BRIT Awards: Katy Perry, Eminem Among Nominees With Biggest U.K. Sales

LONDON – Katy Perry, Eminem, Daft Punk and One Direction are among the biggest music sellers in the U.K. nominated at Wednesday night’s BRIT Awards.

The biggest British music honors of the year will be handed out at the capital’s O2 Arena starting at 8 p.m. local time. Among the performers are U.S. stars Perry and Bruno Mars. The Arctic Monkeys are set to open the show.

The awards are determined by a 1,000-strong academy of music industry folks and fan votes. It will be interesting to see if the winners are also the top sellers in Britain since last year’s BRIT Awards.

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In the best international female category, Perry is the best-selling performer in the U.K. since the last awards show, according to the Official Charts Company. Her hit “Roar” has sold more than 890,000 copies in Britain, with her combined music sales over the past year reaching 1.76 million.

The other nominees in the category are Janelle Monae, Lady Gaga, Lorde and Pink.

In the international male award category, Eminem is this year’s best-selling nominee. British music fans have bought 477,000 copies of his Marshall Mathers LP2, according to the Official Charts Company. His Rihanna collaboration “The Monster” is still in the Official Singles Chart Top 40 four months after its release, having sold more than half a million copies.

Mars, Justin Timberlake, Drake and John Grant are the other contenders for a BRIT Award in the international male performer category.

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If the BRITs were a sales-based competition, Daft Punk would handily win the honor for international group of the year. The French duo has racked up U.K. music sales of more than 2.1 million units over the past year, the chart tracking firm said.

The other bands vying for the international BRIT Award are Arcade Fire, Haim, Kings of Leon and Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.

Meanwhile, the Arctic Monkeys would be ensured the award for British album of the year if the BRITs were based on music sales alone. Their AM has sold more than 560,000 copies in the U.K. over the past year.

Ellie Goulding is the best-selling nominee in the British female solo artist category, while John Newman outperformed veteran David Bowie in the British male category.

With nearly 3.2 million units sold, boy band One Direction leads the field of nominees in the best British band category. The other nominees are the Arctic Monkeys, Bastille, Disclosure and Rudimental.

Email: Georg.Szalai@THR.com
Twitter: @georgszalai