The BRITs move to Manchester this Saturday, and the nominees list reads like a vinyl collector's shopping list. Olivia Dean and Lola Young lead with five nominations each, Sam Fender has four, and across 16 categories there are enough albums to fill an entire Kallax shelf. So instead of ranking red carpet outfits, here's the only guide that matters: which nominated albums sound best on vinyl, which pressings to hunt down, and where to start if you're hearing some of these names for the first time.
The Album of the Year Nominees
Five albums are competing for the Mastercard Album of the Year. All five are available on vinyl, all five are worth owning, and they couldn't sound more different from each other.
Olivia Dean — The Art Of Loving
Dean's second album arrived in September 2025 and immediately made everything else on the radio sound like it was trying too hard. The production, handled largely by Joel Pott (who co-wrote "Messy" from her debut), strips things back to give her voice room. On vinyl, the quieter tracks — "Man I Need" and the devastating closing run — benefit from the format. The standard black pressing is widely available, though the limited sage green variant sold through her webstore within hours. She's nominated five times this year, including Artist of the Year and twice for Song of the Year. If the BRITs have a frontrunner, it's Dean.
Sam Fender — People Watching
Fender followed his Mercury Prize win with an album that sounds like someone who doesn't need to prove anything anymore. The big anthems are still there — "Rein Me In", his collaboration with Olivia Dean, is nominated for Song of the Year — but the best moments are the ones where the band pulls back. "Chin Up" is three minutes of piano and voice that hits harder than anything on Seventeen Going Under. The standard pressing is on Polydor and sounds clean and punchy. Fender's four nominations span Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Alt/Rock Act and Song of the Year.
Lily Allen — West End Girl
Allen's fifth album landed late in 2025 and caught everyone off guard. Co-produced with Greg Kurstin, who did the same job on Adele's 25, it's her sharpest writing since It's Not Me, It's You back in 2009. The title track and "Grown Up" are pop songs with real teeth. The gatefold vinyl is on Parlophone and the pressing is solid. Allen is nominated for Artist of the Year, Album of the Year and Pop Act.
Dave — The Boy Who Played The Harp
Dave's third album is his most ambitious, running to 18 tracks and nearly 70 minutes. It's a double LP on vinyl, which suits the album's sprawl — side breaks give the listener space to absorb what's happening. The production, largely self-handled alongside previous collaborator 169, moves between orchestral rap and stripped-back spoken word. Dave picks up three nominations: Artist of the Year, Album of the Year and Hip Hop/Grime/Rap Act.
Wolf Alice — The Clearing
Wolf Alice's fourth album went straight to number one in the UK and justified every bit of the hype. Produced by Markus Dravs, who made his name working with Arcade Fire and Björk, it's a record that shifts between delicate folk and walls of distorted guitar, sometimes within the same song. The standard pressing is on Dirty Hit, and it sounds excellent — big, dynamic, with proper weight to the low end. Wolf Alice are nominated for Group of the Year, Album of the Year and Alt/Rock Act. They're also performing live at the ceremony.
Artist of the Year: The Vinyl Rundown
Ten artists are nominated for the top prize. Beyond the Album of the Year five, the shortlist includes:
Fred again.. is up for Artist of the Year, Song of the Year (for "Victory Lap" with Skepta and PlaqueBoyMax) and Dance Act. His records tend to sell fast on vinyl — the limited pressings from Actual Life and USB are already commanding secondhand premiums.
JADE — Jade Thirlwall's post-Little Mix solo career — picks up nominations for Artist of the Year and Pop Act. Her debut album dropped in 2025 and the coloured vinyl variant is a proper collector's piece.
Little Simz is up for Artist of the Year and Hip Hop/Grime/Rap Act. If you don't already own Sometimes I Might Be Introverse on vinyl, fix that. It's one of the best British rap albums ever pressed.
PinkPantheress rounds out the nominees and has already picked up Producer of the Year — the youngest recipient ever and the first woman to receive the award. Her production pulls together drum'n'bass, R&B and early-2000s pop in ways that shouldn't work but absolutely do.
Self Esteem, the solo project of Rebecca Lucy Taylor from Slow Club, completes the shortlist. Her live shows are extraordinary, and both Prioritise Pleasure and her latest record deserve space in any collection.
Breakthrough Artist
The Breakthrough Artist category is always the one to watch for future vinyl value. This year's nominees:
Barry Can't Swim — Edinburgh-based producer whose debut When Will We Land? won the 2024 Scottish Album of the Year. His jazz-influenced electronic productions sound gorgeous on vinyl.
EsDeeKid — rising grime artist. Early vinyl pressings from breakthrough grime acts have a habit of becoming very collectible very quickly.
Jim Legxacy — triple-nominated (Breakthrough, Hip Hop/Grime/Rap and R&B Act), blending drill with soulful melodies. One to watch.
Lola Young — five nominations including Artist of the Year, Song of the Year for "Messy", and both Alt/Rock Act and Pop Act. That genre spread tells you everything about how hard she is to pin down, which is exactly what makes her interesting.
Skye Newman — daughter of Massive Attack's Daddy G, though her music sounds nothing like trip-hop. "Family Matters" is nominated for Song of the Year.
The International Names
The international categories feature some of the biggest vinyl sellers on the planet. Taylor Swift is nominated for International Artist of the Year — no surprise given her vinyl releases consistently sell out within minutes. Sabrina Carpenter is there too, off the back of Short n' Sweet, which shifted serious vinyl numbers in the UK. Chappell Roan's The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess is still selling on vinyl nearly two years after release, with "Pink Pony Club" nominated for International Song of the Year.
Rosalía is performing at the ceremony and could make history as the first Spanish-speaking artist to win International Artist of the Year. Bad Bunny, fresh from dominating the Grammys, is also nominated. Both are artists whose vinyl pressings have become sought after by collectors worldwide.
In International Group, Tame Impala and HAIM are joined by Geese, Turnstile and HUNTR/X — the K-pop trio from KPop Demon Hunters who'll become the first K-pop act to perform at the BRITs.
Song of the Year: The Singles on Vinyl
Several Song of the Year nominees have been pressed as standalone 7" singles, which are worth tracking down. RAYE's "Where Is My Husband!" is the standout — following her six-award sweep at the 2024 ceremony, she returns with a track that's been inescapable on UK radio. Ed Sheeran's "Azizam" and Lewis Capaldi's "Survive" both signal returns from artists who've been quiet on the recording front. And Myles Smith's "Nice To Meet You" was one of those songs that seemed to be playing in every café, gym and taxi in the country for the second half of 2025.
The Other Categories Worth Knowing
Group of the Year puts Wolf Alice and Wet Leg alongside The Last Dinner Party, Sleep Token and Pulp. Pulp's nomination is their first since 1996. Let that sink in. Sleep Token's Even In Arcadia has been a vinyl chart fixture, and their limited pressings are already commanding secondary market prices.
Dance Act includes Calvin Harris & Clementine Douglas (whose "Blessings" is also up for Song of the Year), FKA twigs and Sammy Virji, the Bristol-based producer whose UK garage-inflected sound is perfectly suited to vinyl's warmth.
R&B Act features Sault, the anonymous collective who release albums with no promotion and regularly delete them from streaming services. If there's a vinyl-centric act in this year's BRITs, it's Sault — their records are designed to be owned physically.
Two More Things
Noel Gallagher has already been named Songwriter of the Year, which feels right given Oasis's reunion dominated 2025. Mark Ronson receives the Outstanding Contribution to Music award and will perform at the ceremony. His production credits include Amy Winehouse's Back to Black and Bruno Mars' Uptown Funk, both of which belong in any vinyl collection.
The BRITs Critics' Choice — the award that previously launched the careers of Adele, Sam Smith and Florence + The Machine — goes to Jacob Alon, a Scottish singer-songwriter from Edinburgh's folk community whose debut In Limerence made the 2025 Mercury Prize shortlist.
The ceremony airs live on ITV from Co-op Live in Manchester on Saturday 28 February. Jack Whitehall hosts for the sixth time. The vinyl, as always, is available on findyl.