Olivia Dean wins four BRITs as Dolly Parton pays rare tribute to Ozzy

Olivia Dean stormed the BRIT Awards, turning five nominations into four wins and cementing her rise with Artist of the Year and Mastercard Album of the Year for The Art Of Loving. The ceremony at Manchester’s Co-op Live, the first time the BRITs swapped London for Manchester in nearly 50 years, doubled as both a pop coronation and a roll call of music’s cross‑genre alliances.

Dean’s performance on the night and her haul were the clearest signal that a new UK pop figure has commercial and cultural momentum. Her acceptance for Album of the Year was emotional: "Making this album has changed my life... This album is about love and loving each other in a world that feels loveless right now." The wins capped a string of high‑profile appearances during BRITs Week and a transatlantic chart presence that has turned her second LP into a breakout mainstream success.

The ceremony also threaded through memory and legacy. Ozzy Osbourne received a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award introduced on video by Dolly Parton, who said his influence had "left a permanent imprint in the fabric of music lovers everywhere." Sharon Osbourne came forward to accept and delivered a forceful tribute to her late husband: "Ozzy was authentic," she said, calling him "a gifted, totally unpredictable, wild man. He was a true artist" and a "humble egomaniac" who never forgot his working‑class roots. Some accounts also said Kelly Osbourne joined Sharon on stage.

Producers leaned into star power and spectacle. Mark Ronson was honoured with Outstanding Contribution to Music and staged a career‑spanning medley that brought out Dua Lipa, Ghostface Killah, and members of Amy Winehouse’s band. Robbie Williams led a closing tribute to Ozzy that assembled a supergroup to close the show, underlining how the BRITs want to function as both awards night and large‑scale television moment.

International currents were on full display. Rosalía won International Artist of the Year, a historic victory that recognised music sung in a language other than English at the BRITs for the first time. Accepting, she urged the industry to "keep celebrating the otherness" of different cultures and languages. Her performance of "Berghain," joined on stage by Björk, was described by host Jack Whitehall as starting like the "Last Night of the Proms" and ending like an Ibiza club rave — a tidy summation of the night’s genre mashups.

Harry Styles delivered an exclusive TV debut of his new single "Aperture" in a striking Chanel look, backed by a gospel choir, underscoring the BRITs’ continued role as a fashion and pop statement as much as an industry awards show. Manchester figures, from Shaun Ryder’s "Up the north!" quip to appearances by Tim Burgess and members of the Happy Mondays, framed the move north as a deliberate cultural repositioning that local organisers hope will spark more regional investment and programming tied to BRITs Week.

Other winners included PinkPantheress as Producer of the Year, SAULT in R&B, Noel Gallagher as Songwriter of the Year, Jacob Alon with Critics’ Choice, and named winners such as Sam Fender, Wolf Alice, Lola Young, Dave, and Geese. The night suggested a BRITs that is increasingly global in taste, collaborative in performance, and strategic about place — a London institution recast for a wider British music ecosystem.