either in the 10 Artist of the Year category or in any of the genre-specific awards.

Cat was previously nominated for three Brits in 2023, including the inaugural Best Pop/R&B Act category, which was later split into two separate awards.

International Artist of the Year

No offense whatsoever to Adrianne Lenker – we mean no disrespect to you. But last year it was a huge One for international stars, with American talent largely dominating the UK Singles Chart in 2024.

So, for Adrianne to choose between some of the more obvious choices was definitely unexpected – and it’s great to see different types of artists getting recognition at major events like the Brits.

Little Mix started a trend by winning Best British Group in 2022, with subsequent awards in the category going to female-led bands Wet Leg and Wolf Alice.

This year, The Last Dinner Party seems poised to continue that trend, and that’s great, but we’d like former Rising Star winners Flo to continue the more traditional girl group torch on the back of their debut album last year.

However, it’s not all bad news for Flo, as they are still in the running for the Best R&B Act award from the fan vote.

“You’re Christmas to Me” may seem like an unlikely choice to sit alongside songs by Charli

Unlike other categories, Best British Single is determined by sales.

So, given Amazon Music’s push for Sam Ryder’s Christmas song (where the festive track is exclusive, meaning you probably heard it when you asked Alexa to play Christmas music and literally nowhere else) when it’s released towards the end of 2023 – that puts it within… Eligibility period for Brits – This would explain how I crept onto the shortlist.