Brit Award Nominees

James Blunt and Coldplay scored double nominations for British album and single categories, while Oasis was shut out of both. Click below to the see the nominees and my predictions for the winners.

British Single:

You're Beautiful - James Blunt
(Is This The Way To) Amarillo - Tony Christie
Speed of Sound - Coldplay
Push The Button - Sugababes
That's My Goal - Shayne Ward

Who knows what the criteria are for this category. It appears to be some amalgamation of sales and airplay, which sometimes results in 5 nominees and sometimes 10. This year we have 5, with Christie clearly being the sales leader, followed by Ward and Blunt; while Coldplay and Sugababes are included as decent sellers with big airplay. This is Coldplay's 2nd nomination, after 2000's for "Yellow." Thank god Crazy Frog was not included, although it's a bit surprising to be missing Oasis' "The Importance of Being Idle" or Robbie Williams' "Tripping." Surely they'd be here if this year had seen 10 nominees, along with Charlotte Church's "Crazy Chick" and McFly's "All About You." This award never goes to the best-seller, usually favoring a non-novelty track with some modicum of credibility. Will Young won it last year for "Your Game," beating out 5 #1 singles, including mega-seller "Do They Know It's Christmas." In 2003, it went to Dido's #2 single, "White Flag," and in 2002 to Liberty X's "Just a Little." I'd rule out Christie and Ward as novelty acts. The remaining three have their fans and their detractors--really this award could easily go to any of them--but I'm putting my money with the Sugababes, who were nominated last year for "In The Middle" and in 2000 for "Overload."

British Album:

James Blunt - Back to Bedlam
Kate Bush - Aerial
X&Y - Coldplay
Demon Days - Gorillaz
Kaiser Chiefs - Unemployment

Coldplay, James Blunt, and Kaiser Chiefs were givens for this category, and it's good to see Gorillaz here, but Kate Bush? That was a surprise. Definitely shocking not to see Oasis's Don't Believe The Truth here, which was heralded somewhat as a comeback for them. I'd also have thought KT Tunstall would've been a likely nominee over Kate Bush. In any case, Coldplay won this award twice before, in 2000 for Parachutes and 2002 for A Rush of Blood to the Head. X&Y is every bit as strong as those albums, but voters may choose to spread the joy around. For Kate Bush, it's an honor just being nominated, and Gorillaz, although critcally acclaimed, isn't quite classic enough for this award. Expect it to go to James Blunt, who was the year's biggest new artist and had the best-selling album of the year.

International Album:

Arcade Fire - Funeral
Green Day - American Idiot
Madonna - Confessions on a Dancefloor
U2 - How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
Kanye West - Late Registration

The Brits have an annoying tendency every once in awhile to repeat nominees form a prior year (the worst was 2001, in which 2 British Albums nominated in 2000 were nominated again). U2 was here last year, which I think rules them out automatically. Arcade Fire was a critics favorite, but lacks widespread appeal. I see this going to Green Day.

To see nominees and winners for prior years best British Single and Album categories, check out this post I made to the UKMix message board Web site.