The Ivors Academy has announced the nominations for the 71st Ivor Novello Awards.
The winners will be presented at The Ivors with Amazon Music on Thursday, May 21.
Peer-judged by songwriters and composers, The Ivors celebrate the craft, cultural impact and enduring importance of songs and screen compositions.
“At a time when questions around authorship and AI are reshaping the music landscape, The Ivors stand as a powerful affirmation of human creativity and the cultural value of songwriters,” said a statement.
Winners join a roll call that includes Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, David Bowie, Adele, Raye, Stormzy, Bill Withers, Bruce Springsteen, Brian Wilson, Annie Lennox, Amy Winehouse, Dave, Sting, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, Charli XCX, Lana Del Rey, Lola Young, Lou Reed and Elton John.
Tom Gray, chair of The Ivors Academy, said: “Congratulations to all the songwriters and composers nominated for this year’s Ivor Novello Awards. To be recognised by your peers for exceptional craft and originality at The Ivors is one of the greatest honours in music writing, and we look forward to celebrating their achievements at The Ivors with Amazon Music on 21 May.”
Roberto Neri, chief executive of The Ivors Academy, said: “I want to congratulate these incredible nominees, whose work reflects the strength, diversity and global influence of British and Irish songwriting, which we are honoured to celebrate. An Ivor Novello Award has for over 70 years been the most prestigious recognition of excellence in music and I'd like to thank our judges for working hard to recognise this year’s nominees.”
This year, 61 individual British, Irish or UK resident songwriters and composers, and their international collaborators, have received Ivor Novello nominations, with 34 of those picking up a nomination for the first time.
Wolf Alice’s Ellie Rowsell, Olivia Dean, Jacob Alon, Self Esteem and co-writer Johan Hugo, and Kae Tempest and co-writer Fraser T Smith have all received two nominations. Dean, Alon and Hugo have been nominated for the first time by The Ivors Academy.
To be recognised by your peers for exceptional craft and originality at The Ivors is one of the greatest honours in music writing
Tom Gray
Little Simz secured her fifth Ivor Novello nomination, for Free in Best Contemporary Song, the second time she has been nominated in this category. She has previously won Best Album in 2020 for Grey Area and Best Contemporary Song in 2022 for I Love You, I Hate You. She also received two nominations in the Best Album category in 2022 and 2023.
Lola Young has earned her fourth nomination, with a second for her huge hit Messy in the PRS For Music Most Performed Work category.
Damon Albarn has his fifth nomination with a nod in the Best Contemporary Song category for Damascus, having previously won Songwriter Of The Year twice and received the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.
Lily Allen has scored her third nomination with West End Girl, her first album in seven years, nominated in the Best Album category. Meanwhile, Florence Welch received her fourth nomination at The Ivors, this year in the Best Song Musically and Lyrically category for Everybody Scream alongside co-writers Mitski and Mark Bowen.
Coldplay’s Vida La Vida has its third nomination this year in the PRS For Music Most Performed Work, off the back of their global tour. The song won Best Selling British Single in 2010 and was also nominated for PRS for Music Most Performed Work.
CMAT and Myles Smith both picked up their second Ivor Novello Award nominations – CMAT for her critically acclaimed album Euro-Country, her second Best Album nomination, and Myles Smith for his worldwide hit, Stargazing, alongside co-writers Peter Fenn and Jesse Fink.
The Ivor Novello Award for Best Album celebrates exceptional songwriting craft, creativity and cohesion across the record as a whole. This year’s nominees include Jim Legxacy’s Black British Music, Olivia Dean’s The Art Of Loving, Wolf Alice’s The Clearing, Lily Allen’s West End Girl and CMAT’s Euro-Country.
Celebrating innovation and outstanding originality in songwriting, Best Contemporary Song sees nominations for Damon Albarn (Damascus), Little Simz (Free), Self Esteem (I Do And I Don’t Care) and a double nomination for Kae Tempest (I Stand On The Line and Know Yourself).
Best Song Musically and Lyrically acknowledges the outstanding craft, quality, coherence and creativity of songwriting. Nominations this year go to Jacob Alon (Don’t Fall Asleep), Florence + The Machine (Everybody Scream), Self Esteem (Focus Is Power), Wolf Alice (The Sofa) and Sugababes (Weeds ).
I want to congratulate these incredible nominees, whose work reflects the strength, diversity and global influence of British and Irish songwriting
Roberto Neri
The PRS For Music Most Performed Work category celebrates songs that received the most broadcast, online and general performances in the last year, based on PRS data. Nominations this year go to Olivia – Man I Need, Lola Young – Messy, Myles Smith – Stargazing, Chrystal – The Days and Coldplay – Viva La Vida.
The Rising Star Award with Amazon Music celebrates British, Irish or UK resident songwriters who are at the tipping point of greatness. This year’s contenders are Chloe Qisha, Divorce, Jacob Alon, Kwn and Skye Newman. Past Rising Star nominees include PinkPantheress, Holly Humberstone and Rachel Chinouriri, with Lola Young winning the award in 2025.
Alongside the category nominations, awards in the gift of the Academy will be presented to recognise individuals for their lasting contributions to music.
The Ivors 2026 nominations:
BEST ALBUM
BLACK BRITISH MUSIC (2025) written by Jim Legxacy and Joe Stanley
Performed by Jim Legxacy
Published in the UK by Sony Music Publishing and Kobalt Music Publishing
EURO COUNTRY written and performed by CMAT
Published in the UK by BMG Rights Management UK
THE ART OF LOVING written by Olivia Dean, Bastian Langebaek and Max Wolfgang
Performed by Olivia Dean
Published in the UK by Sony Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing obo Goldfish Records and Kobalt Music Publishing obo Alveron Music
THE CLEARING written by Joff Oddie and Ellie Rowsell
Performed by Wolf Alice
Published in the UK by Sony Music Publishing
WEST END GIRL written by Lily Allen, Chloe Angelides, Kito and Blue May
Performed by Lily Allen
Published in the UK by Sony Music Publishing, Kobalt Music Publishing obo Chloe Angelides Publishing-Where Da Kasz At and BMG Rights Management UK
BEST CONTEMPORARY SONG
DAMASCUS written by Damon Albarn, Yasiin Bey and Omar Souleyman
Performed by Gorillaz feat. Omar Souleyman and Yasiin Bey
Published in the UK by Sony Music Publishing, Pop-Up Music Publishing and Domino Publishing Company
FREE written by Alex Bonfanti, Miles Clinton James and Little Simz
Performed by Little Simz
Published in the UK by Universal Music Publishing and Sony Music Publishing
I DO AND I DON’T CARE written by Johan Hugo and Self Esteem
Performed by Self Esteem
Music published in the UK by Warner Chappell Music and Reservoir Media Management obo Blue Raincoat Music Publishing
I STAND ON THE LINE written by Fraser T Smith and Kae Tempest
Performed by Kae Tempest
Music published in the UK by Warner Chappell Music and Domino Publishing Company
KNOW YOURSELF Written by Tom Rowlands, Fraser T Smith and Kae Tempest
Performed by Kae Tempest
Music published in the UK by BMG Rights Management UK, Warner Chappell Music and Domino Publishing Company
BEST SONG MUSICALLY AND LYRICALLY
DON’T FALL ASLEEP written and performed by Jacob Alon
Music published in the UK by Concord Music Publishing
EVERYBODY SCREAM written by Mark Bowen, Mitski and Florence Welch
Performed by Florence + The Machine
Music published in the UK by Kobalt Music Publishing, Warner Chappell Music obo Songs by Mitski Publishing and Universal Music Publishing obo Florence + The Machine Ltd
FOCUS IS POWER
Written by Johan Hugo, Self Esteem and Jacob Vetter
Performed by Self Esteem
Music published in the UK by Warner Chappell Music, Reservoir Media Management obo Blue Raincoat Music Publishing and Kobalt Music Publishing obo TruSauce Pub Co
THE SOFA written by Ellie Rowsell
Performed by Wolf Alice
Music published in the UK by Sony Music Publishing
WEEDS written by Tove Burman, Anya Jones and Jon Shave
Performed by Sugababes
Music published in the UK by Warner Chappell Music obo MXM Music and Kobalt Music Publishing obo Spirit Music Group
PRS FOR MUSIC MOST PERFORMED WORK
MAN I NEED written by Olivia Dean, Tobias Jesso Jr. and Zach Nahome
Performed by Olivia Dean
Music published in the UK by Sony Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing and Concord Music Publishing
MESSY written and performed by Lola Young
Music published in the UK by Sony Music Publishing
STARGAZING written by Peter Fenn, Jesse Fink and Myles Smith
Performed by Myles Smith
Music published in the UK by Kobalt Music Publishing obo Songs by 308 Publishing-Where Da Kasz At, Lyric Global Copyright Services Crescendo obo Arcade Artists Publishing-Jesse Fink Publishing-Spirit One Music Crescendo and Sony Music Publishing
THE DAYS written and performed by Chrystal
Music published in the UK by Sony Music Publishing
VIVA LA VIDA written by Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion and Chris Martin
Performed by Coldplay
Music published in the UK by Universal Music Publishing
RISING STAR AWARD WITH AMAZON MUSIC
CHLOE QISHA
DIVORCE (Tiger Cohen-Towell, Felix Mackenzie-Barrow, Adam Peter-Smith and Kasper Sandstrom)
JACOB ALON
KWN
SKYE NEWMAN
BEST ORIGINAL FILM SCORE
BUGONIA composed by Jerskin Fendrix
Music published in the UK by Universal/MCA Music Ltd obo Focus-Gramercy Music
DRAGONFLY composed by Raffertie
Music published in the UK by Universal Music Publishing
NOSFERATU composed by Robin Carolan
Music published in the UK by Universal/MCA Music Ltd obo Focus-Gramercy Music
TESTIMONY composed by Tom Hodge
Music published in the UK by Bucks Music Group obo Rocliffe Ltd
THE BRUTALIST composed by Daniel Blumberg
Music published in the UK by Warner Chappell Music
BEST TELEVISION SOUNDTRACK
ADOLESCENCE composed by Aaron May and David Ridley
Music published in the UK by BMG Rights Management UK obo Maisie Anthems
LAZARUS composed by Sarah Warne
Music published in the UK by Universal/MCA Music Ltd obo Amazon Content Services
SUMMERWATER composed by Gazelle Twin
Music published in the UK by Sony Music Publishing and District 6 Music Publishing Ltd
THIS CITY IS OURS composed by Rael Jones
Music published in the UK by Sony Music Publishing obo Twenty Fifteen Avenue Music Inc
TRESPASSES composed by David Holmes and Brian Irvine
Music published in the UK by Sony Music Publishing obo All3media International
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