Music Week Awards 2026: All the winners at this year's sensational industry ceremony

The Music Week Awards returned with huge stars and top executives in attendance for our 2026 ceremony.

With UK artists on a high at home and internationally, the music business was buzzing at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House London in Park Lane – and the Music Week Awards had, once again, sold out several weeks in advance. The teams behind talent including Olivia Dean, Lola Young, Sleep Token, Jade and Sam Fender were all honoured on the night (May 7).

To add to the excitement in the room, Jade was in attendance at the Music Week Awards. It follows last year’s surprise appearance by Arctic Monkeys Frontman Alex Turner and Girls Aloud at the 2024 ceremony.

Jade – who scored the biggest UK debut last year with That’s Showbiz, Baby! – presented Sony Music UK & Ireland CEO & chairman Jason Iley with The Strat, the special award for a game-changing executive decided by the Music Week team (read our history of The Strat here).

Meanwhile, Polydor Label Group (PLG) won in the highly coveted Record Company category. PLG’s Capitol label, headed by president Jo Charrington, took home the A&R trophy following an incredible year with Olivia Dean.

The senior executives who turned out for the ceremony included Universal Music Group UK CEO & chairman Dickon Stainer, Warner Music Group’s Simon Robson, president, EMEA, Recorded Music, Atlantic co-president Briony Turner, Island EMI president Louis Bloom, Since ’93 co-president Riki Bleau, RCA co-presidents Stacey Tang and Glyn Aikins, Warner Records president Joe Kentish, 0207 Def Jam president Alec Boateng, UMPG UK MD David Gray, UMG UK chief artist & strategy officer Rebecca Allen, Fontana president Tom Lewis, Columbia president Dipesh Parmar, Epic president Sarah Lockhart, and more.

We also spotted celebrity fitness coach Joe Wicks!

The Music Week Awards is the only ceremony of its kind to honour executives across the entire breadth of the business across labels, publishing, live, A&R, radio, marketing, PR and more. This year’s event honoured the work of teams across the business between January 1 and December 31, 2025. You can see all the 2026 finalists here.

Each year, it is free for all to enter submissions and our prestigious awards are peer-voted and judged by an independent panel of specialist judges. To maintain the highest standards of integrity and impartiality, our judges are also reviewed and refreshed annually, ensuring a diverse range of perspectives and sustained relevance.

Also new for 2026 – our awards host Harriet Rose, who’s entering a new era of her broadcasting and podcasting career following several years at KISS.

Rose, who now presents the By The Way podcast, introduced proceedings with a confession that she once did the ‘worm’ on the dancefloor at the Music Week Awards.

The first award of the night for Grassroots Venue: Spirit Of The Scene went to The Globe, Newcastle Upon Tyne. The venue won the publicly voted category, which is supported by Music Venue Trust. It comes amid new initiatives creating hope in the grassroots sector.

The revamped Promotions Campaign category went to Island EMI for the Lola Young campaign, following the chart-topping success of global smash Messy.

There were also big wins for Sony Music UK in the Catalogue Marketing Campaign category for Pink Floyd (with an incredible two No.1 albums in the same year), while the major’s RCA Label Group won Artist Marketing Campaign for Jade.

RCA also triumphed in the Music Consumer Innovation category for the Sleep Token/Download Festival 2025 Geo-drop Experience. The UK band were one of the big export successes of 2025.

Speaking of exports, Universal Music Group UK collected the award for International Marketing Team – headed by Nickie Owen – following a blockbuster year with artists ranging from Olivia Dean and Lola Young to The Beatles and Cian Ducrot.

Warner Music UK was recognised with the Sales Team trophy following the roll-out of Ed Sheeran’s Play campaign, while the major’s ADA division was a deserving winner in the Label/Artist Services category in the wake of global success for mysterious Scouse rapper EsDeeKid, hits for Sonny Fodera and a UK No.1 album for The K’s.

In the live music categories, there was the reintroduction of our Venue Of The Year award, which was won by The O2 following a record-breaking year at the London venue.

Meanwhile, CAA retained their Live Music Agency trophy and SJM maintained their grip on the Live Music Promoter award, following a huge year with Oasis.

In the Ticketing Company Of The Year, Dice won back the title they held in 2024.

Amid signs of rock’s resilience with the likes of Sleep Token, Download won the Festival Of The Year following the 2025 event’s success in attracting a new generation of fans.

The Music Week Awards also shines a light on the independent sector across both recording and publishing.

Partisan Records won the Independent Record Company title following campaigns from BRIT winners Geese, PJ Harvey, Idles and Laura Marling. The label team were joined at the ceremony by Femi Koleoso from Ezra Collective.

Meanwhile, Concord Music Publishing were victors in the Independent Publisher Of The Year category.

Other winners on the night included Overheard PR’s CMAT campaign in the PR Campaign category, Kobalt Music for Sync Team Of The Year and an auspicious victory for Arsenal fans in the Music & Brand Partnership, which went to a campaign for the team’s away kit launch featuring LeoStayTrill by the club along with Universal Music Globe and 0207 Def Jam.

In the radio categories, second time nominee Remi Burgz became a first-time winner for her show on BBC Radio 1Xtra. BBC Radio 6 Music retained their Radio Station title following the roll-out of a brand new schedule including Radio Show nominees Lauren Laverne and Nick Grimshaw.

As the evening neared its conclusion, some of the biggest awards of the evening were handed out.

Sony Music Publishing – headed by David Ventura and Tim Major – came through as the Publisher Of The Year with artist songwriters including Lola Young, Charli XCX, Myles Smith and Olivia Dean.

In fact, Olivia Dean’s global impact was part of the story of the night with a massive win for her manager Emily Braham of Yo&Co as Manager Of The Year.

In addition, Dean’s label Capitol won the highly coveted A&R trophy in recognition of the incredible progress she made from her debut to 2025 follow-up The Art Of Loving. Jo Charrington’s Capitol label also worked on successful projects from Sammy Virji and Divorce.

Record Company is the big one and this year the award went to Polydor Label Group, who had the two biggest UK album releases of 2025 with Sam Fender’s People Watching and Olivia Dean’s The Art Of Loving. The pair have since enjoyed a nine-week run at No.1 with collaboration Rein Me In.

Headed by president Ben Mortimer, Polydor Label Group – incorporating Polydor, 0207 Def Jam, Capitol UK and Chaos – also oversaw the chart-topping return of Lewis Capaldi, while Chrystal’s The Days was the No.1 dance track of the year.

Across 2025, Polydor Label Group acts spent 12 weeks at No.1 on the albums chart and nine weeks at No.1 on the singles chart. In the overall UK Top 20 bestsellers of the entire year, PLG secured placements for six albums and seven singles — more than any other label group. Polydor have taken the lead by winning this category four times in the last decade.

For the evening’s finale, Little Mix member and solo star Jade presented the The Strat award to Jason Iley, CEO & chairman of Sony Music UK and Ireland.

It was a timely win for Iley, who oversaw the BRIT Awards’ successful move to Manchester earlier this year. Meanwhile, the major has scored a huge domestic artist breakthrough with Music Week cover star Myles Smith, taken Wolf Alice to new heights and overseen UK success for Harry Styles, Central Cee, Sleep Token and more.

In a career of more than 30 years, Iley has spent the past 12 years at the top of Sony in London, following senior roles working at Universal and Jay-Z’s Roc Nation. As well as serving as BRITs chair when Sony previously oversaw the ceremony, he has an MBE and a MITs Award to his name. A hugely deserving winner of The Strat!

Look out for our special Strat winners interview with Jason Iley on Musicweek.com from Friday (May 8).

MUSIC WEEK AWARDS 2026 WINNERS

Grassroots Venue: Spirit Of The Scene supported by Music Venue Trust – The Globe, Newcastle Upon Tyne

PR Campaign – CMAT, Overheard PR

Catalogue Marketing Campaign – Pink Floyd, Sony Music UK

Independent Publisher Of The Year sponsored by PRS for Music – Concord Music Publishing

Promotions Campaign sponsored by RadioMonitor – Lola Young, Island EMI

Ticketing Company – Dice

International Marketing Team sponsored by Deezer – Universal Music Group UK

Sales Team of the Year – Warner Music

Festival Of The Year – Download

Sync Team Of The Year – Kobalt Music

Radio Show – Remi Burgz, BBC Radio 1Xtra

Independent Record Company sponsored by Downtown – Partisan Records

Live Music Agency (Company) – CAA

Music Consumer Innovation – RCA, Sleep Token/Download Festival 2025 Geo-drop Experience

Music & Brand Partnership – LeoStayTrill x Arsenal FC x Universal Music Globe x 0207 Def Jam – Arsenal FC Away Kit Launch

Live Music Promoter (Company) – SJM Concerts

Artist Marketing Campaign sponsored by Official Charts – Jade, RCA Records

Label/Artist Services Company sponsored by Proper Music Distribution – ADA

Radio Station sponsored by PPL – BBC Radio 6 Music

Venue Of The Year – The O2, London

A&R Award – Capitol Records

Publisher Of The Year sponsored by PRS for Music – Sony Music Publishing

Manager Of The Year – Emily Braham, Yo&Co

Record Company – Polydor Label Group

The Strat – Jason Iley, CEO & chairman, Sony Music UK & Ireland

Music Week would like to thank all of the sponsors who kindly participated in this year’s edition of our Awards:

Music Venue Trust

RadioMonitor

Official Charts Company

Virgin Music Group

Proper Music Distribution

For sponsorship opportunities in 2027, please get in touch with Lawrence Cooke: lawrence.cooke@futurenet.com.

The Cat’s Mother was our official charity partner for 2026.

Small Green Shoots returned to help at this year’s ceremony – find out more about the organisation here.

To make sure you don’t miss out on next year’s Music Week Awards ceremony, for all table enquiries please contact: Kate.Smith@futurenet.com

PHOTOS: Paul Harries

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Music Week Awards 2026: All the winners at this year's sensational industry ceremony

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