Full list of Brit Award nominees with a North East link ahead of weekend's ceremony
A handful of North East artists have been nominated for the 2026 Brit Awards - and this is when you can cheer them on.
The full list of nominees for the 2026 Brit Awards was announced on the evening of Wednesday, January 21 with the event now just days away.
Taking place on the evening of Saturday, February 28, the ceremony will celebrate some of the biggest and best acts in UK music.
South Tyneside’s Jade and North Shields local Sam Fender received the most awards across the local artists.
Jade, who released her debut album ‘That’s Showbiz, Baby’ last year and saw a lot of praise from pop fans. After performing at the 2025 awards as well as winning Best Pop Act, she will return to the event this year as a nominee again.
The former little Mix star, who was raised in South Tyneside, is nominated for Artist Of The Year as well as Best Pop Act.
He is up against Jade for Artist Of The Year, in addition to being listed for Best Alternative/Rock Act. His album ‘People Watching’ is also nominated for Album Of The Year while his song ‘Reign Me’ In with Olivia Dean is shortlisted for Song Of The Year.
A third nominated artist with links to the North East is Sammy Virji. The London-born DJ studied at Newcastle University, where he dropped out to persue music full time in the region. He is a well known name on the local dance scene and is nominated for the Best Dance Act category.
Olivia Dean and Lola Young lead the nominations with five each.
Performances this year will come from Harry Styles, Olivia Dean, Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami (the singing voices of Huntr/x of KPop Demon Hunters), Wolf Alice, Mark Ronson, Rosalia, Alex Warren and Sombr.
The 2026 ceremony will take place at the Co-Op Arena in Manchester, marking the first time the Brit Awards are being held outside of London. This follows on from the Mercury Prize, which was hosted outside the capital for the first time last year when it took place in Newcastle.
The North East will host the Mercury prize ceremony once again in 2026.
ITV will be broadcasting the Brit Awards live from 8:15pm.