The Brit Award for British Album of the Year is given annually by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), 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] Winners and nominees are determined by the Brit Awards voting academy, which has over one thousand members: record labels, publishers, managers, agents, and media, as well as prior winners and nominees.[3] The award was first presented in 1977 as British Album of the Year. In 1983 and 1984, the award was non-competitive and determined by highest album sales. Album of the Year is generally seen as the Brit Awards' most prestigious honour.
Coldplay (2001, 2003, 2006), Arctic Monkeys (2007, 2008, 2014), and Adele (2012, 2016, 2022) are the biggest winners in this category with three wins. They are followed by Manic Street Preachers (1997, 1999) with two victories. Ed Sheeran leads solo performers, with four nods. Among female artists, Adele leads with three nominations, winning each time she was nominated. Damon Albarn has the most nominations of any individual, with six, owing to his membership of both Blur and Gorillaz. Albarn ties with Coldplay for most nominations in the category.
In 1983, Barbra Streisand became the first woman to receive the award for Memories, which she did non-competitively for the year's best-selling album. Memories holds a unique distinction as the only compilation rather than a studio album to ever win the award. In 1993, Annie Lennox became the first female solo artist to win the competitive award for Diva. Adele is the first female artist and solo act to win the award multiple times, for 21, 25, and 30.[4]
The youngest artist to win in the category is Dave who was 21 when he won for his debut album Psychodrama, released in 2020.
Only two non-UK artists have received the award: Barbra Streisand in 1983 for Memories and Michael Jackson in 1984 for Thriller, which was the only time the award was given to the winner without any other nominees. Those albums are notable as the only non-competitive winners in the award's history, with the award both times given directly to the year's highest-selling album.