Brit Award for British R&B Act

The Brit Award for British R&B Act is an award given by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), an organisation which represents record companies and artists in the United Kingdom.^[1] The accolade is presented at the Brit Awards, an annual celebration of British and international music.^[2] Alongside the other genre categories, the winner of the award is selected by the British public.^[3] It was presented for the first time at the 2024 Brit Awards.

Brit Award for British R&B Act
2024 winner Raye
Awarded for	Achievement in Excellence: British R&B Act
Country	United Kingdom
Presented by	British Phonographic Industry
First award	2024
Website	www.brits.co.uk

The inaugural recipient of the award is Raye. Cleo Sol holds the record for most nominations in the category, with three. Raye and Jorja Smith are the only other artists with multiple nominations, with two each respectively.

History

Following the removal of the gendered categories in 2021, it was announced that four new genre categories would be introduced that were voted for by the public. One of these cateogies, Best British Pop/R&B Act, was first presented at the 42nd Brit Awards alongside Rock/Alternative Act, Dance Act and Hip Hop/Grime/Rap Act).^[4]

In 2023, it was announced that the Pop/R&B category would be split into British Pop Act and British R&B Act and would be presented for the first time at the 2024 Brit Awards. The change followed criticism that the existing category did not fairly represent the genre and that R&B artists were less likely to be nominated against pop artists.^[5]

Winners and nominees

Year	Recipient	Nominees
2024	Raye	Cleo Sol Jorja Smith Mahalia Sault
2025	TBA	Cleo Sol Flo Jorja Smith Michael Kiwanuka Raye

Artists with multiple nominations

Nominations	Artist
3	Cleo Sol[a]
2
	Jorja Smith
	Raye

Notes

1. Including one as a member of Sault.

References

1. "About the BPI". British Phonographic Industry (BPI). Archived from the original on 6 December 2015. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
2. "BRIT Awards". British Phonographic Industry (BPI). Archived from the original on 6 September 2018. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
3. Public vote for The BRIT Awards 2022 genre awards opens Thursday 20th January!
4. "Brit Awards scrap male and female categories". BBC News. 22 November 2021.
5. "Brit awards extend best artist shortlist to 10 after 2023's all-male lineup". The Guardian. 2023-11-24. Retrieved 2023-12-02.